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!!

I'm betting this image will turn Manny into a screen licker ;)

I saw these online some time ago but didn't blog about them as I was hoping eventually Godiva UK would see sense and start stocking them so I could buy some for Manny, the chocoholic, as a surprise. However, they are still only available in the USA at the moment so I thought I'd just post the pic to make Manny drool a little - and perhaps incentivise him to get back to NY asap ;)

If you're lucky enough to live in the US you can buy these online from Godiva, and I know their chocolate cafe in New York sells them also.

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake day

And to think I didn't even have a cupcake this weekend...pah!

Thought I'd share some pics of chocolate cupcakes Manny's enjoyed over the years seeing as I tend not to have chocolate ones!

From top to bottom - my chocolate rolo cupcakes, Hummingbird's bling chocolate cupcake, Primroses chocolate cupcake, Love Bakery's glittery chocolate cupcake and finally a behemoth from Magnolia in NY :)

Cupcakes = glamour

Glamour Magazine (US) is bombarding the people of New York and New York fashion week with cupcakes and images of cupcakes to try and boost sales. 

Saucy cupcakes

I adore these rather saucy cupcakes by Lisa Edsalv a prop stylist (for Ikea including others!) who's been gaining cupcake star status after Kanye West blogged about her fashion inspired cupcakes! 

"It was just a funny idea, we even thought about having a cupcake runway"

Lisa is planning to launch a cupcake store in New York (where else?) in the near future - somewhere to add to my list of must visit places next time I go back to my favourite city! 

pics courtesy of Lisa Edalv

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!

Wonder if she'll buy cupcakes with her prize money?

From the NY Daily News...

In a flurry of chocolate cream and crumby debris, the yoga teacher crammed her last cupcake - No. 17 - winning the contest, and defeating her closest competitor by just one of the sweet treats.

Ivy Bakery held its first cupcake-eating contest outside of the shop on 87th St. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The five competitors were given five minutes to inhale as many chocolate cupcakes as possible. The winner took home $75 and dubious bragging rights.

Nancy Cummings, the first-place winner, said that her role as a yoga instructor gave her what it took to be the champion.

"I am disciplined and focused and I can digest them faster," said the slender 31-year-old brunette from Bay Ridge, who dipped each little chocolate cake into a glass of water before shoving it whole into her mouth.

Runner-up Dominick Ibelli, 35, gave Cummings a chocolate-smeared handshake and congratulated her on the victory. He then ate one more cupcake in a moment of second-place showmanship.

One failed competitor, though, wasn't eating any after-game cupcakes. After the contest, Jo Rose, 50, sat with his head bowed.

"I am feeling a little sick," the Bay Ridge writer said. "I gave it my best shot. But I am gonna hurl any moment."

Personally I think I'd rather just eat a couple and enjoy them rather than stuffing them in my mouth like that - cupcakes are all about enjoying them and shovelling them in (All wet and moist too..dunking cupcakes in water eugh) seems to be be the opposite of enjoyment to me!

This is not just any cupcake...

This is a Marks and Spencer cupcake.

After months of publicising the fact that they're going to launch a cupcake range, M&S are finally launching them in store tomorrow.

There was an article in today's Metro today about them which featured a bit of background about the research the M&S cupcake guru, Matt McAuliffe, did to come up with their new range, including eating at 40 different NY bakeries in a week (if he'd gotten in touch I could've emailed him my extensive list of NY cupcake places, reaching about 47 at last count!)

Not sure I agree with his assumption that the UK isn't ready for full on New York style cupcakes...

The problem is there is a big difference in taste over the pond, he reckons. 'Brits have a sweet tooth but not as sickly as Americans. This large amount of icing was the biggest challenge when making our cakes. In the end, we decided to balance the sweetness in the buttercream with fruit.'

I think cupcakeries/bakeries such as Hummingbird, Buttercup and Primrose (to name just 3) are doing very well selling American style cupcakes and whenever people ask me where to get cupcakes they tend to ask for "American style". I will give these a try - I'm hoping to get my hands on some tomorrow on the way into work so expect an update soon!

The whole article can be viewed here, and includes recipes for Hummingbird Bakeries banana chocolate cupcakes (from their FAB book) and a M&S 'all natural' strawberry cupcake recipe, although I personally wouldn't make it as it has oil in (the article says that in NY rapeseed oil is often used instead of butter but I know this isn't the case in the better bakeries we visited so I'll just stick to baking buttercream cupcakes - oil cupcakes when I've had the misfortune to try them just seem oily to me and I just can't imagine myself pouring oil into a cake mix!)

Will report back on these asap!

Allergy friendly cupcakes!

This weeks trawl through Google News for cupcake fun led me to the Telegraph and a recipe for BabyCakes wheat free cupcakes. Erin McKenna offers her customers a choice of 100 per cent wheat free or spelt cupcakes. Because the fava and garbanzo bean flours that she uses are unavailable in Britain, all three recipes here use spelt flour, an ancient form of wheat, which is more easily digestible and which many people with allergies can tolerate.

The recipe for butter, sugar and wheat free carrot cupcakes can be found here. I'm very interested in using Agave nectar in cupcakes, something I know Babycakes have been publicising for some time, not sure how it'd work in my normal recipe though- next time I go to NY I shall definitely have to try some of Babycakes cupcakes as we didn't make it this time!

Photo: Ditte Isager

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

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 save polar bears

Well probably not...but buying this bag and taking it shopping with you rather than getting lots of yukky plastic ones just might!

Some days I just want to hugs the ladies from Cupcakes Take the Cake for alerting me to this stuff! And even better the store you can buy it from, Exit 9, is about 5mins walk from where I'm staying in NY....wuhu!

