So Much Goes to New York

Your blogger spent a recent weekend in New York City, and must share two noteworthy dessert instances with you!

To start, imagine my glee while wandering near Union Square on a Thursday evening, and stumbling upon a truck dispensing a variety of free desserts! Yes, that's right - the Dessert Truck had just finished taping an episode for the Food Network, and they had a truck's worth (ha) of desserts left over that staff were giving to passersby. It didn't matter that we were on our way to dinner - we nabbed brownies, a chocolate cupcake, cheesecake, and a waffle with vanilla creme fraiche. The waffle, creme, and cupcake were tasty, but average; the other two desserts were definitely superior and memorable. The brownie was fudgy and melted in my mouth, and packed a lot of chocolate flavor in a small square; the cheesecake was smooth, light, creamy, and moist. We had so much dessert...for so little! New Yorkers and visitors to the city, check the Dessert Truck's website for upcoming locations. Enjoy the desserterie-on-wheels concept as long as you can! (Boston, please start something similar?)

The other dessert experience was much more conventional. Magnolia Bakery, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, earned some level of popular awareness thanks to SNL's Lazy Sunday skit and a Sex and the City episode. The merits of snacks for the Chronicles of Narnia aside, the bakery's biggest draw, in my opinion, is their exceptional frosting. This sweet buttercream icing comes in a range of pastel colors (standard buttercream flavor) and a rich chocolatey brown (chocolate).

Ever loyal to my favorite color, my preferred Magnolia cupcake is a chocolate cake with purple buttercream frosting - but, I had to settle on pink frosting during this most recent visit when they ran out of purple. Much like the Dessert Truck cupcake, the cake itself is average if not slightly disappointing; however, the quality of the frosting more than makes up for any batter shortcomings. The best way to eat such a cupcake is to eat away at the base of the cake, leaving a thin layer for consumption with a mouthful of frosting.

The vanilla cupcake with yellow frosting was similarly average, but a hint of lemon in the batter proved to be a pleasant surprise.

I would go to Magnolia again to enjoy the frosting, but several native New Yorkers have recommended both the cake and frosting available at Sugar Sweet Bakery. Next time...

What Sweet Cupcakes!

There is a new cupcake shop in Cambridge! Sweet Cupcakes, whose first location is on Mass Ave by the Comm Ave intersection, now has a second location across the street from Cardullo's in the heart of Harvard Square. The attention of passersby will be grabbed by the gleaming, brightly-lit storefront - you can see a sparkling, spare space decorated in white, pink, and brown, with a refrigerated case containing brightly-colored cupcakes, from the street. I will admit that I was grabbed in such a fashion, though buzz about the Mass Ave location would have been enough to get me in there as well. Once you are inside and drooling over the case's contents, you may have two initial worries - I thought that (a) the cupcakes were rather small, and (b) there would be no seating available [two small tables are all they provide]. However, both concerns were readily allayed. Customers do not take a long time to eat a cupcake, so the seats rotate quickly - plus, you can always take your dessert to any bench or grassy expanse in Harvard Square if desired. And, oh my, the cupcakes! I would not have wanted a bigger cupcake considering their richness and intense flavor. Three varieties got the honor of being part of the initial taste test.

• DARK CHOCOLATE (Rich chocolate cake baked with Dutch cocoa, topped with buttercream frosting in vanilla or chocolate) - this cupcake was the perfect chocolate cupcake. The homemade buttercream frosting was also excellent, with a prominent creamy flavor. A fun added bonus of this cupcake selection was the choice of sprinkle color; yours truly (predictably) chose purple.
• CHOCOLATE CARAMEL (Chocolate oozes from inside moist chocolate cake topped with Sweet's delicious chocolate buttercream frosting and drizzled with melted caramel) - this cupcake had so many textures and flavors! Dense chocolate cake, fudgy chocolate cream, smooth chocolate frosting, and light, flavorful caramel all combined for a win of a cupcake.
• CAPPUCCINO (Delectable espresso flavored cake baked with Callebaut chocolate crowned with signature Sweet frosting and a dusting of cinnamon) - the cake could have had a stronger coffee flavor, and the chocolate was not readily apparent, but the cappuccino frosting was easily the best frosting in this taste test. The dusting of cinnamon was an extra bonus!

And, yes, Sweet gets extra points for stocking organic milk to help wash down the desserts! I had been hoping to find cupcakes on this side of the river that actually were kickass (Davis Square residents will accurately interpret that comment as derision toward an inaccurately-named cupcakery); thanks to Sweet, I no longer need to hope. Next time I stop by, I think I'll try the Big Poppy.