BAKING IS A SCIENCE, NOT AN ART

Cupcake Café
18 W 18th St, Flatiron

Striking cupcakes. Striking bakery. Not so striking taste. The designers of the cupcakes at Cupcake Café are truly artists. The floral patterns on each cupcake are detailed, beautiful, and colorful. The cupcakes, however, are not as delicious as one would hope. What distracts you from the taste of the cupcakes is the layout of the bakery. Cupcake café on one side, children’s library on the other. There are tons of tables to sit at and chat with friends. There are dancing cupcakes hanging from the ceiling (see above). Anyway, back to the important stuff.  The first taste I took was of a vanilla/vanilla cupcake. The whole cupcake was just…tough. I didn’t feel the immediate sugary rush of moistness when I bite into a well-made cupcake. My second taste was of the chocolate cupcake with mocha buttercream. Just as bad. I had a few bites and threw the rest out. Oh the risks I take for my cupcake adventures. When you cut into a cupcake, it should crumble a bit-not stick together uniformly. This is possibly partly due to the cupcakes being refrigerated. I understand that these cupcakes in particular need to be refrigerated so the intricate designs don’t melt but taste should never be sacrificed for appearance, especially when it comes to cupcakes. The $2.50 price tag is way too high for a tiny cupcake. This bakery had such potential. What a shame that the bakers are more preoccupied with outer cupcake beauty rather than inner.


peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

DO YOU KNOW THE CUPCAKE (WO)MAN WHO LIVES ON BUTTER LANE?

Butter Lane
123 E 7th St, East Village

When you walk inside Butter Lane, you are transported to another era. There is the soft sound of 1940’s music in the background. Kitchen appliances and other domestic décor surround you. Immediately, you feel as if you have entered an episode of Leave it to Beaver. I was expecting June Cleaver to come out in her apron and present me with a sugary treat. This cupcake shop definitely has the most options, which would excite any cupcake enthusiast. There is a list of cake flavors as well as frosting flavors to choose from. You can mix and match basically anything you want. Since I was a bit overwhelmed by the options, I took the recommendation of an employee and had a vanilla cupcake with maple frosting. It wasn’t the best cupcake I’ve ever had, but I still enjoyed it. During my next visit, I had a chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting. The cake was soft, but a little dry. The icing was a bit tangy-luckily, this worked very well with the sweet, chocolate bottom. The cupcake was topped with a fresh raspberry. Unfortunately, the cupcakes are a little overpriced…a small cupcake is $3. On the plus side, they offer frosting shots for $1. What a great idea, especially for those people who just want the frosting rather than an entire cupcake. I stop here very often…the cupcake combinations are almost endless. While recently wandering with my friends from college, we decided to stop inside. I was so full from dinner but of course I couldn’t resist the temptation. I had a delicious chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I am thrilled to say that I know the cupcake woman who lives on Butter Lane.


peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Pinisi Café
128 E 4th Street, East Village

This place is a little hole in the wall that can be easily missed if you are not looking for it. At first glance, there’s an adorable cupcake sign sprawling up and down the door (see above). When you step in, you are immediately faced with a wide array of baked goodies. I was having trouble deciding between the red velvet cupcake and the rainbow cupcake. Decisions, decisions. The one employee behind the counter was of no help. He insisted that they were both equally delicious (soon after, I discovered said employee is a bad judge of cupcake character). I decided to be adventurous and chose the rainbow cupcake. First impressions were great. The cupcake had layers of fun colors with a chocolate glaze frosting. It was a pretty large cupcake for $3.50. I then proceeded to take a bite of the multicolored cupcake. It turns out adventure should NOT be my middle name. I didn’t realize that the cupcake would taste very much like Italian rainbow cookies. Now I know most people love those cookies, but I for one loathe them. The cupcake had a weird taste and was quite chewy-frosting included. I don’t care what type of taste you’re going for, frosting should not be chewy. It just wasn’t the type of consistency I look for in a cupcake. With that said, I would still give this place another shot-but next time, I will play it safe and get vanilla/vanilla.

peace, love, and cupcakes
Michy

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY (SOMETIMES) ONLY SUNSHINE

Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington St, Lower East Side

Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a quaint, cozy cupcake shop in the Lower Eastside. The first time my friend and I stopped here, I had a yellow cupcake with vanilla buttercream. The cake had just enough sugar in it….it didn’t taste overbearingly sweet. The icing was light but rich. My friend had a summer specialty cupcake-a strawberry cupcake which was absolutely delicious. The cupcakes all have original nicknames…so fun! Who wouldn’t want a Sexy Red Velvet Cupcake or a Sunshine Cupcake? The price is also great…$1.50 for a perfectly sized cupcake. Fast forward to a couple months later…thoughts of sugar sweet sunshine jumping in my head. I decided to get a red velvet cupcake this time…boy was that a bad decision. It was one of the worst cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. How could a place so great create such a heinous cupcake? The cupcake had buttercream frosting, which is rare for red velvet cupcakes. Most of the time they are dressed in cream cheese frosting. Red velvet cake and buttercream might just be the worst cupcake combination ever but regardless of the choice of frosting-both parts of the cupcake were disgraceful. Sugar Sweet Sunshine still holds a large place in my cupcake heart…just not all of it.

