Best Cupcake

New York is most probably the cupcake capital of America, if not the world.  Magnolia Bakery, of Sex and the City fame, has played a major role in creating the cupcake frenzy that has swept across the globe and most nights has people, ok tourists, queueing out the door (it's open past midnight on Fri/Sat nights). Located on a picturesque street in the West Village (where we saw film crews filming near by) this cute, boutique bakery sells retro dessert treats such as cherry cheesecake, icebox pie (named after the ice box that they were kept cool in when there was no electricity) and old-fashioned cupcakes such as chocolate, vanilla, and lemon all topped with a lovely, light and luscious butter cream frosting.  When we asked what the most popular cupcake ordered was, we were surprised to hear it was the vanilla vanillla - the vanilla cupcake with the vanilla icing (and the most popular colour for the icing is pink!).

However, after speaking to a couple of local New Yorkers, we were told that Crumbs was where the real cupcake action was at.  Faced with dozens of heady and decadent flavours such as Coffee Toffee, Fudge Chocolate Chip and Devil's Food (chocolate cake with classic vanilla buttercream filling and frosting, sprinkled with chocolate crumbs and mini chocolate chips) - this place was clearly not for the faint hearted. After much deliberation, we ordered the Vanilla Chocolate Sprinkle, Grasshopper, Peanut Butter Cup and Toasted Coconut. One of the first things we noticed was the size of the cupcake - they were enormous! The second thing we noticed was how rich and moist these cupcakes were.  The Grasshopper (pictured below) had a rich, gooey, chocolate fudge centre, topped with mint flavored cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake crumbs, edged in mini chocolate chips with a vanilla buttercream rosette. These were cupcakes on steroids.

In an attempt to make a fair comparison, I've rated each place's vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting but I have to say they both were pretty amazing in their own way. In the end Magnolia won out for me as I loved the light, fluffy, extra sweet frosting!


Magnolia Vanilla Vanilla - 9/10
Crums Vanilla Vanilla Sprinkle - 8/10