NYC - IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!?

I live about 45 minutes outside New York City. It has been so much fun living so close to the city that has arguably the best of everything. So I thought it was about time to see if NYC has the best cupcakes in the country.
I did my usual research - checked websites, blogs, newspapers - and it looks like "Magnolia's Bakery" is the winner. Or should I say, my next victim? I also asked a friend of mine who has lived in NYC for quite some time, and he told me that he didn't know the first thing about cupcakes, but he somehow knew that Magnolia's was "the place."

I found out that this is the shop that many people say started the "cupcake craze." Woah - that's quite the claim. It is also famous for being featured on HBO's Sex and the City. Needless to say, I had ridiculously high expectations for this place.

Magnolia's started out with 1 shop on Bleeker St, but now has 3 locations in Manhattan. I went to the shop on Columbus Ave. The outside of the shop isn't that impressive or cute, although I thought it was fairly large for a cupcake shop. The inside was simple and slightly industrial. It felt very "New York", which I liked. Didn't try to be too cutesy like so many bakeries. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the fact that this wasn't just a cupcake shop. Although you could tell cupcakes were very important items there, they also had quite a few other tempting desserts. Big cookies, mini cheesecakes, pies, birthday cakes, etc. But I didn't let my mind wander too far. I was here for cupcakes.

It was pretty busy, but there wasn't much of a line because it moves so quickly. You order at one end of the counter, then pay for it down at the other end of the counter. I must say, I felt a little nervous when I ordered. I could tell by the impatient looks of customers behind me as well as the shop worker that I needed to be quick. That's New York. So I quickly blurted out an order of a half dozen different cupcakes (Luckily there weren't that many more varieties to choose from, so it was pretty easy). I went with my usual Red Velvet, then ordered a Chocolate, Vanilla, "Hummingbird," Carrot, and Devil's Food. The Chocolate and Vanilla were $2.75 each, and the others were $3.25.

When I got home (45 minutes later), I pulled out the white cupcake box, and I noticed a pretty big grease spot on the top of it (check out the pic if you don't believe me). I opened the box and saw that the grease spot came from the Red Velvet. Weird. But Red Velvet is my favorite, so I dove right in. Eeccchhh. Not good. It was really not good. The frosting tasted like barely sweetened Crisco. It left your mouth feeling slimy and greasy. They call it their "whipped vanilla icing." I call it Jersey Shore Hair Mousse. Not good. Really. At the shop they told me that they are also available with a cream cheese icing, but I guess that day they were out? The whipped vanilla tastes like a mistake. Like the time my adorable grandma left the sugar out of my mom's German Chocolate Birthday Cake. So anyway, I tried to move past the frosting, and just tasted the cake. Wasn't very impressive. Dry. Boring. Also - the color of the red velvet was a little crazy. I don't even wanna know how much food coloring they used to make it look like the color of Satan's cape.
Let's move on before I lose all faith in this place. I promise, the rest of it is better.

So after eating some crackers to get the grease out of my mouth, I moved on to the Hummingbird ("bananas, pineapples & pecans make up this classic southern cake with sweet cream cheese icing"). AMAZING. PERFECT. All is forgiven. It almost tasted like a spin on carrot cake (even though it didn't have carrots.) It was sooo moist, and had the perfect amount of sweetness. They totally nailed this one. I think I'll go back and order a half dozen Hummingbirds.
The Vanilla (vanilla cake w/ vanilla frosting) and the Devil's Food (with cream cheese frosting) were both really good. The vanilla cake had a great flavor but was a little dry. The devil's food was good but also slightly dry. Their frosting was great though. Both types of frosting way outshone the cakes. But I'd order both those types again.
I liked the Chocolate as well. Tasted like a really good home-made chocolate cupcake. The texture of the frosting was yummy and gooey - seemed like it would start melting off the cupcake if it were even 1 degree hotter. I just wanted to eat it with my finger.
The Carrot Cupcake might have been on steroids, or some kind of cupcake enhancing drug. It is not for your average carrot cake eater. I think you have to really love carrot cake to like this one. Luckily for me, I love carrot cake. It had so much going on: "freshly grated carrots, coconut, pineapple, raisins and walnuts with cream cheese icing". Very complicated little thing, but I loved it. Also, I found it interesting that the cream cheese icing was different than the one they used for the Devil's Food and the Hummingbird. It wasn't nearly as sweet, but much more "cheesy" instead. Magnolia's Carrot Cupcake isn't to be taken lightly. I'd eat it again in a heartbeat though.

