Cupcake Stop - the best idea ever?

I spend most of my days wishing I was in New York (sad...but true), and reading about cool new NY stuff like Cupcake Stop just is not helping my "homesickness" for NY! pout

Started by a recent graduate that realised he wasn't going to get employed this year due to the ongoing credit crunch it sounds right up my street!

Our business concept is short and simple - Serve New Yorkers delicious cupcakes on THEIR terms.

We know how stressful and fast-paced this city can be, so we park our truck in easily accessible locations and always have fresh cupcakes waiting!

Our cupcakes are baked from scratch daily.

We are committed to using the freshest and highest quality ingredients, creating a taste you won’t find anywhere else. We take our commitment to quality seriously, so every cupcake that we sell is fresh and any unsold treats are donated to City Harvest to feed the less fortunate.

Our little cupcake shoppe’s menu features traditional and unique flavors that you’ll absolutely love. Our highly experienced pastry chef is never satisfied and constantly pushes the envelope with new scrumptious creations. Be sure to check our Menu regularly for our daily specials!

I love the whole NY food truck thing -they have a great choice (We kept meaning to check out Treats Truck but never managed to be in the right place at the right time!) of foodstuffs, and this sounds like an absolute winner! Check out their menu to see their fab range of flavours, including black and white cookie..yum!

I'd love to set up something similar in the UK - if only I could drive!

Thanks to Serious Eats NY for alerting me to the existence of Cupcake Stop and to Cupcake Stop for the pics - doesn't their tye dye cupcake look fab!

Fancy a mouthful of Mickey Rourke?

Me neither but I would happily eat one of these lovey-licious cupcakes bearing pics of those nominated for this weekends Oscars. Although I draw the line at eating one with Kate Winslett on...it'd probably be soggy with fake tears!

They can be bought from Eleni's in NYC, along with their movie quote cupcakes.

How supercalifragilous expialidocious

Thanks to Serious Eats NY for alerting me to these!

Cupcakes by definition are not good...

Utter CODSWALLOP!!!!

Serious Eats NY drew my attention to a blog that got rather less excited by the cuteness of the Daily Candy NY email about Baked by Melissa than I did and I had to comment.

In her latest blog post, food writer Carolynn Carreno has a bone to pick with the over saturation of cupcake-centric bakeries in New York City.

Carolynn really doesn't seem to like cupcakes - especially Magnolia

Magnolia has the cache for reasons having to do with consumer stupidity and the power of television (e.g. Sex and the City) their cupcakes are probably the worst in town....a cupcake so cloying your teeth ache when you bite into it, a cupcake whose iconic status, really, is based on its mediocrity

My first thought is that cupcakes by definition are not good. As far as sweets go, I I would rather have a good cookie, ice cream, fruit desserts, dark chocolate, milk chocolate: basically anything else but a cupcake.

I have to strongly disagree with Carolynn (obviously!) - I can't really comment on Magnolia cupcakes (but come back in a couple of months and I'll be able to), but saying cupcakes by definition are not good - seriously....piffle!!!

Each to their own and everything but if you don't like cupcakes why get so upset by them, delete the email and move on - you obviously don't like them so why have a rant about them? I don't get it. I'm with Serious Eats and will have put in my two cents...I don't really care that some skinny celeb "ate" a cupcake in Sex and the City, or that Posh Spice supposedly scoffs loads (but seriously I don't think a cupcake has ever passed her trout pout) - I like cupcakes because they're small, cute and most importantly, if you're lucky taste GREAT! I've had a few duffs in my time, but not many, and the odd bad cupcakes never put me off trying another!

I love everything cupcake - not just eating them but surrounding myself with cupcake cuteness and it this means I'm trying to hark back to a bite of nostalgia from a childhood we only wished we had then what harm am I doing? Maybe I do wish we still lived in a time where kids got excited because their mum/dad/aunt baked for them, as I'm sure most kids these days have never smelt a home baked cake in their kitchen and that does kinda make me sad. I had that nostalgic childhood, in a way - my mum, my aunts and my nans were all fantastic home bakers (complete with matronly bosoms and pinny's!) and spending lots of time learning to bake with them made me a happier, well rounded (and just plain round!) child. I still remember icing fairy cakes (we didn't have cupcakes in my day really, just fairy and butterfly cakes!) and getting excited as I was allowed to do the pink icing with loads of sprinkles - I sound about 100 but things were much nicer in the old days :)

If scoffing a cupcake, or buying something with a cute cupcake pattern on it lets people remember a happier time without kids raping each other at school and where people didn't behave like feral animals then bring on the cupcakes!

Candy Cane Cupcakes

Further to my "where did the mint come from" post below about Outsider Tart's mint frosting on their holiday Red Velvet cupcake, I've just been reading Serious Eats New York (another of my obsessions!) and found this post about Blondie and Brownie (another fave blog of mine!) and their visit to the Treats Truck for some candy cane cupcakes!

How adorable do these look!!?

I can't wait to try something from the Treat Truck when I go to NY! I love how NY has all these trucks selling fabulous food on the streets - and ones dedicated to treats and deserts! We get those vile stinky hot dog sellers which I wouldn't eat from if I was starving! euuuugh..shudder! Although we do have Chocstar which I heart and shall be buying from again soon at Slow Food Market if they're there :)

The pics are from Blondie and Brownie and you can see more on their Flickr.

The NY Cupcake Tour continues to grow

We were already at a staggering THIRTY ONE cupcake places to try and visit when we go in March, when I happened upon a post I'd missed previously on one of my favourite blogs - Serious Eats New York. Now with the addition of Penny Licks in Williamsburg we are looking at 32 (aaaargh!!!) - to manage it we'll have to eat 4 cupcakes every day for the 8 days we're there!!!!

They do look too good to miss off the tour though don't they!!!?

Pic courtesy of Serious Eats - thank you :)