Magnolia Bakery

i've been so bad at posting ... sorry sorry! things have been keeping me quite occupied, but i do have a massive amount of photos that need to be uploaded!

i took a trip to New York last month and stayed with my friend S, and he and i went all over the place! part of the journey was, of course, visiting Magnolia Bakery, and we stood in line waiting for that glorious cupcake experience.

the actual bakery was quite cute; the service was nice, and the cupcake? well, pretty unique.

i ordered the red velvet with cream cheese frosting ($3.50) and ate it while sitting near a water fountain.. very city-esque. the actual cake was .. well, average. pretty much standard for what you'd expect red velvet to taste like! the interesting part was the frosting - i had never tasted frosting that was whipped to that extreme before! it was kind of flavourless though, but the texture was cloud-like. i feel like if there was more cream cheese, it would be even better.

i'm dying to try some of their other things - banana cream pie, cookies, or even their cakes. it'll definitely be on my to-do list when i go back!

Magnolia Bakery
1240 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

red velvet

another birthday post!

my roommate N from freshman year (whom i used to refer to as Pedro on my previous food blog hahaha) brought me a red velvet cupcake from Bennison's for my birthday! i was quite excited to try it, as i've heard many good things about their baked goods - not to mention Peet's sells them on a daily basis.

the cupcake itself was quite large, and the amount of frosting that is on top takes up about 1/4 of the height. the presentation was super cute! however, the frosting was way too sweet for my taste - way too much sugar, not enough cream cheese. i definitely think Lola's has the right idea in terms of sweetness.

the cake itself was very moist and soft, which was good, because no one likes a hard cupcake! still, i think i would've enjoyed being able to eat some frosting with each bite.

Bennison's also sells red velvet donuts! i'm quite interested in seeing how that tastes...

Bennison's Bakery
1000 Davis St.
Evanston, IL 60201

Crumbs

for some reason, the cupcake craze that i caught in London followed me home, all the way through my winter holiday and even to my trip to NY! i know what you're thinking.. cupcakes + NY = Magnolia Bakery, right? i actually didn't have a chance to go there because my schedule was so packed. however, on the way back from NYU, i did see a Crumbs Bake Shop and decided to get something there instead.

i got a regular hazelnut coffee (~$1.75?) and an eggnog cupcake ($4.50) (it was the week before Christmas), and i split it with my parents for a taste-test!

i have to say, it wasn't anything extraordinary. the frosting was incredibly sweet..i pretty much threw it away. there wasn't really an eggnog taste to the actual cupcake either; i think most of the flavour was in the frosting and filling, but again - too much sugar!! i ate a few bites and pretty much had to use the coffee to balance it out.

perhaps their other cupcakes are better, but i really don't see myself coming back here anytime soon. nothing spectacular, sorry :|

Crumbs Bake Shop - Union Square
124 University Place
New York, NY 10003