I think everyone loves cupcakes. Its a no-brainer. Its something that comes in a huge variety of flavor combinations, decorated in all different ways, and you can just pick one up and pop it in your mouth with little fuss. Cupcake fans throughout time, along with the cupcake craze of recent years, need not be explained. Sweet treat = yum.
Read on, as I share with you my own personal cupcake favorites, and not-so-favorites, from the NYC area:
1. The Bent Spoon
This tiny little spot in Princeton, NJ has some of the absolutely best cupcakes I’ve ever had. The cake is always soft and moist, the frosting addictively buttery and flavorful, with just the right amount of sweetness. I’m not a fan of the overly sweet, and I love the savory flavors that shine through this butter frosting. They keep it simple with golden cake or chocolate, organic eggs, and really fresh and good quality ingredients. And they come in two sizes: regular and mini. Get the mini’s because its fun to toss a whole cupcake in your mouth like Greedy Smurf.
2. Billy’s Bakery
Billy’s Bakery cupcakes are definitely some of the best, with great texture, moistness, and sweet icing that still retains a real balanced flavor. Their Manhattan locations, painted in pastel colors, are cute as hell and a really fun place to pick out a pretty cupcake and sit at a cozy table with some coffee and a friend. Incidentally, Billy’s also makes other great sweets, including some dope Banana Cream pie… but that’s for another time.
3. Ciao for Now
This little family-owned cafe and bakery has three locations in Manhattan. I first sampled one of their cupcakes at a work function. There was a pretty little tray full of mini’s in chocolate and vanilla. Needless to say every time I got bored at that party I took a swing back around past the cupcake tray. They were irresistible. Ciao for Now also makes an array of Vegan treats, equally as awesome.
4. Magnolia
Sorry to rain on anyone’s parade, but Magnolia Cupcakes are not amongst my favorites. As I mentioned, I’m not a fan of super sweet cupcakes, which I find these to be. I first tried a Magnolia cupcake probably ten years ago and I could only handle a quarter of one cupcake. I recall describing it as eating a pancake with fudge on it. After many years, and lots of hype (after being a location on Sex & the City) the cupcakes are a little different, but still not my personal favorites. I understand why so many people like them however: They look great, are piled super high with sweet frosting, and have sort of become a piece of NYC novelty. Wah wahhhhhhh.
5. The Treats Truck
The Treats Truck does all its baking in Red Hook, Brooklyn, then packs up a mobile unit they’ve so appropriately named “Sugar” and bring the sweets to the masses in Manhattan, parked in various locations throughout the city. The Truck, which runs on compressed natural gas, delivers all sorts of treats from cookies to cupcakes to… dessert nachos?!?!?!?! Again, these cupcakes are more to the sugary sweet side, and I can almost feel my teeth hurting just thinking about it. But if that’s your thing, do it up. The cake is pretty moist, and they are always really fresh.
So thats the skinny on some sweet spots in the city. I’m certain I have missed many cupcake spots that deserve accolades, so please comment with your favorite spots! (Seriously, if you know where to find a good cupcake you better tell me.)
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Babycakes is the (vegan) cupcake bomb: http://www.babycakesnyc.com/
I love the vanilla (the regular one, not gluten-free) with vanilla icing: moist, not too sweet, not too thick with the icing… Mmm…