Thanks to CTTC for the pics :)

Teeny Weeny Tiny Cupcakes

How scrumptious do these look and sooooo teeny!!!!*

I went back to work today and as well as catching up with work (of course!) I caught up with my NY Daily Candy mail outs - including this one

Listen, cupcake: We need to talk.
We’ve been together for a long time and have been through so much (celebrations, rainy days, sugar pangs, emotional tumult). Whether alone or with a dozen, it has always been a blast.
But it’s already 2009, and I’m young! There are so many dessert trends to fall in love with; I don’t want to be tied down.
Oh, no, please don’t look at me in your cute, miniature stuffed cupcake kind of way. Yes, I know you’ve just been delivered fresh from Baked by Melissa, who makes silver dollar-size treats in flavors like PB&J, s’mores, tie-dye, and cookie dough. But it really is time to move on.
Well, okay, maybe one last little taste.

For old times' sake.

They really do look fab, and ever so cute - however even I don't think I could manage 100 - their minimum order!!! Seriously the tie dye ones look great though!

Photo above courtesy of Baked by Melissa.

*unfortunately the pic is teeny too...sorry...a full size version is available on the website!

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.

I MUST have one!!!

As sold in Magnolia Bakery in NY!!

Thanks to Cupcakes take the Cake for the pic!

The ultimate guide to Red Velvet cupcakes

Good grief...Abby Denson of The City Sweet Tooth blog has been a busy bee! Her fantastic guide to the best red velvet cupcakes in NY appears in the L Magazine and is intended to be a "field guide and checklist to assist NYC's cupcake fiends on their quest for red velvety goodness"

Seriously, I think I heart Abby a little right now - not only has she provided me with a fab checklist but also even MORE cupcake places to add to my tour of NY!

A New Yorkers Guide to Cupcakes!

Misnatalie has made it her mission to try every cupcake in New York and I've been following her progress on Chowhound and now you can read about her endeavors on her blog.

I've already got my cupcake tour of New York planned - along with maps and everything, but have now found a couple of new places to visit thanks to Natalie's blog!

I shall definitely be checking out some of her recommendations! For the full list and photos go to her blog :)

New Yorks top cupcakery?

So last time we went to New York we only got round to going to Buttercup, and we loved it so much we just kinda stuck with it - in truth it was sooooo hot there we barely ate, drinking more Vitamin Water than much else.

However when we go next year, its going to be cold, perfect weather for stocking up on cupcakes to keep us warm so I've been searching where to go - there are so many to choose from and the Zagat list of New Yorks best cupcakes suggests...

1. Sugar Sweet Sunshine
2. Amy’s Bread
3. Baked BKLYN*
3. Billy’s Bakery*
3. Make My Cake*
*– indicates a tie for 3rd place

I've been spending a LOT of time online researching my planned birthday cupcake tour so expect more New York cupcake posts over the next few months :)

Counting the days...till cupcakes

Last week we booked a trip to my favourite place in the world NEW YORK, for next March to celebrate my birthday so I spent rather too much time at work on Friday looking at cupcake websites for places to do my cupcake tour of NY on my birthday! And believe me there are LOADS so expect lots of posts about New York cupcake places!

If you're reading this and are from NY, or have visited feel free to post suggestions!!! I shall definately be going back to Buttercup as I loved it (and we're staying next to it again!) and will also be heading to the Little Cupcake Bakeshop as not only do the cupcakes look lovely, but they are carbon neutral and have been noted as the world's first carbon neutral bakery, how cool :)

BTW its currently 213 days till we go to New York..wuhu

Buttercup Cake Shop - Kensington

Having been good this week (so far) and not sucummbed to the temptation of the cupcake I thought I'd post some pics of other cupcakes I have scoffed!

Buttercup Cake Shop (http://www.buttercupcakeshop.co.uk/) in St Albans Grove, Kensington is my favourite cupcake place in the UK so far!!

I first read about it in Time Out one Wednesday lunchtime in January and I nearly had a heart attack as I thought at first it was a London branch of Buttercup Bake Shop (http://www.buttercupbakeshop.com/) that I'd visited in New York last July (Still my absolute favourite cupcake in the world - so good I carried a box of them back with me!). However some research revelled it wasn't related to the Buttercup Bake shop in NY, however I still wanted to try it and dragged Manny there that weekend!

It took some finding but when we arrived it was an absolutely gorgeous little store (I must get some pics on my next visit) and the lady serving (I think it was the owner) was so friendly and cool - she thought it was great that I adore cupcakes so much and that they're getting so popular in the UK! Manny nearly slid on a puddle of his own drool there and he couldn't choose what to get so we ended up with 5 gorgeous cupcakes - including one for a friend so we weren't being totally fat!

I had a vanilla purist (I ALWAYS have to have a vanilla) which melted slightly but was so lovely I had to stop myself from eating the 2nd vanilla one we bout for Carly! There website says they use a pure vanilla extract by Nielsen Massey and it had the nicest vanilla flavour I've ever had - it was little eating a slice of heaven!!! (having searched for it http://www.nielsenmassey.com/) it turns out their international store is in Leeuwarden, Holland where we visited last year - typical!! I'll have to go back now). My second cupcake was a banoffee one, which topped the vanilla one!!! Seriously, this cupcake was soooo tasty I wanted to marry it and have it forever! It just tasted so lovely - the frosting was just so caramelly - I feel hungry just thinking about how great it was!!

Manny had a chocolate purist (of course, chocolate cupcakes are his fav!!) and he can be seen above just before he tucks into it!! I think his second one was a chocolate bunny - as usual he didn't take a pic of the second one as he was too busy stuffing his face!

I am going back there the day before my birthday to get some cupcakes for my birthday breakfast and shall make sure I try some other flavours and get some more pics, although I'm not sure about trying the chocolate zucchini - maybe I can persuade Manny to give it a go!