i art a day.

As promised the last part of my cupcake adventure through Manhattan…

After an inspiring and wallet-lightening trip to Brooklyn for the craft fair, I hopped the subway back to Manhattan and headed towards my next cupcake destination, Babycakes NYC. If you aren’t familiar with Babycakes, it’s known for it’s vegan all-natural organic pastries. Now, I’m not a vegan – or even a vegetarian, but this place has made pretty big waves in the cupcake world and their book looks so cute I had to give it a shot and put my taste buds to the challenge.

I picked out a Chocolate with chocolate frosting, lemon with lemon frosting, and chocolate brownie cupcake, and sat down with a cup of organic iced tea to take a bite of each…

…and was I surprised! The lemon cupcake was absolutely my favorite. I finished it on the spot, even though I was pretty much reaching my cupcake limit for the day. The chocolate brownie cupcake was also super tasty (although lacking a little moisture). I’ve got an ingrained idea of what chocolate cake and frosting usually taste like, and for that reason I wasn’t captivated by the regular chocolate cupcake – although it certainly wasn’t bad. Not to mention both the cupcakes and the Babycakes shop are absolutely adorable. For those of you who love cupcakes – vegan, allergy sensitive, or just curious – this place is definitely worth stopping for.

With my legs starting to really ache, a sunburn starting to appear on my shoulders, and wondering whether or not I’d actually be able to stomach another cupcake it was time to head over to Magnolia bakery in Greenwich. As a young woman in my mid-twenties it should come as no surprise that I’ve seen every episode of Sex & the City – at least 10 times each. As a baker, it was only natural that a pilgrimage to Magnolia make the list.

I waited in the famous line that wraps the corner of the bakery and picked out a vanilla and red velvet cupcake from the self-serve area, then walked across the street to enjoy my final cupcakes on my rump instead of my feet. Wow is that vanilla cupcake sweet! It was so hot and I was so full that I could only manage a bite of each, but it was all I really wanted.

While the emotional nostalgia of this place my have heightened my expectations beyond reach, I was a little disappointed. The red velvet cupcake looked like it had cream cheese frosting on it, but it definitely wasn’t, and the frosting on the vanilla cupcake was nearly pure sugar. To be fair, the actual cake was nice and moist, and the cupcakes were absolutely huge – so I felt like I was getting my money’s worth. Of course, with each bite I was pretty sure I could feel myself turning into Carrie Bradshaw.

With a bag full of a dozen various cupcakes from all across lower Manhattan, I dragged myself back up to Penn Station and caught the bus home to Philadelphia. On the way I munched on a couple more cupcakes, and resolved to return to New York again soon for a French Pastry expedition. Of course, I’m taking recommendations…

It’s been so long since I’ve been to New York and when the opportunity presented itself a couple of weekends ago to check out the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, I could hardly resist making a day out of it and checking out a couple of bakeries as well. So I made a list (and asked for a LOT of recommendations) and set out to sample some of Manhattan’s most popular bakeries.

I saw and tasted so much that I’ll have to break it up into 2 parts as not to make these posts too epic, so let’s get started! I hopped on the 7:15am bus from Philly up to New York and arrived about 9am in Midtown. In need of some coffee stat and interested to visit a couple of shops before heading over to Brooklyn, I quickly walked up to 9th Ave. and 40th Street to kick off the day at Cupcake Cafe Casa. The draw here was not so much the taste of the cupcakes, but the incredible floral decorations hand piped onto each little cake that blew me away.

Luckily, the cupcakes were just as tasty as they looked (although I recommend letting them come to room temperature before enjoying) as well as a cup of coffee with beans brewed by my favorite Philadelphia roasting company La Colombe. At this particular location they offer regular and large cupcakes, with typical flavors: vanilla & chocolate cake with vanilla, chocolate, or mocha frosting. The Cupcake Cafe Casa wins the award for the most beautiful and comfy cafe.

Finally alert, I strode down 9th Ave, through Chelsea and down to 21st St. to Billy’s Bakery. This green and yellow motif, vintage inspired, bakery & cafe was previously unknown to me, but completely delightful. I ordered a red velvet, carrot, and banana cupcake and sat down to enjoy a couple of bites of each.

These were the most incredibly moist, fresh, and deliciously sweet cupcakes I ate all day. I’m completely sold. There’s a bakery on site here so there’s no question where these sweets are coming from and of course it smells great. I can’t wait to have another taste!

With just enough time to squeeze one more bakery in on the way to the L, I walked down to and across 14th St. to Baked by Melissa’s storefront. With no idea really what to expect I was immediately struck by the novelty of these little treats.

While it was $5.50 for 6 of these quarter-sized treats, flavors like the tie-dyed vanilla, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, cinnamon, and s’mores cupcakes made them irresistible. Moist and flavorful, these whimsical little cupcakes were the perfect treat for a leisurely morning of people watching in Union Square.

Full on cake and buttercream I stacked the boxes of my left-over cupcakes delicately into my bag and descended into the subway to cross the East River. More treats to come!

Update about the weekend on Tuesday? – why not.  On Saturday I stopped through New York on the way up to Connecticut and was able to spend a little time wandering around the city, mostly in Greenwich and the West Village. A couple of highlights:

1. The window displays at Macy’s for the 2009 Flower Show were really beautiful. Paper flowers strung up as garland and flowing as mannequin hair bouquets were colorful and exciting in the warm afternoon. The displays were made by Eloise Corr Danch out of Brooklyn (whose lovely work can be seen on her website) and were supposed to come down this weekend:

I’d love to get my hands on one of those coiffes – I’d absolutely wear it in public. Walking down Bleecker Street I also passed by, and stopped into a shop that almost knocked me off of my feet. Murray’s Cheese Shop. It took just about everything I had not to throw down my credit card and pick up 5 pounds of delicious cheeses.

For those of you in Philly – it’s like a paired down and ultra cheesed Di Bruno Brothers.

One of my favorite parts of walking around NY, or even speeding across town in a cab is the way glances of some of my favorite buildings are caught through other buildings and then disappear again behind others. Too often they appear and vanish before photos can be taken, but they’re still some of my favorite memories.

It amused me to realize today on the walk to the bus that from the corner of 42nd and 5th av. one can see the Chrysler building down 42nd and the Empire State building down 5th. It’s one of my new favorite corners, especially being so close to the library and Bryant Park <3

Most of the week will be spent making a TON of books and crafts for the upcoming craft show this weekend! Wish me luck!