WHY BREAK BREAD WHEN YOU CAN BREAK CUPCAKES?

Amy’s Bread
672 9th Ave, Hells Kitchen

Amy’s Bread is a chain bakery with lots of goodies that can make you commit carbocide. The first time I stopped here, I had a plain ol’ vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream. The second time, not much else struck my fancy so I just had a yellow cupcake with pink buttercream frosting. The cake part is light, but the frosting is a tad bit too sugary. If they toned the sugar down a couple notches, the cupcake would be a lot better. The frosting has a little bit of a crunch to it. No, it doesn’t have anything actually crunchy on it but the consistency of the frosting is more textured than creamy. (Marina, if you are reading this-here is you cue to head to Amy’s Bread!). It was an average cupcake. Nothing too memorable about it. The cupcake was only $2.50- a very fair price. Although every location of Amy’s Bread is a little bit different, I almost always feel claustrophobic when I first get inside. Once you get past the long line of squished customers, there’s usually seating available in the back. If I happened to pass by one of their many locations, I would probably make a pit stop.

peace, love, and cupcakes
Michy

A MUFFIN IS JUST AN UGLY CUPCAKE

Kyotofu
705 9th Ave, Hell’s Kitchen

Kyotofu is a Japanese Dessert Bar and Bakery. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they had cupcakes-lots of them! I guess no place is excluded from the cupcake craze. Kyotofu’s Chocolate Soufflé Cupcake was voted "New York's Best Cupcake" by New York Magazine so naturally, I had to try it. I have to say it was very, very tasty. It was moist and chocolatey. The icing, however, was…non existent. A cupcake without frosting? That is not a cupcake. That is a muffin. We all know (or now know) that muffins are just ugly cupcakes. And boy were these ugly cupcakes. I decided to give the bakery another try since I couldn’t quite make up my mind about the first “cupcake” I tried. The second time, I got their vanilla cupcake. Their vanilla cupcakes have a hint of citrus flavoring. Yes, it is an interesting flavor…but not quite interesting enough. All in all, the cupcakes at Kyotofu are original, but not necessarily unforgettable. For $3.50-$4 a cupcake, I would probably not go back.


peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

STOP! IN THE NAME OF CUPCAKES

Cupcake Stop
Various Locations

A cupcake truck that stops at different locations in the city? Why didn’t I think of that? If the Cupcake Stop existed in Brooklyn when I was a child, I’m pretty sure I would have single-handedly kept this truck in business. Not only are there various location stops, they are constantly changing their menu. I headed to their Midtown stop for the first time on a rainy fall day. I ordered an Oreo cheesecake cupcake but got a pumpkin cupcake instead. What a happy mistake! The cupcake was delicious and very much in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday. One minor flaw-the cupcake was too soft. I felt like I needed a spoon to eat it. None the less, it was a delicious tasting cupcake for $2.50. The second time I stopped by their Flatiron stop and had a red velvet cupcake. It was fabulous! What a good idea to use a truck, you save a lot of money on rent…money that would be better spent on the cupcakes! However, word on the street is that the owner is opening an actual store location in the East Village (or as I like to call it-Cupcake Village).  Regardless, I will definitely be making more stops at this truck.

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

TO COFFEE OR TO CUPCAKE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

Starbucks

Looks aren’t everything. At least that’s what I discovered after I tried a Starbucks vanilla bean cupcake. Occasionally, I get my favorite caramel macchiato at Starbucks before work and one day was elated to see that they had a display of cupcakes amongst their other pastries. They had an assortment of vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. They all looked gorgeous. They were faultlessly shaped and perfectly frosted. They literally glimmered in the long display case. Naturally, I assumed that they would taste as good as they looked. Well, looks are deceiving. I could barely stand more than one bite of this atrocious pastry. I couldn’t believe I paid $2.25 for the cupcake-I would have been halfway to a delicious caramel macchiato with that money. When it comes to their drinks, Starbucks ensures that your coffee is just the way you want it or they will remake it immediately. I really wish they could have done this with the cupcake. But I have a feeling no amount of time in the back kitchen would result in a normal tasting cupcake. The cake was as dry as toast. Don’t even get me started on the frosting. It had no taste and was all the wrong consistency. Here’s a tip Starbucks-stick to luscious lattes and leave the baking to the experts.


peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

DELICIOUS CHIKALICIOUS

Dessert Club, ChikaLicious
204 E 10th St, East Village

Chickalicious is yet another cupcakery in the East Village. It has a very different vibe from the others, however. I wouldn’t say it is very nostalgic or domestic, but it is very modern and inviting. The décor is very sleek and sophisticated. Actually, the cupcakes are sleek and sophisticated as well. The first time I stopped there, I had a smores cupcake which was true to taste. I savored the chocolate and marshmallow combination. I had to stop by again and this time, I had a triple chocolate cupcake. Well worth the $2.50 price tag. A basic chocolate cupcake with a mousey whipped chocolate frosting and to my surprise, a chocolate center! It made the cupcake that much more tastier. Most recently, I had a smaller basic vanilla cupcake which was only $1.75. It tasted like moist sponge cake with smooth vanilla icing. It was so simple, yet it still tickled my taste buds. I would really like to know how they get their icing to be so perfectly smooth-it’s like magic! I have to give an honorable mention to their chocolate soufflé. Although not a cupcake, it is a pretty close substitute that just melts in your mouth. I have to say that I would like to be the president of the Chickalicious Dessert Club.


Peace, love, and cupcakes
Michy

THE ICING ON THE CUPCAKE

Cupcake Camp @ Happy Ending

On Friday, I dragged my friend Nicole to the annual Cupcake Camp event at a bar called Happy Ending downtown. The line sprawled around the block but luckily we were one of the first to get in. It was cupcake mania. Everywhere we turned there were new cupcakes. We tried a few, all so yummy and so beautifully decorated. I particularly enjoyed the cereal cupcake which was topped with fruity pebbles and a spoon. I also had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Ross, the author of the book The Icing on the Cupcake. Of course we both bought a copy. Jennifer was nice enough to sign it and take a picture with us. I can’t wait to read the book. It’s the first fictional cupcake book I will have read. Here’s a short overview of the plot:

In this delectable novel—complete with recipes—Jennifer Ross frosts a sweet story of a young woman fulfilling her dreams, one delicious cupcake at a time.

In Ansley Waller’s world of Southern belles and gentlemen, getting a diamond ring isn’t just important—it’s the ultimate goal. So when her fiancé, Parish, unceremoniously kicks her to the curb and cancels their upcoming wedding, Ansley is so ashamed that she decides to leave Dallas and make a fresh start. In a surprise move, she heads to New York City to live with her recently widowed grandmother, Vivian, whom she’s never met. In turn, Vivian gives Ansley a no-nonsense ultimatum: Rather than wallow in misery, either get a job or go home.

The Waller women have a tradition of baking their way out of sorrow. So Ansley mixes batch after batch of creative cupcakes—Black Bottom Heartache, Moving Blues Banana Caramel, Tres Leches Made Small. Before long, she’s opening up her own cupcake shop and even trying her hand at dating. But the ways of Manhattan’s eligible bachelors are altogether different from their Southern counterparts, and Ansley’s nearly fail-safe tactics fall flat. And worse, someone’s got a half-baked scheme to sabotage Ansley’s new life. It’ll take a cup of courage and a dash of Southern charm, plus a few secret ingredients, if Ansley hopes to pull off her recipe for success.

I’ll be back to my bitter and/or sweet reviews next week, no worries :)

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

TRICK OR TREAT, DON'T GIVE ME SOMETHING SWEET TO EAT

Something Sweet
177 1st Ave, East Village

One beautiful afternoon following a delicious brunch, my friend Amanda and I decided to hit a little bakery in the East Village aptly named “Something Sweet”. We were in the mood for, well, something sweet (not sick of the puns yet?). Most of the baked goods looked delicious. The cupcakes? Not so much. They just did not like look right, but I had to take the risk. I checked out the cupcakes and they were light brown. Bad news bearcats. I knew by the color that the cupcakes were overbaked. Ick. After very little pondering (there weren’t many options), I chose the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. Besides the fact that the cake was dry and indeed overbaked, the icing made the cupcake even worse. There is a huge difference between icing and frosting even though sometimes people use the two interchangeably. Icing is stiff and hard, whereas frosting is usually softer and creamier. For example, when icing dries and you were to pick at it, your finger would still be clean. With frosting it is usually the opposite. I do not approve of icing on cupcakes. Icing is meant for decorating cookies. Anyway, the cupcake was $1.50- cheap, but I’d rather shell out more money for a cupcake with real frosting. Next time I want something sweet, I’ll go somewhere else.


peace, love, and cupcakes
michy