Kara's Cupcakes - Napa

We wanted to try someplace new (to us) and Bar Lucia was perfect. It’s small, and menu is limited but the food was amazing! We had the Salmon Crostinis, Arugula salad and BLT and everything was perfect. Our server was very nice and we enjoyed the entire experience. We prefer brews to wine, but we had a sample of the Frose and I will be back on a warm day to have one, or two…

Located at Oxbow Market. I chose the chocolate vegan cupcake and can honestly say it was one of the best I have enjoyed since going vegan 9 years ago. The market can get very busy but it is worth the hassle to snag one of these delicious cupcakes. The staff is also super friendly.

Everytime I stop by Oxbow Market, i always get myself a cupcake from this cute little place. The cupcakes are absolutely delicious, not too dry and the cream on top just melts in my mouth. Service is also very good. Everyone is friendly and helpful with helping me choosing the flavor. Highly recommend this place

I first had one of their cupcakes at the first Eat Real fest in Oakland. It was an all food truck event and I flitted from truck to truck enthusiastically. I came across their pink truck and saw they had gluten-free cupcakes and I was in love. I'd visit their shops when in the area (Berkeley, Walnut Creek) and enjoyed my purchase.But, my how everything has changed for them. I think the brick-and-mortar shops are gone except for one in SF. I think, I don't know for sure. I do know that Berkeley and Walnut Creek stores are gone. I haven't seen the truck in ages. So, I was shocked to see this one in Napa. So I got a couple of cupcakes for old-time's sake. I wish that I hadn't...1) The cakes were dense2) The frosting was OK. The chocolate one had a chocolate Italian cream frosting, which would have been fine if it would've tasted like chocolate. Instead, it tasted like a brown, cloyingly sweet substance with brown chocolate-looking, flavorless sprinkles. No thanks. I mean, it looked like chocolate, but the flavor was just sweet. Meanwhile, I had a couple of heavenly cupcakes at Sift. And there's Cupcakin Bake Shop. Now they have some good cupcakes.

Came here was intrigued by the fact that this location solely uses ingredients that are locally sourced throughout Northern California. I ordered two mini red velvet and vanilla cupcakes. Unfortunately, the flavors fell flat. The frosting had way too much of a vanilla extract flavor, which can only be masked by (you guessed it) more powdered sugar or more of another extract. It wasn't a good ratio at all, I get the sense that this is what they typically serve since I tasted this on both cupcakes (buttercream cream cheese). I understand going a little overboard to try to mask the cream cheese flavor, but if you're a desserts place specializing in cupcakes, I would think that you would take time to improve upon your recipe. Kara's Cupcakes says that they create their cupcakes within minutes, you can see the workers in the back mixing creating them too. However, I didn't detect a particularly rich, fresh, moist, or flavorful flavor from my order.My main issue is with the cupcake frosting, TBH. I wouldn't come here again, even if I was craving a sweet treat. The workers are sweet, but I wish that this establishment would take cash (or at least cash tips too).