A surprisingly good bakery, that is a little too happy to wear it's success on it's sleeve. In a restored factory in Southington is a little hipster foodie mecca. With axe throwing, a retro arcade, coffee, chocolate, and this bakery. I got to explore the exposed brick and large filament lights of this specific locale, and picked up some sweets from this little shop. It's very much loud and proud in it's appearances on popular food television. Having pride in your success is a good thing, but it's very much in your face about it. It also prices accordingly, making the price of the baked goods you get at least a couple bucks extra. Thankfully, the baked goods are actually pretty good. We got a couple misfits, a couple french macarons, and one of the dessert waffles they had. The misfit muffins tasted pretty good, soft and light, not too sweet, and well balanced. The French macarons, they were not too great. the filling was sweet but lacking depth. they were pretty though. The standout was the Dessert waffle. Sweet, crispy but cakey, and plenty of chocolate and peanut butter flavor. A surprising bite, and tasty. Overall, it's a good dessert place to go to and try out. Not worth a trek,but a solid choice for that specific area read more

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Hardcore Sweet is a bakery that opened in Watertown, Connecticut in 2012. It was founded by husband and wife Jeremy and Nicole Braddock. The bakery was initially founded as a cupcake truck. The two bakers were then featured on Food Network shows such as "Winner Cake All" and "Cupcake Wars", winning the latter. After that, they opened their first brick and mortar bakery. Most recently they competed on the Netflix show "Sugar Rush". A second location opened in Southington at the historic Factory Square complex in October 2021. Another location once existed at the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, but it has since closed. The locations offer cupcakes, custom cakes, cake pops, whoopie pies, cookies and muffins. I stopped at the Southington location of Hardcore Sweet for the first time this past July. Several businesses located at Factory Square were offering special menu items to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday. Factory Square is located conveniently alongside the popular Farmington Canal Trail, so I cycled there. Hardcore Sweet had several Harry Potter offerings that day, but by the time I had arrived most of them were sadly sold out. I ordered one of the few Harry Potter treats that they had left: Buckbeak's Breakfast Cupcake. It was delicious! I definitely need to come back to try more of their tasty treats on a future visit to Factory Square. I just need to get there earlier in the day when their selection is bigger. read more

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Southington's Factory Square is a former manufacturing site that's been transformed into a very cool building that reminds me of a miniature Faneuil Hall. It has such a diverse lineup within its brick walls - axe throwing, video games, a coffee roaster, a pet supply store, a ciderie, a brewery, a bakery, and a chocolatier. Factory Square's bakery has a very cool name - Hardcore Sweet Bakery.  If the name sounds familiar, you may have shopped at their Watertown location, or saw them on Food Network or Netflix in a variety of baking shows. They sell cakes, cake pops, cheesecakes, muffins, scones, cookie sandwiches, donuts, bars, Whoopie Pies and of course... cupcakes  -- lots of cupcakes. What I really liked about their showcase was that they had the names of the different cupcakes written down on the display trays to make your decision process a lot easier. We picked up two cupcakes at $4 each-  Banana Peanut Butter and Brownie Mudslide. They were both ridiculously good and believe me, you got a pretty nice sized cupcake for $4. If you're a hardcore fan of sweet baked goods, you can satisfy those impulses at the Hardcore Sweet Bakery. read more

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After hearing this bakery was on so many network TV shows I couldn't wait to try it. Walking in we quickly noticed there was a slim selection of bake good items. Since they have won first place for their cupcakes we chose a red velvet cheesecake cupcake, and a R.O. Apple cider cupcake. We could not have been more disappointed.The cupcakes were cold like they just came out of the refrigerator,and did not taste fresh. They were also dense and lacking flavor with an overpowering sweet frosting. I definitely will not be returning. read more

