Awhile ago, I made some observations and comparisons of "cupcakeries" in New York City. I noted that the world-famous Magnolia was a bit sweet and overrated ... then again, I find most cupcakes sweet and overrated. I'm more of a salty-savory-umami girl, so I'm kinda sad that "Sex and the City" didn't make cheese popcorn stands or steak tips vendors all the rage.
Anyway, last week I tried a few more cupcake places, with surprisingly delicious results.
BUTTER LANE CUPCAKES.
I like Butter Lane's simple formula — offer cupcakes in three flavors (classic vanilla bean, classic chocolate and banana) and choose your frosting (from a list of several delicious French- and American-style buttercreams). They will then frost your cupcakes before your very eyes.
The French vanilla and chocolate buttercreams were great — less sweet, more meringue-y. I like that a lot. And the American buttercreams came in so many flavors! I chose raspberry (with pieces of actual raspberry) and burnt caramel (pictured above, creatively topped with a few kernels of kettle corn).
I picked up a little postcard that listed all the frosting flavors available — there were several listed on the card that the shop didn't have that day, but that I would absolutely love to try: pistachio, salted chocolate, lemon rosemary.
CHIKALICIOUS DESSERT CLUB.
I'm absolutely flabbergasted after eating ChikaLicious cupcakes. I never thought I could really CRAVE a cupcake, you know? But ChikaLicious was perfect. Absolutely amazing. Like ... I want these all the time now. They are to be served at any future event in my life that could call for baked goods: my birthday, my wedding, my cat's birthday, my cat's wedding, Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, promotions, cat showers, what have you.
The cupcakes. Holy shit. Perfectly sized, perfectly moist. The frosting isn't some terribly sweet buttercream, it's smooth and light and airy and perfect. I want to swim in it. The deluxe cupcakes have a good-sized dollop of filling in them. May I recommend the caramel? Caramel inside, whipped-tasting frosting on top. I think I ate the thing in about three bites, then obsessively licked my fingers and the wrapper. My god.
The s'mores cupcake is positively out of this world. I've had a s'mores cupcake at Crumbs before — an oversized mess of mini marshmallows and unwieldy hunks of chocolate and graham crackers. The ChikaLicious s'mores cupcake was a yellow-brown cake with a hint of cinnamon to it, filled with chocolate frosting and topped with burnt marshmallow. Seriously ... it's a flattened marshmallow (perhaps marshmallow fluff) that was then toasted with a crème brûlée torch. (Both the caramel and s'mores cupcakes are pictured above.)
That's it. Game over. ChikaLicious wins.
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