Speaking of Cupcakes..

In my daily catch-up-with-the-world hour that I take at work every morning, New York Magazine is the first thing I go to for seeing what's up in New York, after emails and news in three continents.

As I love cupcakes (really, whoever says they don't is kidding themselves), this article I found today in NY Mag was fun to read. You might find it fun too.

In my walkings around this big town, I have sampled cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop as well as Buttercup Bake Shop, of which Buttercup was by far better. It was smaller, moister, less sickeningly-just-sugar-in-everything sweet. The ever famous Magnolia has yet to be tried, but the word is that the hype outweighs the product by much. We shall see.

But by far the funnest cupcake place I have seen is this place, called Baked By Melissa, in SoHo. (or is it NoHo? Lower East Side? Really, all the neighbourhoods in Manhattan tend to mould into only a few: Upper East, Upper West, Midtown, Below Midtown). Anyway, about the cupcakes. They were being sold out of a tiny tiny teensy window on Spring St. between Mercer and Broadway. Open 11-8 everyday, the funnest thing about this place is that it sells really teensy TINY cupcakes, they're probably about the same size as a AUD$1 coin - probably smaller.

Though probably a tad more expensive if you really are comparing to the bigger cupcakes out there, Baked By Melissa sells itself on the idea that "[when] You wander into a sweet selling bakery thinking maybe you'll order something... But when that door shuts behind you, you suddenly need to taste everything in sight". Thus the miniature cupcake was born, and you really can eat them all in one tiny delicious little bite. Flavours include Cookie Dough, Red Velvet (so delicious and moist, though really, with a cupcake that small, it's difficult for them to be dry, I'd imagine), Cookies & Creme, S'mores, Peanut Butter and Jelly (JAM), the ever American flavour of Peanut Butter Cup and Tie-Dye.

We tried Red Velvet, of course, Cookies & Creme and S'mores. They were all good, but I was really hankering after the Peanut Butter Cup, which was sold out. Oh well. Red Velvet was particularly good in my opinion, but then again, this town tends to do Red Velvet particularly well. Buttercup Cake Shop does a great version as well. Prices at Baked By Melissa are 3 for $3, 6 for $5.50, 12 for $10, 25 for $20, 50 for $37.50 and 100 for $70. So, really, it's just cheaper if you buy 100, plus they're so tiny it doesn't really count.

Baked by Melissa is right next to Cafe Bari, and the cupcakes look like this:

(Taken from http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/)

This interview with Melissa Bushell, owner of Baked By Melissa, gives you more photos and more info. Om nom nom.