Overall, I loved Magnolia's Bakery. I would probably give them an A- or maybe a B+. I had really high expectations, and I wasn't let down. For the most part. But if I were just grading them on their Red Velvet, I would fail them for sure.
I noticed on the menu that there are quite a few other flavors (like S'mores and Caramel) that weren't available the day I was there, but I'll probably go back to try.

Best in the country? Probably not. Best in NYC? Maybe.

So maybe it's time I take my journey out West.

A dozen cupcakes would make me forgive just about any indiscretion.

Best of Philly?

I was having another cupcake craving (I'm 8 months pregnant ya know) so I figured it was a good time to continue my Cupcake Quest. My 2 year old and I tagged along on another one of my husband's business trips - this time to Philadelphia. So the cupcake place I wanted to try was an easy choice because of a little award called "Best Of Philly 2008." And the big winner was..... Cupcakes Gourmet (actually in Frazer, PA). How could a cupcake shop with an award like that be bad?? So I was completely excited to try this place, but I was a little nervous because I had very high expectations.

Cupcakes Gourmet is on some random street, in sort of a "strip mall area." Obviously this is a place that you would need to know about. it's not the kind of place you would just walk by and go in. The shop looked decent - they had a big banner out front boasting their "Best Of" award.

The inside of the shop was cute, small, and simple. I was the only customer in the shop at the time. The woman that was working there that day was totally helpful and nice, and she offered me a free cupcake with my purchase just because it was my first time in! Bonus!!! The only thing better than cupcakes are FREE cupcakes. :) I was excited to find out that they make all their cupcakes in regular size and mini size - I love mini cupcakes! So I bought a dozen minis, which was practically every flavor available.

My favorite part about Cupcakes Gourmet was their "dipped" cupcakes. They have this cool way of dipping just the top part of the cupcake into a dark chocolate ganache. They only do it with certain flavors like Peanut Butter Cup, Dark Chocolate, Triple Chocolate, and Raspberry/Dark Chocolate. So it's basically a regular frosted cupcake, but on top of the frosting is a layer of amazingly delicious ganache. My favorite out of those was the Raspberry/Dark Chocolate. It was dark chocolate cake with raspberry frosting dipped in the ganache. I just loved the contrast between the sweet raspberry frosting and the bittersweet ganache.

The other cupcakes I tried were all pretty good. My only problem with some of them was the fact that the cake part was a little dry and boring. Especially the chocolate cake (used in cupcakes like choc/vanilla, milk choc, triple choc, dk chocolate, etc.) The best cake of all the cupcakes was used in the Carrot cupcakes. It was a really good, moist cake, and the frosting was good too. Good solid carrot cupcake. However, the frosting on most of the cupcakes was really good. Especially the Strawberry cupcake (tasted almost like it had little bits of strawberry, but I wasn't sure). The frosting on the Lemon cupcake was excellent as well - had the perfect amount of lemon tartness. The only problem with both the strawberry and lemon is that they just used normal vanilla cake for the cake part. I felt like the cake part should have been fruity as well. The vanilla cake was like the chocolate - it was just...okay. Ya know what I mean?

I also tried the Red Velvet, since that is my specialty. :) It wasn't bad. Definitely a decent RV cupcake. But I felt like the frosting could have been a little more "cream-cheesy" and the cake could have been a little more dense and moist.

So overall, I definitely had a good experience at Cupcakes Gourmet. It still doesn't compare to my precious and perfect Sprinkles Cupcakes, but it was still good. I can't complain. Best of Philly though? I find that hard to believe. In a city that size, there's got to be something better, but I could be wrong.

So I will continue on my quest to find the best cupcakes in the country.

