Butter Lane hearts butter!

When we visited New York last year we stayed about 10minutes walk from Butter Lane and took full advantage, visiting on numerous occasions to pick up some of their fabulous cupcakes. They were so good we intended to take a box home but we were slightly delayed at JFK and ate them there instead - what a great way that was to say goodbye to NY.

So today I was very excited to read on Cupcakes Take the Cake that Butter Lane are featuring in the new Lurpak ad campaigns by Saatchi & Saatchi. I thought it was going to be a follow up to all those giant advertising posters that appeared earlier this year with slogans such as "one off's are baked not bought" (I'm still slightly confused re these 'cupcakes' - they are naked). Then I read again....

Saatchi & Saatchi London has launched its first campaign for Lurpak since landing the global account for the premium butter and blends brand earlier this year. The account covers all markets across the world except the UK. DAMN

The TV spots are part of a documentary film made by Saatchi & Saatchi, featuring Pam Nelson, co-owner of the New York bakery ‘Butter Lane’, telling the story of how Lurpak butter helps the cupcakes she makes “the best on the planet”.

Shot inside the bakery in the east Village, Pam Nelson talks about how she quit Wall Street to make cupcakes and enticingly shows and describes quality ingredients being put together to create a little piece of heaven, exemplifying the quality of the Lurpak brand.

It is the first in a series of films that will be created from around the world focusing on people who are passionate about the food they create (where butter is an essential ingredient in their famed product) and have an interesting story to tell

You can watch the advert here and be warned you'll get some serious Kitchen Aid envy at the beginning.

Oh and Pam isn't lying - they really are the best cupcakes in the world!!

Butch it up, Buttercup

This weeks Time Out New York has an article on where to buy 167 different flavours of cupcakes in the City, and highlights 3 cupcake bakers who offer out-there flavour choices for NYC's cupcake lovers, two of which I'd not heard of before; Butch Bakery and Robicellis.

I couldn't resist using the tagline from Butch Bakery's website as this post's title - it sums up their manifesto rather well I'd say:

Our objective is simple. We're men, men who like cupcakes. Not the frilly pink frosted sprinkles and unicorns kind of cupcakes. We make manly cupcakes. For manly men.

Their cupcakes come in 12 flavours, all of which are booze soaked in some way and you can chose which pattern you'd like on top, including the very manly camouflage. These are available via mail order in New York only at the moment - they'd make a perfect manly gift for the man in your life I'd say (although my man doesn't object to frilly pink frosted sprinkles cupcakes!)

Robicelli's seem to be a typical cupcake company when you look at their Facebook page (their website is currently being redesigned), with yummy looking tiramisu (bottom pic), chocolate peanut butter and dulce de leche, however you soon run into their Elvis cupcake - banana base, with peanut butter frosting topped with brown sugar glazed bacon. These are the cupcakes that were meant to be sold deep fried at the Park Slope Chip Shop, in Brooklyn, leading to blogger/online media frenzy labelled cupcakegate. They also do a Harry Potter inspired Butterbeer flavour with butterscotch and sprinkled with edible gold dust (hope Warner Bros have given their approval!) and a vanilla waffle cake topped with maple syrup dipped buttermilk fried chicken. A fried chicken cupcake - not sure about that but next time we go to New York I might have to pop in and sample one just to say I have!

You can access the map featuring all the places to buy different flavoured cupcakes in NY here, and the artist who created the gorgeous word cloud of cupcake flavours' site here. I want a print of this for my cupcake kitchen - it's gorgeous!

If you want to read about the cupcakes we tried while in New York last year you can type New York into the search function or check out posts from March 09 (and maybe a couple in April) as that's when we visited and ate quite a few cupcakes :)

Thanks to Kurt M Crobert (wordcloud), Time Out (map), Butch Bakery(3rd pic down) and Robicellis (bottom pic) for use of the photos.

Magnolia - a late entry to the NY cupcake tour!

Someone just asked me on Twitter if I went to Magnolia Bakery when I went to New York and I was trying to send them the post of my visit and horror of horrors I seem to have missed it off my list of places posted about! And the thing is, as much as it would seem fashionable these days to diss Magnolia we had really good cupcakes from there. The base was really moist and flavoursome and the frosting was very tasty and not too sweet (we'd been warned it was like eating sugar - it wasn't).

