Kara's Cupcakes (Napa, CA)

I went to Napa with a friend yesterday for a quick trip to taste some wine and eat some great food.  I stopped in at Kara's Cupcakes located at 610 First Street in the Oxbow Market.  What a nice market!  Kara's was very inviting and the cupcakes were the main feature.  Just cupcakes. The cupcakes were labeled so I didn't have to guess the cake and frosting flavors.  The staff was helpful and the packaging was nice.  I traveled from Napa back to Tahoe without a single cupcake turning over. 

I bought four cupcakes - lemon, chocolate, java & coconut.  The cake part of all four was excellent - moist and flavorful.  Some of the cupcakes had either Swiss meringue or Italian meringue buttercream frosting.  No offense to Kara's but I do not like these frostings.  They are not sweet.  I know all the famous cake designers (Sylvia Weinstock, Martha Stewart, etc.) use these but there just is no taste and they are not sweet.  It is like eating a plain stick of butter.  Next time I will just choose the cupcakes without the meringue frosting. 

The coconut cupcake was the best!  The icing was sweet and had just enough coconut flakes to add a pleasant coconut flavor without being overpowering. 
I enjoyed the entire Kara's experience and will definitely be going back.