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Monday 2 September 2013

New York Cupcake Tour

I just had the most amazing holiday in Costa Rica and on my way home I stopped off in New York (amazing, I know!).

I'd been to NYC two times before so I'd already ticked all the usual tourist things off my list so wanted to do something a bit different on my third visit. I decided that the ideal thing to do in NYC would be my very own tour of all of their amazing bakeries, tasting lots of cupcakes along the way. My very own NYC Cupcake Crawl.

My first bakery was Crumbs Bakery, Bryant Park. This is actually a chain which is all over the US and has a number of stores in NYC. I went to the one right by the New York Public Library (where Carrie is due to marry Big in the first SATC film).



They have an amazing selection, I spent ages choosing and finally opted for a Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake (I definitely share the Americans love of peanut butter and chocolate).


The shop is opposite Bryant Park which was the perfect place to sit and enjoy it. It was a moist chocolate sponge filled and topped with buttercream and decorated with chocolate chips and peanut butter cups. Pretty darn good!

Next was Levain Bakery, Upper Westside. This place specialises in cookies and is rated 3rd best eatery (out of an impressive 12,711) in New York. I went for their most popular bake, a 6-ounce chocolate chip walnut cookie (ok not technically a cupcake for this 'cupcake crawl' but it was necessary).


The bakery is down a quiet residential street not far from Central Park so I took my cookie (which was still warm from the oven) and ate it in the park. It's not the most beautiful cookie (in fact it's a bit ugly) but trust me, it's DELICIOUS. It's really really thick so whilst the outside is crunchy the centre is gooey. If I'm honest it tasted a bit uncooked in the middle but if you've ever eaten raw cookie batter you'll know this isn't a bad thing!




Day 2 of my New York bakery adventure and I started the day with a trip to Empire Cake. They have some amazing cakes in the window, they do special occasion cakes for weddings and birthdays as well as cupcakes, traybakes, brownies etc.





I opted for the Salted Caramel Cupcake, a chocolate sponge filled with salted caramel, topped with dark chocolate buttercream and salt flakes. The cupcake was pretty small, I'm not usually a fan of small but you couldn't eat much of this rich cake.

Finally I headed over to the world famous Magnolia Bakery. I have actually been here before on previous visits to NYC but last time I had given up chocolate for lent (don't ask, never again!) so this time I HAD to chose something chocolatey.

This bakery is adorable, its tiny but always packed with cake lovers. They're best known for their cupcakes but they also have large cakes, traybakes, brownies, mini pies and individual (but massive) cheesecakes on offer.




I chose the Blonde Marble Cake but still full from my earlier visit to Empire Cake I took it to take away. What a perfect way to say goodbye to the city, a cupcake at the airport.



Until next time NYC! xxx



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