I'd definitely recommend a visit if you're in New York - be prepared to queue though and it's tiny!!! There's no seating except a little bench outside where people tend to pose with their cakes! We went on a weekday and the queue wasn't too bad - mainly yummy mummys and school kids - I believe at weekends, and when the Sex and the City tours are there it gets very hectic!

We went to the original Bleecker Street location - there are now 3 Magnolias in Manhattan.

Ciao for Now..and Barbie's giant cupcake

So I've nearly finished with my round up of New York cupcakes we ate, and, mostly, loved!

On the Monday we went to Times Square and visited Sephora, Sanrio and some other stores and , best of all, rode on the Toys R Us ferris wheel, in the My Little Pony carriage (There is pictorial evidence of this on my myspace page). We also saw the huge T-Rex there and it was Barbie's birthday so the entrance to her house had a giant cupcake outside :)

After all that shopping I needed a coffee, and a cupcake so on the way back to the B&C we popped into Ciao For Now, another cupcake cafe totally near where we were staying! It was a really quaint little cafe, with lots of quirky furniture, including a fish tank made from an ancient tv set.

We ordered the usual, a vanilla and a chocolate and a couple of coffees (again good coffee - do you get bad coffee in NY?). The cupcakes were ok if a little tasteless - the frosting tasted nice, but the base was a bit tasteless with the merest hint of vanilla. Manny's chocolate cupcake was very soft with lots of frosting and very chocolaty - just how he likes it.

Ciao for Now, 523 East 12th St, between Ave A and B

Batch...finally we try the bacon cupcake

On Sunday we were both feeling a bit hungover due to excess alcohol consumption at the Double Down Saloon (moto: you puke you clean...lol) so we decided to make good use of the sunshine and warmer climate to check out Shack Shack in Madison Square Park as this was one place I really didn't want to miss off our eating list! Not to go on about non-cupcake stuff too much but if you're in NY and you like burgers and milkshakes all I can say is go there! Its fab! And a great way to cure a hangover -their vanilla milkshake was so thick and creamy and scrumptious!

One of the cupcake shops I definitely wanted to try was Batch so we wandered around, looking in stores, including Williams Sonoma, sooooo overpriced but nice, and then popped into Batch to get some cupcakes for back at the B&C later. The store was really little and cute, with room for a few people to eat in and a really great range of cupcakes to choose from - I was restrained and only ordered 3 - a vanilla bean for me, a dragon devil's food for Manny and a caramel bacon cupcake to share. Yes, with real bacon!

The vanilla cupcake was really REALLY good. There were lots of specks of vanilla throughout the cake and frosting which I really like to see - its the sign of a good cupcake! Manny loved his devils food cupcake - even I was nearly swayed to have one as it looked simply gorgeous! The bacon however was a different story - I tried a small bit (with a bit of bacon sprinkle) and good god it was AWFUL, really salty and, well, bacony! The caramel was salted caramel, I think, or it may just have been the salitness of the bacon...and I hate salt caramel..yuk! Just WRONG. Manny, the human garbage can, ate it, but said afterwards he wouldn't eat another. I think bacon is best left to sandwiches with ketchup!

Just a thought - this should perhaps be renamed BLURGH ..finally we try the bacon cupcake!

Penny Licks - Williamsburg

So I'm finally getting round to nearly finishing off the cupcakes in New York blog!

On the Saturday after a seriously yummy breakfast from Ess a Bagel (pic included even though its not a cupcake I had to share!), we hopped on the Subway to Williamsburg, the capital of hipsters in NY. After a wander round Williamsburg we chanced upon Penny Licks. Oh ok I was deliberately looking for it but I had the perfect excuse for needing a cupcake - a bird had plopped on me on the way to breakfast so I was distressed!

Penny Licks is an ultra cute little vegan store - it sells ice cream and other vegan treats. It also sells non vegan stuff and being the doofus I am I forgot to check whether our cupcakes were vegan or not.

We had a couple of (really nice) coffees and the usual 2 cupcakes - vanilla for me, chocolate for Manny - to be fair that was pretty much the only choice for cupcakes anyhow! My base was really nice and moist, however the frosting was a bit too creamy/oily, which makes me think it was vegan and had oil in the frosting or something similar. Manny as usual enjoyed his chocolate cupcake - it was creamy and chocolaty!

