Is frozen yogurt the new cupcake? Just a few years ago, Madison saw an explosion of places that serve cupcakes, either standalone or in addition to their other offerings. Now we’re seeing a wave of frozen yogurt places in town. I took the hit to my waistline to review them  all.

Two CherryBerrys–one across from West Towne and the other in Monona–popped up not too long ago. The premise is self-serve. You pick from among 14 flavors (the birthday cake is too sweet) and add toppings such as gummy worms or fresh fruit. The cost per ounce is 45 cents. The interior is bright and energetic; it seems like it would be a fun hang-out for the after-school crowd (hence CherryBerry’s description as a “yogurt bar”).

Forever Yogurt has a visible location on State Street where it intersects with Gilman and Broom, though the space is quite small. It’s also self-serve (Mountain Berry is very good) and has more toppings than CherryBerry (mmm, Cap’n Crunch). However, it’s the most expensive of the group at 49 cents per ounce.

Red Mango is the veteran in this category, having opened three years ago on State Street. It’s the only one that’s not self-serve, and it only has a handful of flavors (the pomegranate was very disappointing) and toppings, which start at 75 cents each(!). There’s nothing that would entice me to return to this place, especially since Forever Yogurt is only a block away.

Finally we come to Menchie’s, located in Middleton and West Towne. It also has 14 flavors (the salted caramel was fantastic), and little cups are easily accessible so you can sample whatever you want. I also like the display case for the toppings, which is built like a jelly bean “shelf” you would find in a candy store and keeps the toppings from spilling into each other. It was priced in the middle of the pack at 47 cents/ounce.

In the end, I give the slight nod to Menchie’s over CherryBerry, but you really can’t go wrong with either. I recommend not going overboard mixing the flavors and toppings. In fact, try to keep like-flavors together, such as fruit flavors with fruit toppings or chocolate with chocolate.

One other note is that I found it interesting that both Red Mango and Forever Yogurt used to be open late on Fridays and Saturdays, but now both close at 10 p.m. Apparently students have stronger cravings for salty foods like pizza than for sweets.