Sweet Ride

These cupcakes are truly one of a kind! You can tell they are made with love! The frosting is so tasty and whipped they are true treat!!! YUM I have catered several events with Sweet Ride, they are always very professional delightful to work with. I have used them for corporate and personal events! These cupcakes are always the first to be eaten up!

Ok, I LOVE cupcakes and am pretty particular. I have been following Sweet Ride Chi on Twitter for awhile and finally caught up with them in Lincoln Square. The little pink truck is adorable and the lady inside was very friendly and nice.
Everything looked and sounded tasty, but I limited myself to two cupcakes. I went with the Pineapple Coconut and Chocolate Peanut Butter. The Chocolate Peanut Butter was amazing! Peanut butter frosting can be tricky, but this was creamy and had the perfect balance of flavor. The chocolate cake was moist and right in the middle was decadent filling of peanut butter chocolate. Loved that cupcake! I had high hopes for the Pineapple Coconut, but it was a bit cold and dry. It did have a tasty pineapple filling and the coconut frosting was good. Not the best, but ok. (my guess — it was probably just not the best batch or not their best flavor.)
I will definitely be seeking out the Sweet Ride Chi truck again though. They have pudding, whoopie pies, cake pops, and more cupcakes left for me to try!

Like, let’s be honest, cupcakes rock.
And cupcakes that come from a truck, in which you can’t even sit down to eat them so you take on this gritty persona of smashing the cupcake into your mouth in only a few bites? That also rocks.
Sweet Ride makes great cupcakes. And a comprehensive variety as well. Are you from Texas so you wax poetic about red velvet? There’s a cupcake for you. Are you the cliché-​type girl that craves chocolate every nanosecond? There’s a cupcake for you. Are you a boring cupcake purist that always demands «vanilla vanilla?» There’s a cupcake for you (and by you, I mean me, because vanilla-​vanilla is the best combo ever).
And if you are that indecisive kid that simply cannot choose between all the options, Sweet Ride has a mini trio of cupcakes that lets you sample three flavors. The size also comes in handy when stuffing them in your mouth while standing up (see above).
Since Sweet Ride is indeed mobile, I’m unsure where it is, when. So then, whenever I see it I feel like I’ve won the lottery and take off running towards the truck (gotta burn calories any way you can, kids). Moral of that little story is that, when you see Sweet Ride, start running towards it, and indulge.

I visited this truck a few months back and recently discovered it again when I was in search of a pick me up to help work go by faster.
I had the red velvet first and it was delicious! The frosting was perfect. It wasn’t too sweet, the consistency was nice and smooth and it melted in my mouth. The cake was super moist and tasty. The portion size was perfect. I can’t remember how much I paid for it since that was a while ago.
This week, I stopped by in search of that red velvet cupcake. I came a little after 1:30 and the truck wasn’t ready! :(I went back to my office a little disappointed, but I went back about an hour later and they were ready. Unfortunately, the red velvet was sold out.
I tried the salted caramel cupcake instead. I think I needed to give it a bit of time before I ate it since the cake was still a little hard after being in the cooler. The frosting seemed hard as well, but most likely since it was chilled to prevent all the frosting from melting. The cake was good — not as moist as I recall the red velvet one being, but OK nonetheless. I tasted the cake by itself and didn’t really get the caramel flavor out of it. However, I did enjoy the frosting very much.
Overall, good cupcakes and I will definitely be back to get my hands on that red velvet one!

I found the Sweet Ride truck on the street today, and while I’d never heard of it before I decided to get a cupcake. Or 3. Instead of paying $ 3.25 for one cupcake, I opted to get the sampler box of 3 mini cupcakes — birthday cake, salted caramel, and red velvet.
If you read my previous reviews then you’ll see how much I love cupcakes. I’ll always stop for a cupcake and I’ve tried them all over the country.
What I had today were three of the worst mini cupcakes I’ve ever had — after tasting each, I threw them away.
Birthday Cake — the cake was INCREDIBLY dry and the frosting was gritty with sugar. Frosting should be sweet, sure, but certainly not gritty. It gives me a toothache just thinking about it.
Red Velvet — the cream cheese frosting had like congealed chunks of cheese or something in it. This made me gag.
Salted Caramel — the caramel drizzled across the top was hard, and it came off of my cupcake … like a worm? It was a really weird and unpleasant consistency. The cake, again, was super dry and the frosting was gritty.
I know mini cupcakes can be tough to regulate, so perhaps the cake is better in the full-​size cupcakes. I’m assuming the frosting is still the same though, so I just can’t recommend these. Honestly, these are just subpar cupcakes. My hopes were high but I’d go to any other cupcake place in Chicago before I’d ever stop at the Sweet Ride truck again.