 

peace, love, and cupcakes

michy

“Who throws a cupcake-honestly?”-Dr. Evil

Babycakes
248 Broome St, Lower East Side

I have to disagree with doctor evil, I would like to (and have) thrown a Babycakes cupcake…in the garbage. I applaud this bakery for making gluten-free cupcakes but not only are they gluten-free, they are also taste-free. When I first walked in, I took a quick look at the choies and asked for a vanilla cupcake. The first question I was asked was “spelt or non-spelt?”. My response, naturally, was-“huh?”. Apparently, spelt is a regular flour cupcake while non-spelt is a wheat free cupcake for those with gluten allergies. I had a vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream for a whopping $3.25. I’m sure the high price tag is to recoup costs for expensive gluten free ingredients. The cupcake was well presented but it had a weird, grainy texture. It was very dry…it tasted more like a bran muffin than a cupcake. I tried my friend’s red velvet cupcake that I had gotten her and it had way too much cocoa in it. Big no no. You could practically taste pockets filled with cocoa in the cupcake. Being the nice person that I am, I decided to give Babycakes another try. This time, I got a specialty cupcake-the salted caramel cupcake for $3.50. I figured since it was a little more expensive, it would be a little more tasty. I was wrong. The cupcake had the same grainy taste as the first time. It tasted like unmixed pancake batter. Worst part of all, it leaves a horrible after taste in your mouth. Ick. I can see how this place is a lifesaver for cupcake lovers who are allergic to gluten…or dairy or eggs or soy or dairy. But, sorry Babycakers, a cupcake without milk, eggs, flour, or butter is not a real cupcake.

Peave, love, and cupcakes
Michy

YOU BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP BABY, BUT YOU DON’T LET ME DOWN

Buttercup Bakeshop
973 2nd Avenue, Midtown East

At first I had a strong animosity for this bakery because I had heard it has the same owners (and thus the same recipes) as Magnolia Bakery. Fortunately, one of my best friends is an avid Buttercup fan so I decided to give their red velvet cupcake a try. Good thing I loved it because otherwise I would never be able to attend said friend’s birthday parties. Her birthday cupcakes of choice are almost always from Buttercup :) Nowadays, I never pass the midtown area without stopping in to get a red velvet cupcake from Buttercup. The tangy cream cheese icing complements the red velvet cake perfectly! It’s a great price at $2 per cupcake. Recently my friend and I stopped by for coffee and cupcakes. We split a vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream and it was delicious! The frosting was better than the cake, however. It was creamy but not too sweet-kind of like a melted Hersheys chocolate bar. The shop itself is very colorful. As soon as you walk in, the rainbow display of baked goodies certainly catches your eye. The counter girls were super friendly. They wished us a happy new year with a huge smile on their faces. Happy employees=happy customers. Buttercup, I need you more than anyone darling, you know that I have from the start (okay, maybe not). So build me up, buttercup-don’t break my heart.


Peace, love, and cupcakes
Michy

“Well, that’s real swell, but it still doesn’t get the cream in the cupcake.”-Samantha Jones

Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleecker St, West Village

Magnolia Bakery is probably the most famous bakery on this list. I have come to find that you either love this place or hate it. I, for one, am the latter. This bakery rose to fame after its infamous cameo in Sex and the City. A cupcake more popular than the actors who eat them? VERY POSSIBE IN CUPCAKE LAND. As soon as I saw the episode where Carrie chats with Miranda on a bench while eating a Magnolia cupcake, I HAD to try one. I’ll admit it, the first time I had a Magnolia cupcake, I gobbled up the pastel colored treat. It was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. I think I was more drawn to the essence of Carrie Bradshaw rather than the essence of the taste. It was, after all, so exciting to be eating the same cupcake that Carrie once had. The second time I had it, the taste overshadowed the glitz and glamour of the bakery itself. In my opinion, the frosting is WAY too sweet-almost nauseating. The cake is moist, but that alone can’t save a cupcake. The worst part of the whole experience at Magnolia is waiting behind 50 people who yearn to have a taste of the too sugary confection. Now that there are 2 other locations besides the infamous West Village location, the appeal of the small, adorable cupcake shop is dwindling as it becomes just another bakery chain.

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy