Jessica’s Cupcake Café PC review

Jessica’s Cupcake Café is a time management game. You play as Jessica, whose Aunt Margaret is struggling with her bakery business. Jessica overhears a conversation and offers to help. She suggests that converting the shops in the chain into cupcake vendors would be a good way to attract business.

You begin in a shop which contains all of the basics you need to get you going. In each level, you can either make the cupcakes that are suggested, or create your own design. Make cakes from funky coloured sponge, with bright icing and mad toppings. Pick and choose what you want to serve your customers. Then you’ll have a certain amount of time to fill up your display case with cakes before your shop opens to the public.

As well as choosing the sponge, baking it, icing it then topping it, you must also tend to the other needs of your customers – drinks. They’ll request water, coffee, hot chocolate and milk. You can also have a machine which dispenses sweets to give to your customers when they become disgruntled.

The game is a mad race to balance making more cakes and tending to your customers before their hearts run out and they storm off. Serve them quickly, but if you neglect the cake-making, you’ll soon realise you don’t have anything to sell your customers, and it can all go very wrong from there!

Remember, the more quickly you serve your customers, the more they’ll pay and increase your chances of collecting the required amount of money to complete the level.

Of course, you are helped out with power-ups. Some customers carry bonuses like multiplying your earnings, filling up your customers’ hearts, speeding up your machinery, filling your display case or making Jessica run like the wind. All will obviously help, but use them wisely as they’re not infinite.

Upgrades are available each level, providing you have enough money to pay for them. You can upgrade your machinery or buy in better drinks to maximise your profits. Choose wisely so you’ve got the best tools you can have to help you progress.

Another added bonus is that the game includes a built in cookbook, which contains real cupcake recipes. So, if the reason you’re playing the game is because you love cupcakes, then you’ll love it even more when you discover you can make your own tasty treats at home from supplied recipes!

Overall, this is a great game. The graphics and sound aren’t majorly sophicated, but then I don’t think they need to be in a game like this. What matters is the fun factor, and Jessica’s Cupcake Café has this in oodles. It’s not overly challenging, but is long enough to keep you entertained for a good long time.

Jessica’s Cupcake Café is out now.