Me: Look out window, see Sweet Ride truck, yell: Oooooooo!!! Ask husband: Want something?
Husband: Don’t like sweets.
Me: Ok. Run outside, buy Whoopie Pie and Salted Caramel Cupcake.
Me: Return to apartment, say to husband: Want bite?
Husband: Sure. Takes bite: Mmmmm, good!
Me: Want?
Husband: Yes.
Me: Run outside, buy more Whoopie Pies!
Husband: Teach you to use articles.
Me: Teach you wife know good sh*t.
EDITING TO ADD: Yeah, so I also bought myself a Salted Caramel Cupcake. I took one delicious bite and made the mistake of putting it down for a second. Along came the Hubby, picked it up and ate the rest. All the while proclaiming that it was delicious and that he normally does not like sweets, but that I never told him the cupcake had real caramel in the center. And, wouldn’t you know it, the truck is now gone, so no cupcake for me. So sad!

Had the sweet potato cupcake. It was ok. A bit small for 3.25.
The banana pudding though was tasty, however, it too was a bit pricey in my eyes (small cup of the pudding goodness for $ 4…C’mon!) tsk tsk!
Oh well, im sure its not fun for SR having to pay for gas in this economy. Must be pricey to fill up that truck with gas .
Overall tasty but I seriously have had better and bigger (tee hee!) cupcakes at that price. Im happy at least it hit my sweet tooth today.
Off to find more food…

I ventured into Truckin’ Thursdays at Ethyl’s a couple weeks ago. Okay twice, like two weeks in a row. Just so I could grab another sweet from Sweet Ride Chi.
The first time I was there with my husband and after devouring some tamales and tacos, I got us a box of minis to split for $ 5. One black and white, one peanut butter and one red velvet. My notoriously peanut-​butter-​hatin’ husband actually like that one the best. I agreed. The black and white was good but something about that peanut butter…
I went back the next week on my own, walking back from the Blue Line to get one of their whoopie pies. I got the Whoop It Good… chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting. Holy mother. The cake is so good to start and that marshmallow frosting is out of this world. I don’t know how they get that texture and that taste but I must find out. So I can make a bowl and eat it with a spoon.

Ok. We allllllll know that we can make an entire cake with a box of Betty Crocker for the same price as a boutique cupcake. But, if you’re like me, when you make an entire cake at home, you have to pull a Sex And The City moment & squeeze Palmolive all over it to force yourself to stop eating it.
This is why I love cupcake shops… no pressure to devour an entire cake! You get one delicious piece, and you’re done. Sweet Ride is up there with the best of ‘em.
I’m currently the proud owner of a Fluffernutter Whoopie Pie… HOLY. YUM. This thing is delicious. I like the cupcakes, but the Whoopie Pie has a much better cake-​to-​icing ratio… this coming from the kid that would eat the icing and leave the cake behind.
Track down Sweet Ride & get yourself a treat!

Two words: red velvet.
Okay, two more words: whoopie pie.
Put em together and you get something so simple, so delicious, so [insert positive adjective].
The gals running [or driving] the Sweet Ride are super nice and will explain anything that is questionable, like «What exactly is a whoopie pie?» [-My question]. It started with me looking at cupcakes, particularly the trio of minis that were on display. I got to the window and inquired about the whoopie pies. Imagine two cupcake tops sandwiching marshmallow fluff. Bam. Whoopie pie.
Sweet Ride’s red velvet whoopie pie is delish beyond words. I THINK I like it better than the cupcake counterpart. Why? Well, there comes a time when eating a cupcake that there is no frosting. With a whoopie pie, you get fluff with every bite. Perfection.
The truck itself is super tiny. It’s like SmartCar small. Super pink, super girly, but do not be fooled by the femininity of this truck, because the desserts pack a punch like Pacquiao.
I can’t wait to encounter Sweet Ride again. It appears I have found a [new] dessert… one that might actually take over my fondness of cupcakes. Only time will tell.