Cupcakes make my world go round.
T

DC CUPCAKES MAKE ME PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

Most people go to Washington DC to check out the sites, learn more about our nation's history, or to get a glimpse of modern day politics in action. I went to DC with one thing in mind - Cupcakes. Of course. My 2 year old daughter and I tagged along with my husband who was on a work trip visiting his stores in Maryland and Virginia, so my time in DC was limited. I checked out some food reviews and DC blogs, and I decided that Georgetown Cupcakes was the place I needed to go.

I have to say, the drive to the Georgetown area was a major highlight of my Cupcake Quest. We crossed over the Potomac River which runs in front of Georgetown University. Such a cool setting. Spring time in the DC area is breathtaking.

Georgetown Cupcake is on a busy street with lots of cute shops and restaurants. There are people walking everywhere. It's a cool area with a fun vibe.






We were there on a Wednesday afternoon, so there wasn't too much of a line. Apparently on the weekends, the line can sometimes run out the door and down the street. We only waited for about 5-10 minutes.


Georgetown Cupcakes is a cute shop - simple and modern. It's mostly black and white with hints of pink. I absolutely love how they have their cupcakes displayed. Every flavor is on its own 3-tiered stand with labels on the top so you know exactly what it is. I hate when you go into any kind of dessert shop and you have to ask the clerk what every single item is because nothing is labeled. The stands and labels made the whole process much easier. By the time it was our turn to order, I didn't have any questions, I was able to go ahead and order.


I ordered half a dozen cupcakes for Shawn, Lucky, and I to try, and I ordered half a dozen more for Shawn's store employees. Every cupcake is frosted and decorated perfectly, and they package them up in cute pink boxes. Obviously presentation is important here. I couldn't wait to try them!






So here are the 6 I ordered and tasted, and here's what I thought about them (my husband gave me his thoughts on some too):


Red Velvet: This flavor is my obsession, so I never leave a cupcake shop without a Red Velvet Cupcake. I consider myself a "Red Velvet Purist." The RV here was very good - could probably hold its own with the best of them. The cream cheese frosting was pretty much perfect, and the cake was dense and moist. Overall, I was happy with my RV cupcake.
Carrot: This flavor is Shawn's favorite. The cake was excellent - many carrot cakes are too "spice cake-y" but this was a good "carrot-ness." And the cake wasn't too sweet, so the very sweet cream cheese frosting made it a perfect combination.
Chocolate Vanilla: The vanilla cream cheese frosting was excellent, and the chocolate cake was definitely decent.
Chocolate Banana: This one was probably my favorite. The cake part tastes almost like a perfect chocolate banana bread, and the banana cream frosting was like no frosting I've ever had (especially because I'm not really a banana flavor lover). This cupcake was completely amazing.
Lemon Berry: I ordered this cupcake simply because it was pretty (the frosting was a cute pink color, and it was garnished with a little gummy lemon wedge) and because it sounded interesting. Classic example of how looks can be deceiving. This cupcake was not good. Not even a little bit. In fact, it was awful. The frosting totally ruined it. I'm not sure what flavor they were going for, but all I could taste was a weird, almost chemical taste (almost like someone had sprayed some kind of household cleaner on it). The frosting didn't taste like lemon or berry, it sort of tasted fermented, and it left a horrible after taste. Maybe if I had scraped off the frosting and just ate the lemon cake, it would have been fine. Yuck - what a disappointment.
Cherry Blossom: I'm not sure if this flavor is always available there, or if it was just because I was there during the famous Cherry Blossom festivities, but I'm sure glad I had the chance to discover it! I am not a cherry person at all, but I absolutely loved this cupcake. Shawn said this one was probably his favorite. The frosting was heavy on the cherry flavor, but that is probably why it was so good. And the cake part had little cherry chunks in it. Almost like a muffin with fruit chunks. The only reason why this cupcake wasn't my favorite is because it almost tasted like a breakfast pastry instead of dessert, but I still loved it. What a cool flavor!

So there's what I know about cupcakes in the DC area. Overall, I am super pleased with Georgetown Cupcakes. They are the only thing that has come even close to the famous (and my very favorite) Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills.

Wish me luck on the rest of my Cupcake Quest.

Happy Cupcaking!!!