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Desert spot inside of a restored factory in Southington, along with a few others including Perkatory coffee, a candy store, and The Lab @ Kraftwhich. The place has been on a bunch of cooking shows/competitions, and they even won cupcake wars. I came here with my GF after visiting The Lab @ Kraftwhich for lunch. On our visit they only had a handful of pastries, most of which were cupcakes. We decided to split their cookie & Oreo cupcake, which was a little disappointing. The icing was tasty, but the cake potion was fairly flavorless The people were not the friendliest either, and it looked like they may have only had pastries for sale read more

SO impressed with the cupcakes/Big Daddy cupcake we got for my daughter and husbands bday. I reached out to Hardcore Sweet Bakery because they advertised being allergen free; there is a child with a peanut allergy in my daughters class, and even though they probably wouldn't be consuming the cupcake I wanted to make sure we were safe on all fronts. Not only were they delicious and moist, but the icing was perfect and they were decorated so well - simple but just what I had wanted. And the service we received was a plus! Will definitely be using Hardcore Sweet again for future celebrations read more

Hardcore Sweet Bakery - Funfetti cupcake with vanilla frosting - Bakeries Near Me - Southington, Connecticut

I was very excited to order cupcakes for my son's birthday given all the hype around this bakery...and their photos look incredible. Was surprised to see very little inventory on the shelves when I walked in. I had placed my order in advance but was looking forward to trying out a few other flavors. Ended up just leaving with my order as there weren't really any interesting options. The cupcakes looked good, smelled good and the frosting tasted good but we were very disappointed in the cake part...flavorless, dry and crumbly as if they were not fresh. Definitely not worth the hype...so bummed :-( read more

This was my first time here. They were pretty steady with customers. The staff was nice and friendly. All of the desserts look so delicious. Looking forward to trying the various desserts. read more

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Dry, crumbly cupcakes. Very disappointed and embarrassed to serve at my daughter's birthday party. I called and appreciated someone getting right back to me. I was offered a store credit if I brought in receipt but won't be going back. read more

We love great bakeries. My wife and I travel all over the US and Canada and one of the first things that we always look for are the best bakeries in town. We were very excited when we heard about Hardcore. When we got to the location we were even more impressed because the Exchange is a really cool venue with some really interesting and quality businesses. Unfortunately, this bakery does not make the cut. We tried different products on two different occasions because everyone is entitled to an off day or a product that isn't quite on par. The first visit was a cupcake and a blueberry pop tart. On the second occasion we had a funfetti cupcake and a brookie. These were all either heavy-handed or simply poor quality. We were really hoping this place would be amazing. read more

Made a 40 minute trip for their Harry Potter celebration and was so happy with the variety of delicious treats including a ton of vegan options! Highly recommend! read more

Both places are beautiful and there cakes are great. Vegan and gluten free options and there selection it's amazing. Check out both locations read more

I visited this location to pick up a couple desserts and was treated so rudely. I have never written a bad review before so want to be transparent. After politely asking for a cake pop, the woman behind the counter proceeded to roll her eyes and repeat a flavor option. Okay fine, a little sassy. Then while checking out, I asked if they had Apple Pay. She responded, "maybe you should read". Absolutely stunned I didn't know what to say, so I grabbed my desserts and left. I will not be returning to this location and definitely won't be recommending this business to anyone. read more

I arrived at the Southington bakery with a list of cupcakes my dinner guests had selected from Hard Core's menu in advance. Fun idea I thought...With 6 different varities on my list, they only had one in the store. Cupcake menu on the in store board was a much, much larger list than available. AND...to order ones you want to try, you must order a full dozen. Manager was very nice, but the bakery offering compared to what they offered will have me not returning. read more

The staff person was very courteous, but the cupcakes were not it at all. Overly salty and the cake base tasted like corn muffin. I love corn muffins, but I ain't paying $3-5 for one. Not sure why this was overhyped. read more

Great stuff!! Ordered a few things for Valentines day & everything was amazing! I cant wait to order more in the future!!