First of all, they really do live up to their name. This lil hot pink truck with flames and spinner hubs is pretty Sweet, and full of Sweets too.
This is the first cupcake truck I’ve bumped into, so I was excited. They were unfortunetly running low on Sweets during my first encounter. I picked up an original Whoopie Pie and a Chocoloate Cupcake. I ate the Whoopie Pie myself, but shared the Cupcake. They both have a mild sweetness, which is nice that it’s not all sugar, but I favored the Whoopie Pie more. Some people have complained that Whoopie Pies are dry, but that’s by design. They are not moist spongy cupcakes, they are two rounded halves of sugary bread surrounding whoopie creamy goodness. They wouldn’t even taste good if they were make like cupcakes, not to mention they’d be a bit messy to eat.
Since my first visit, I «Liked» them on Facebook and am able to track their whereabouts, as well as sales and new items. You can also «Follow» them on Twitter.
On my last visit I picked up a Red Velvet Cupcake and a Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. The cupcake was just ok — I think it needed a bit more sweetness to it — but the Whoopie Pie was great. I guess I’m a Whoopie Pie guy (woe, that rhymes!). The Whoopie Pie did have distinct chocolate taste unlike the cupcake. Give em both a try and let me know what you think. I think I’m just hard on red velvet since my I haven’t found anyone that makes it better than my friend does.
So yes I’m a fan, and so long as they are in close proximity to where I am, I’m sure I’ll find them. I’ll probably only stick with the sales though, because the goods are a bit over priced if you ask me.

Whoopie pies: tasty but small (the one I bought was around Easter so it was in the shape of a bunny, maybe that was why)
Mini cupcake trio: good
Cupcake pop: moist red velvet. like.
Banana pudding: LOVED this.
My biggest gripe was that I think most offerings were a tad pricey.

Dude. Sweet. Dude! Sweet!
Seriously dude, this IS one sweet ride. From the moment you see the cute little pink truck with the flames on the side, you can’t help but smile. Unless you’re a dick.
So far I’ve had the banana pudding and a red velvet whoopie pie. I liked the pudding, and loved the whoopie pie! They had both red velvet cupcakes and whoopies pies, and I decided the pie was a little more unique… and I was not disappointed. I devoured it in no time, and had to fight back the urge to go back for more. I could have downed 3 – 4 of those babies easy. And regretted it later, so YAY for willpower!
The service is friendly too. On my first visit, I saw on the Twitters they had dark chocolate mousse! The lady inside said she thought she still had one left, but it turned out she was wrong, so she offered me the banana pudding for the mousse price ($ 2). The pudding is usually $ 4! She totally didn’t need to do that, and I thought it was very… sweet!
I think the prices on some of the items may be a leeetle beet high. The $ 4 for the relatively small (though probably adequate) pudding cup seems a little steep. And $ 3 for a tiny cake pop (which I haven’t tried) is a bit rich for my blood. Also, it would be helpful if they had a written list of their flavors. I think people having to ask and listen to the worker run down the list slows things down a bit. Plus, I’m a visual person and can better process my options if I can see them.
Anyway I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for the next time the little pink ride is around so I can try another tasty treat. Sweet!
P. S. Follow @SweetRideChi on Twitter to get location updates, as the ride can roll up anywhere!

Randomly found this truck so we decided to buy a whoopie pie and banana pudding. The whoopie was dry, the frosting was not what I expect a red velvet to have. The banana pudding was sweet and had a good flavor but nothing spectacular.

I can’t ever pass up an opportunity for somewhere new to get some sweets. Friend of mine told me that their red velvet whoopie pies were outstanding… So, I stalked the truck on a particular Saturday, double parked the car with cousin waiting inside (don’t worry, the windows were cracked lol) and made my way across to Lincoln and Leland for one of everything
$ 3– red velvet whoppie pie
$ 3– black and white whoopie pie
$ 4– banana pudding
Although the black and white was decent, I loved the red velevet whoopie pie. The cake was moist and fluffy, and the cream cheese filling was the perfect texture and right amount sweetness.
I wasn’t wow’ed by the banana pudding though. I thought out of all 3 items, this may be my favorite, as I usually have high standards for red velvet… Although the bananas were very fresh, I wasn’t impressed by the custard at all. It was too sweet for my blood (gasp) and in fact, sorta tasted like vanilla flavored Cool Whip… so I was bummed.
Not a bad dessert truck, but I’m still searching for my favorite one with a «must have» dessert.

She gets a star for the concept, that’s it. LOVE the truck, loved it even more that it was right there in front of me in my neighborhood when I was thinking «hrm… I could kill for something chocolate-​y and sweet right about now».
Unfortunately, the whoopie pie I had was pretty terrible. Small, dry, cake-​y, and with minimal frosting. Cute aside, for three bucks that tiny pie should be moist ‘n delicious.
Walton’s in Austin or Flying Monkey in Philadelphia… those kids know how to make some whoopie.

I think I might’ve been part of a fluke or something.
I was running errands one cold January? March? sometime in the winter afternoon and I saw Sweet Ride by the Western El station. I am a big fan of food trucks, so I walked on over and saw their offerings. Two sets of minis. One chocolate lovers and one breakfast-​type box. I asked for the chocolate lovers minis and $ 5? Really? okay fine.
Went home and opened my box to find I had gotten the breakfast box :(
One was banana bread, another mocha and one I can’t seem to remember.
Because it had been cold, I let the cupcakes warm up to room temperature. Except I don’t really think they ever did because they stayed hard at the frosting (that’s what she said), and the cake was a bit dry.
Maybe I’ll give them another shot when it’s warmer, and I’ll check before I leave to make sure I get what I ordered.

Edit: Gah! They’re called whoopie pies, not moon pies. Whoops.
I’m giving 3.5 stars for now only because I have only been able to try the red velvet heart-​shaped moon pies when the truck makes a stop close enough to work. My Twitter-​ing (?) skills suck and follow updates, er Tweets, when I can.
Notes:
— The moon pies are probably the tastiest red velvet anything (i.e. cake/​cupcake) I’ve had. You can definitely taste the cocoa. Screw cupcakes (only half-​kidding!); Helllooo moon pies.
— $ 3/​moon pie, which is more/​less the same as a cupcake from one of the many cupcake locations in town. Less or more expensive? It could be worse, right?
— They also offer banana pudding, a 3 mini-​cupcake flight, and cake pops. There’s more, I think, but I read these off the menu’s truck at the time.
— Um, there’s also a Unilocal check-​in offer for $ 5/​off on a first order and delivery with Sweet Ride via its website only. Hmmm. Very tempting offer to use for a baby’s first birthday party I’ve been invited to next month or Mother’s Day coming up… what to do, what to do.

Walking towards the Fullerton CTA stop with my head stooped staring down at the cracks in the sidewalks it was just another stressful day at school… until I look up while squinting and in the far distance I saw one HOT PINK SWEET LOOKIN’ RIDE (or at least the sexiest postal truck I had ever laid eyes on)! I had heard it existed in the foodie magazines and blogs but didn’t think it would venture outside of the chaotic, yet money-​making world of the Loop. I picked up my pace ten-​fold and stepped up the beast dominated by the lovely, young Latina baker herself, Lupita. (Who had no idea she was on Unilocal!Now she’s quite aware and offers a check-​in offer — sadly enough, Check-​ins only work downtown where her kitchen address is listed to.) Not only was next week finals but also St. Patricks Day (great timing!) so the Ride offered an adorable box of Irish-​influenced mini cupcake trio for $ 5. I remember one cupcake being made with Bailey’s and had a cute four-​leaf clover sugar charm… another consistent of green velvet with cream cheese frosting… and the third I cannot recall because I slammed it down before the taste buds could catch on. To say the least, the Pandora’s box was sealed with a Sweet Ride sticker holding not only the goodies inside, but also a true fortune stating: «Two For Me, One For You». Too bad I popped one of those bite-​sized treats, got a permanent marker and scribbled in an «n» before the «one». That’s right, «Two For Me, None For You [roommate]». What can I say, when it comes to sweets I have trouble sharing.
Side note: I noticed on YouTube that Sweet Ride sent in a try-​out video to the Food Networks Cupcake Wars show. Let’s wish our Chicago’s own the best of our luck! It’d be nice to have them own their own store/​bakery where we don’t have to hunt down the truck via social networking sites, and so they don’t have to rent out a co-​op kitchen.

Cute little jazzed up truck with a super sweet little chicky at the wheel.
Not as many flavor options as other cupcake trucks but they do offer treats other than cupcakes: two different mini cupcake boxes, chocolate and redvelvet whoopie pies, banna pudding and cake pops!
I got a box of the mini’s ($ 5), I ate them all by myself so I obviously liked them; loved the frosting but the cake was pretty dry on all 3.
Oh yes, how could I forget they also had strawberry cake pops (2 for $ 5) they were DELICIOUS, super moist and lots of flavor.
I can’t believe I spent $ 10 at the Sweet Ride but lets be honest I will probably do it again ! Though just cake pops next time!