While in New York, I decided I wanted to go on a cupcake taste test to find the best cupcake in New York City – and see if they compare to our Seattle cakes. It was sold to Kevin as a great way to explore the city and, let’s be honest, who can say no to a cupcake, or two…or four.
Four it was. Four different shops we sought and tested. I’ll admit, even I was a little cupcake overloaded. What I found interesting right off the top was three of the four places had more than just cupcakes. A cupcake shop with cakes, pies and other goodies? Is that right? It kind of ticked me off because then I wanted to try more things. I refrained though, so I could stuff my face with more cupcakes.
The day started at Make My Cake, right by Dentler. She’s so lucky because this was one good cupcake! I’m somewhat of a traditional eater. I don’t like to eat dessert before dinner, I’ll eat sweet things like french toast for breakfast but a cupcake just seems weird to me. I sacraficed though because I knew I had a lot of cupcake eating to fit in to make this a true quest. Because it was “breakfast” I shied away from my very predictable taste buds that always say chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and had the red velvet with buttercream frosting. The cake was perfectly moist and the buttercream frosting was to die for. I also have issues with what I call equal distribution. When I have a bite of cupcake, I need to have some cake and some frosting. I don’t want all frosting. And all cake with no frosting is a wasted bite. Make My Cake, made my morning with the perfect frosting to cake ratio. Cupcake stop #1 – great success.
Next we hit up Magnolia Bakery in Rockefeller Center. It’s not the original Magnolia as seen on Sex in the City but it’s what we were close to and it was time for a cupcake. Magnolia was decorated really cute and homey inside and you could see their employees frosting the cakes so you new they were fresh. These were smaller than Make My Cake cupcakes, but they were actually a good, normal size cupcake that you don’t feel a sugar high after eating (I personally don’t have this problem but Kevin got the sugar shakes by the end of the day!). I stuck to my fave and had a chocolate cupcake with pink vanilla icing. The cake was good, not crumbly. The frosting was also nice and light and equally distributed. Magnolia gets two thumbs up from me. I don’t know that it was better than Make My Cake but the size was nice so depending on how cupcake hungry you are, either would be a delightful choice.
Next stop, the West Si-ide where we found our final two cupcake destinations Buttercup Bake Shop and Crumbs. If you don’t know the story, the Buttercup lady was a co-owner of Magnolia. There was some drama with the two and Buttercup lady split from Magnolia lady and started her own business. With my newly made cupcake fasination I’ve been reading things online about this Buttercup lady. She sounds kind of crazy- one blogger got in trouble for taking a picture of the cupcake case. Anyway, we didn’t get to taste test these until the next day because it was just way too many cupcakes in a day, so the rating might be a little skewed. I again had the chocolate cake and vanilla icing and figured it’d be very similar to Magnolia’s. And it was – sort of. The cake was dry (day old though) and the frosting wasn’t light and fluffy yummy but fluffy, all I could taste was frosting because there was way too much (for my liking. If you’re a frosting person, you’d probably prefer buttercup). That said, no equal distribution makes this cupcake rater sad. I’d try Buttercup again but in this taste test, it didn’t do it for me.
And finally, Crumbs. The big, bad cupcake CHAIN! I didn’t realize it was a chain until I hit up their website but these cupcakes are all.over.the.place. Buyer beware! When you walk into their store you are mesmerized by the beautifully decorated cupcakes. I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped and was sitting on the floor for ten minutes – which is about how long it took us to decide what to order. They are SO PRETTY and come in all sorts of crazy flavors like Baba Booey, Blackout, Grasshopper, Strawberry Banana. We wanted to try them all! But they are pricey. $3.75 for a giant cupcake can add up fast when you want to try them all! We selected four and decided to take them to our fabulous hosts for dessert on our last night in the big city. Then we found another one we wanted to try, bought it and ate it right there in the shop without shame! (Maybe a little shame, my tummy was starting to get pissed.) They looked so good that they had to taste good, and they did. But what I soon found out was most of them have crap in the middle. Like the jelly in a jelly donut. If you’ve been paying attention, crap in the middle cannot make for equally distributed bites! I don’t like crap in the middle but if you do, you will find all kinds of crap to choose from. I did eat one more later that night, back to the basics – chocolate with buttercream coconut frosting. It was good. Kind of crumbly but the frosting was tasty. And these cupcakes are so awesome to look at, I’d totally go back, even though it’s a giant monster chain that appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice.
How do they compare to our Seattle cupcakes you ask? Well, I’m on the fence. For some reason I loooove Cupcake Royale frosting. But, their cake is a little crumbly, which is a shame. And I hate the “muffin top” style where the top of the cupcake hangs over the edge (it’s an equal distribution thing). But I keep coming back to that delicious frosting. I want one right now just thinking about it. And compared to Trophy, I really don’t know. Everyone seems to love Trophy but KMJ blacklisted them so I’ve blacklisted them with her. They wouldn’t sell her 12 cupcakes because she didn’t pre-order them. The logic is sort of there but their customer service was the pits. Plus they have all sorts of crazy flavors, like Crumbs, that make it hard for me to decide. (Yes, I realize most people would find this a good thing…)
If I could have Make My Cake cake, Cupcake Royale frosting, Magnolia’s size, Crumbs prettiness, I think that would be my perfect cupcake. Who am I kidding though, I’d eat any of them. I love cupcakes like a fat kid loves cake.
***Blogger Update, 5/21/09***
I am happy to report that my “perfect cupcake” may just exist afterall! Cupcake Royale has a new cake!