We went back into Penny Licks (no website) after a visit to the Brooklyn Brewery and to Mugs Ale House extreme beer fest and bought two HUGE cookies (our dinner that night)! The star were really friendly, asking us about the UK and how much things cost there, and the cookies were much nicer than the cupcakes - I don't have any pics though as I was a bit "merry" by that point!

Penny Licks, 158 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Baked by Melissa...dissapointment by Anne

The NY cupcakes continue...

After a trip to the Ugg store (It was my birthday I needed insoles for my Uggs as the amount we were walking in NY wore mine out - and I may have treated myself to a new pair of boots at the same time!) we were dragging ourselves to E Houston to jump in a cab back to our B&C when I spotted a teeny tiny hole in the wall with cupcakes on offer. I was totally excited to see they were Baked by Melissa cupcakes as I wanted to try them after blogging about them previously.

We got a box with 6 flavours - cookies and cream, tie dye, red velvet, smores, cookie dough, peanut butter cup - they're mini (about a mouthful each so in reality this amounted to about 2 cupcakes). Unfortunately the cupcakes got smooshed on the way home - there was a breaking Ugg boot bag incident and everything kinda fell...however even the smooshyness of the cakes wasn't going to put me off, I had a cup of tea and wanted a cupcake... I tried the tie dye one and immediately had a sugar rush, and not in a good way. They just tasted of pure sugar, no distinguishable flavour, just sugar and maybe some oil thrown in...pah. Manny tried the red velvet and the cookies and cream (I think..they were v.squished) and even though his tolerance for sugar is greater than mine he couldn't' manage to eat them.

Cute idea but not tasty! kinda like the pig candy which I've included a pic of just so you can see it really exists!

Baked by Melissa, 529 Broadway, NY 10012

Sweet Sugar Sunshine...NY blogging continues

I have been meaning to continue my NY cupcake update, however the "a" key fell off my laptop and I had to wait to get a new keyboard so I could type properly again!

Back to the cupcakes -on the Friday (my birthday) after brunch at the infamous Katz Deli (where Harry met Sally..yes, yes, YES!!) we had a wander through Essex St Market, via Ronnie Sue's for some Pig Candy for Manny (yuk) and then we went to Sweet Sugar Sunshine to get me a birthday cupcake - I was still officially stuffed following my corned beef sandwich but I always manage to find room for a cupcake!

I had a sunshine - a yellow cake with pink frosting (if there's a choice I generally choose pink) and Manny opted for an ooey gooey - a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate almond frosting. SSS was busy but we managed to bag a table at the window of the cute little cafe and had a coffee to go with our cupcakes. The cupcakes were as good as they looked - mine had a gorgeous soft melt in the mouth base and the frosting was really yummy, nice and thick and gooey! Manny's cake was really nice and tasted of marzipan (that'll be the almond - I think there was a layer of almond jam in the frosting but I'm not sure as I only had a teeny bit!). He said they were his second favourite after Butter Lane.

And I just HAD to include a picture of Manny's pastrami sandwich from Katz's - I know its not a cupcake so please forgive my food porn moment!

Sweet Sugar Sunshine, 126 Rivington Street, NY 10002

Katz Deli, 205 E Houston St, NY 10002

I heart Butter Lane!

Following Big Booty and a lengthy walk (in all we walked over 100miles in 7 days!), we popped to Butter Lane for some cupcakes to have with a cup of tea in our B&C, (which if you're ever staying in NY I highly recommend -also Butter Lane and Ciao for Now are both less than 5mins walk away!)

Butter Lane's logo is "The better cupcake" and they aint lying! When you enter their cupcakery you are offered tastings of their frostings - in many flavours and in both French and American style - we sampled the coconut (yum) and strawberry (v.nice!). We opted for our usual 2 classics to test them, a vanilla for me, a chocolate for Manny, both with American frosting. And oh.my.god they were GOOD! In fact they would rate as one of my favourite cupcakes ever. The cake was incredibly moist with a really nice flavour and texture and as for the frosting I could've eaten it by the tub! You could see the flecks of vanilla running through it - utterly fantastic!

