A few weeks ago I went on a trip to the east coast and visited New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. The trip was a lot of fun and one of the highlights of my trip was definitely visiting some of the cupcake bakeries that New York had to offer.
My first cupcake stop was Billy’s Bakery. This bakery reminded me a lot of Susie Cakes, has the same retro feel and home baked goods vibe. Everything from their cakes, cookies, and pies looked delicious, but I opted to try their cupcakes. I ordered a red velvet cupcake which was good, but a lot denser than I normally like. One thing that surprised me was that the frosting was vanilla rather than cream cheese, but overall I still enjoyed my cupcake.
The next stop on my cupcake tour was the famous Magnolia’s Bakery. This bakery was packed with customers lined up to buy cupcakes and just as I was about to order a red velvet cupcake they informed me that they didn’t have any available at that moment. Sad day. I decided to get a regular chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and I also couldn’t resist trying the mini red velvet cheesecake I saw in the display case. The cupcake was good, not the best I’ve had…maybe my opinion would be different if I was able to get a red velvet cupcake. I think the most memorable part of the cupcake was the frosting, chocolaty goodness. Despite their lack of red velvet cupcakes, Magnolia’s totally redeemed themselves with their red velvet cheesecake. It was AMAZING! I could have eaten the whole thing myself and I don’t even like cheesecake. Til this day, I still dream about it.
The last cupcake stop was Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery. I loved the hippyness of this place and it really intrigued me that the guy boxing up my cupcakes was a muscular guy with tatoos all over. I had to really control myself while I was in this bakery…cupcakes are $1.50 and they had so many different flavors! I really wanted to try everything and get a dozen, but that would probably result in a tummy ache and I don’t want to ever have a bad experience with cupcakes. So, I just decided to get 5 cupcakes…2 for my friends and 3 for me haha. I opted for the Sexy Red Velvet Cupcake (satin buttercream frosting), Sassy Red Velvet Cupcake (chocolate almond buttercream), and Pistashio. All three cupcakes were good, but I would have to say that the Pistachio was my favorite, the flavor was great and it was something that I’ve never tried before.
So, which bakery won the Cupcake Tour 2009? I think it would have to go Sugar Sweet Sunshine…they had great prices and good cupcakes, what more could you ask for! Overall, I had a great time trying different cupcake places. However, I’m really surprised that I didn’t have one Red Velvet Cupcake with cream cheese frosting…maybe it’s not an east coast thing?
Billy’s Bakery – Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
Magnolia’s Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting
Magnolia’s Mini Red Velvet Cheesecake – BEST CHEESECAKE EVER!
Sugar Sweet Sunshine – Top row: Sassy Red Velvet, Middle: Pistachio, Bottom row: Sexy Red Velvet