Tribeca Treats Cinnamon Cream Cheese

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Tribeca Treats Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cupcake. I would like to inform readers that Tribeca Treats is an ADORABLE store, more than just a bakery-- it is a confectionary as well that sells homemade chocolates, and it also has a little cupcake and candy-themed "gift shop" in the front that sells beautiful cards, books and assorted paraphernalia. It is decorated in a clean, crisp and modern way that I really appreciated, and it was refreshingly air-conditioned and cold on a hot August day.

Taste: The frosting is strongly sweet, with strong flavors of both cream cheese and cinnamon, and the brown sugar dusted on top adds a delightful brown-sugar-cinnamon-cream-

cheese wonderfulness. This is a great combination, I can't believe it's not more common! The cake is tasteless but not offensive, so the delectable cinnamon sugar cream cheese frosting overwhelms the tastes. I am loving this!! The flavors are unbelievable! It is so close to delectable perfection, except for the cake which is not quite perfect. Overall Taste Rating: 4.99 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is fluffy and light, and the frosting is very light and ultra-whipped but I like it-- this is the best cupcake I've tasted all day!!!! Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: A clear beauty!!! A gorgeously swirled application of frosting, swired high vertically atop a golden-hued cake, dusted in cinnamon and brown sugar. I wish you could SMELL this cupcake through my blog too, because the aroma was phenomenal. The cake itself is so proportionate and even!! So attractive! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Best cupcake of the day!! I wish I hadn't eaten so many others and I could just enjoy this cupcake in its entirety on its own! I want a SHOT of cinnamon-brown-sugar-cream-cheese frosting-- no actually, I want a TUB of it!!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 19.24 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

CupcakeStop Pineapple Brown Sugar

Cupcake Stop Pineapple with Brown Sugar Mini-Cupcake, http://www.cupcakestop.com/

Taste: The frosting is a brown sugar glaze, super sweet and really delicious-- it reminds me a little bit of maple candy. The cake is a vanilla cake, with chunks of sweet pineapple BAKED IN-- BIG ones! It tastes like the sweet pineapple that comes in a can, and huge chunks of it are baked into the sweet cake! Eaten together, this is delicious-- ultra sweet, but the chunks of real pineapple make it somewhat refreshing. And points for such a unique flavor! Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles.

Texture: This is the moistest cake EVER! The vanilla cake itself is exceptionally moist, and the chunks of pineapple inside are deliciously JUICY! They are exploding into pineapple juice bursts in my mouth! The icing is like a glaze, hardened on top, but soft underneath-- a little grainy, like I can taste the sugar crystals-- it feels like when you eat some brown sugar and let it melt in your mouth (which I loved to do as a little kid, and I'm still loving it now while eating this cupcake!). Overall Taste Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This cupcake is unfortunately not gorgeous from the exterior-- the brown glaze frosting isn't hugely attractive, although the glaze has a nice shine to it. The cupcake is nicely proportionate and even. And, to help its cuteness despite the brown glaze frosting being less than beautiful, it's MINIATURE! Miniature things are cuter, they just make you say "awww." Also, knowing how unbelievable tasting that brown sugar frosting and pineapple cake is, my mouth is watering and it's just looking better and better to me as I stare at the picture (the actual cupcake has been consumed and is long gone). Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: This was such a unique cupcake flavor, and it came out delicious! Cupcakes go tropical, only at the CupcakeStop! I love this cupcake! Superbly satisfied!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 18.25 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

(Look how miniature and cute!)