Butter Lane only made me want to move to the LES even more!!

Butter Lane, 123 E 7th St, NY

The New York cupcake round up begins...Big Boooty cupcakes

I heart New York even more than cupcakes. Seriously I'd give up cupcakes forever to move there and that would take a lot of willpower as there are cupcakes everywhere! While there we tried cupcakes from 9 different places - we were never going to manage to try all forty plus that I'd found and the ones we had were mostly v.good!

First up on our second day in NY was the Big Booty Bread Company. As we weren't that hungry following a hearty Ukrainian breakfast at Veselka (and to be honest I was still a bit stuffed after my banana and walnut pancakes from Clinton Street Baking Co on the Weds..the only thing I ate on the day of arrival...and even then I only ate half, Manny munched the rest!) we opted to share 2 cupcakes. According to Chowhounders Big Booty makes the best red velvet cupcake in NY. I can't say I agree...the cake itself was v.small and burnt, like it'd had shrunk in the baking and the frosting was too cheesy and sweet. Manny liked the red velvet but he has a v.sweet tooth, although he did say it wasn't one of the best he'd tried. The other flavour we shared was Dulce de leche and this was a much better cake. Base had a lovely texture and the frosting was tasty but again v.sweet, you could feel the sugar rush. I love dulce de leche but not even sure if I could've eaten a whole one of these myself!

All in all, Big Booty is a cute place to pop into if you're in the neighbourhood for a coffee and cake but not worth schlepping over town for! If I went again I'd try one of their infamous dulce de leche buns rather than their cupakes I think!

Big Booty Bread Co

261 W.23rd St, Ny

I scream for ice cream!

Another cupcake to add to the list of things to try - an ice cream cupcake from Cold Stone Creamery...yum! I have a feeling Manny will be running to the nearest one to get his hands on one of those double chocolate devotions!!!

Gorgeous!

Another place I may have to add to the New York Cupcake Tour list is Kyotofu - their chocolate souffle cupcake has been voted the best in New York by New York Magazine!

I think I can hear Manny drooling as he spots this picture!

You can order the cupcakes on line for your valentine as well :)

I like the sound of their yuza vanilla cupcake as well but it looks more like a muffin to me as its unfrosted!

These moist, light cupcakes are made with yuzu, a Japanese winter citrus fruit, and Tahitian vanilla. Recommended for sweets lovers looking for a lighter take on the usual cupcake.

Their cakes look absolutely stunning though - I hope they taste as good as they look!

I spy cake!

The awesome Cakespy have published their Totally Sweet list - their 25 most delicious bakeries of 2008 and it includes a few bakeries I plan to visit in NY, including Make my Cake which Cakespy have made me definitely want to visit!

Owner JoAnn Baylor originally hails from Mississippi, and the cakes do seem to subscribe to the laws of Southern cookery--that is to say, don't skimp on butter or sugar; use fresh ingredients; and--very importantly--make 'em pretty. These are not necessarily subtle cakes--but they are good, with light (almost springy) cake which somehow still manages to be very rich, moist and buttery, and thick, dense, frosting with a touch of "bite" to the texture. And sweet. In fact, just as we remembered it, so sweet that it would be overkill to add sugar to your coffee. To some, this may sound like a bad thing. Fair enough, although we can't say we understand you.

You can read more about their visit here. Doesn't the shop look adorable!!!? I cannot wait to go there!! I'm sure Manny'll want to check if their gorgeous voluptuous baker lady logo is based on anyone working there ;)

Thanks to Cakespy for the picture of the cupcake - there are some pics of the store/interior on their Flickr.

Made fresh daily

Thanks again to Cupcakes Take the Cake for alerting me to another great looking New York bakery for me to go and scoff cupcakes in - Made Fresh Daily

Their website isn't up and running yet but I've googled reviews and it seems like Made Fresh Daily is a new little bakery making cupcakes and some other baked goods ...hopefully they'll have some more info online soon!

Thanks to Flickr user HazelCoffee for the shot and to CTtC for alerting me to it :)

58 days to go....

And I shall be in NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can tell I'm rather excited about it - and have been since I booked the trip :) Poor Manny's been putting up with my constant counting of the days and bombarding him with places to visit (mainly food/cupcake places I have admit!).

Blondie and Brownie's blog has been one of the many fantastic sources of great cupcake places in NY that I plan to visit. At the moment my list is nearing 40 cupcake places but I think we may have to chop that down a bit - we're only there for 8 days! This is where lists such as Blondie and Brownie's round up of the best cupcakes of 2008 REALLY helps me!

It's just a pity we can't taste some of their own baked cupcakes - I know Manny would love to taste the Elvis one (bottom pic) complete with bacon 'sprinkles' but thankfully Batch are serving some bacon ones at the moment so fingers crossed he'll get his bacon cupcake fix...shudder

The top pic is Crumbs' Baba Booey cupcake complete with peanut butter cream cheese, chocolate cake and frosting, and peanut butter chips.

Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for the pics!

Models and cupcakes

Not a combination you usually see, but in Time Out's New York 100 Best food and drink 2008 round up they fed some models amongst other things a red velvet cupcake from Sweet Revenge.

“It’s very creamy, in a good way. I need water! If these desserts were in my house, I’d just keep eating them. I eat junk like crazy. I don’t know where the food goes! I only go to the gym to make fun of my friends. [Laughs]”—Celestina
“I was scared of this one at first—I thought it would be too sweet. But the cake is so moist and not too sweet at all.”—Stephanie
“The cake is perfect and the icing tastes good, though it got a little melty.”—Aneta

I cannot wait to go to Sweet Revenge, if its good enough for models, its good enough for me and I cannot wait to try their Pure cupcake, while I know Manny will be having their signature Dirty cupcake! I have to say the above pic (courtesy of Time Out NY) doesn't do their cakes justice from what I've seen!

See what else they fed the models here.

Also on their Top 100,the Green-tea cupcake at Amai Tea & Bake House.

In a city that is both health-obsessed and willing to wait hours for cupcakes, this Japanese twist on tradition should be at the top of everyone’s list: The light, moist cake and silken buttercream are balanced by the intense flavor of ceremonial-grade matcha green tea. Maybe—just maybe—the bonus ingredient’s health benefits are enough to counteract everything else.

I shall be adding Amai to the cupcake tour of NY list for sure! I think Manny will love it there- they do some rather fab looking brownies!

Its like they know we're coming...

In 101 days we shall be arriving in New York and its like some cupcake fairy is watching out for us and opening new fantastic sounding cupcake stores JUST for us to try!!

According to the experts at Cupcakes Take the Cake the cupcakes at the newly opened Butter Lane cupcakes are "one of the best cupcakes in NYC"....AND the store is about 4 minutes walk from where we are staying in NY...its fate I tell you :)

Thanks to Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake for her pics - they look fantastic! If you listen carefully you can hear Manny drool over the chocolate ones ;)

Looking for a bit of private time with your cupcake?

Lovers of cupcakes, hold onto your frosting. Magnolia Bakery has opened a private party room in its Upper West Side space (which is certified kosher), setting the stage for kids (and adults too, who are we kidding) to get together and celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or just a passion for buttercream.

The space can accommodate up to 35 adults for a cocktail party and 24 for a seated event. Rental costs start at $500 for two hours and include a choice of two-dozen cupcakes or one of the bakery’s delectable cakes.

The Children’s Party Package ($750 for 90 minutes) includes a personalized Magnolia cake, as well as pizza, juice, milk and cupcakes and, most importantly, fun for twelve children (as well as treats, coffee and tea for the adults)!

Staff-led activities include:
• Design Your Own Chef Hat
• Make Your Own Colored Sprinkles
• Cupcake Icing with Magnolia’s signature frosting

Each child takes home-customized Magnolia goody bag filled with three jars of Magnolia hand-colored sprinkles, a mini-baking utenstil set, and mini cupcake pan.

Magnolia Bakery on the UWS is located at 200 Columbus Avenue, corner of 69th Street, 212-724-8101.

From Strongbuzz.com

And another...

They are breeding like rabbits I tell you!

Ok that is it! No more looking for cupcake places in NY!

Number 33 is Lassen and Hennings in Brooklyn Heights which I've just read do FABULOUS red velvet cupcakes!

Oh yummy!