Tribeca Treats Lemon Raspberry

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!

Lemon Raspberry Cupcake from Tribeca Treats. 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 icing is lightly lemony, not tart and not ultra-sweet, but just a perfect balance of lightly sweet and fresh lemon-y. There is a sweet real raspberry compote that adds a great raspberry flavor to the lemon. The cake is tasteless, but together its a refreshing lemon-raspberry flavorful delight. Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The texture of the icing is very light, but where it failed on the cream cheese frosting, the light texture on the lemon icing works great, I'm loving the ultra-light frosting with the raspberry filling and the moist cake-- this is working together great for me! Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Beautiful presentation-- bright white frosting, swirled high in an artfully applied dollop, with a little droplet of red raspberry at the tip and a view of red raspberry compote in between the bottom of the frosting and the top of the golden-hued cake. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I like this a lot!!! Would have liked a more flavorful cake, but I really enjoyed this and found it extremely refreshing and light. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 17.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

CupcakeStop Lemon Cupcake

Lemon Cupcake, the Cupcake Stop, www.cupcakestop.com

The CupcakeStop Truck came to the Upper West Side today!! How exciting!! (My neighborhood). I had no idea it would be there-- I was just strolling along Broadway on this sunny Sunday afternoon, when my mom pointed and said "Look! A cupcake truck!" And lo and behold, the CupcakeStop was paying a visit to the UWS! So, I took the opportunity to try my first full-sized CupcakeStop cupcake. I chose Lemon because it was the only available flavor I had not yet reviewed. I also had a hankering for a good lemon cupcake, after my recent abysmal experience with Buttercup's Lemon Cupcake.

Taste: The frosting is sweet yet distintly lemony-- sweet and tart at the same time in an excellent balance. It's definitely a lemon buttercream. What a great flavor combination. Disappointingly, the cake is plain yellow cake-- I personally prefer a lemon flavored cake in a lemon cake or lemon cupcake. But, pleasingly, there is tart lemon filling in the center of the cupcake. There is also some delicious lemon curd swirled onto the top of the cupcake with the frosting. When the tart filling, refreshing lemon curd, sweet/tart frosting and sweet cake are eaten together, this is a delicious lemon cupcake combo. Perfect ratio of sweetness to tartness for a lemon cupcake that leaves you with a satisfied sweet tooth. Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is thick and smooth, the lemon filling in the center has a gel-like consistency, and the cake is very dense-- not dry but not too moist, just in between. Overall Texture Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Notice how the frosting is NOT FLUORESCENT??? Take notes, Buttercup!!
The frosting is a perfect lemony pale yellow, swirled in a way I find pleasing, although there is some bare naked cupcake top peeking out the edges, which you know drives me crazy. This cupcake is well proportioned and cute. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Pretty good!! I'm not sure I'm ready to laud it on the level of Del Frisco's lemon cake or the cherished Freihofer's lemon cupcakes of my youth, but this was very tasty!! FAR superior to the disastrous Buttercup lemon cupcake, that's for sure. I really was quite satisfied-- my sweet tooth was fulfilled, which is KEY for a lemon cupcake, yet it was also cirtrusy, tart and refreshing-- the exact result you want from a lemon dessert. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Babycakes NYC Lemon Blueberry Cupcake

Babycakes NYC, http://www.babycakesnyc.com/, a whopping $3.95 or $4.25 each (depending on whether vegan or gluten free)

On a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon, I went for a "cupcake crawl" in downtown Manhattan with my best cupcake tasing buddies, Caryn of Carebear's Kitchen, and Lawrence and Justin from My Two Nuts. Caryn recapped our day of adventure fantastically at her Caryn's 101 Things blog. We had an amazing afternoon of strolling, enjoying wonderful weather, hanging out in the park, and most importantly sharing many delicious cupcakes! This was one of the cupcakes that was a product of our first NYC cupcake crawl!

This bakery is vegan and also offers gluten free cupcakes, and all the ingredients are organic.

Taste: The blueberry frosting is not very flavorful nor very sweet, but there is a distinct taste of real fresh blueberries. There are some little fresh blueberries mixed into the frosting which add a delicious and fresh fruit taste. The lemon curd dollop on top is a nice touch, it adds a much-needed refreshing, citrusy lemony taste. The cake is lightly lemon flavored, but not tart, nor sweet, not really very flavorful at all, I wish it were more lemony. The cake is unfortunately very bland. The fresh blueberries here were the best part. Overall Taste Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is ultra light, perhaps too light, almost like nothing. The cake, in contrast, is super dense, though dry and crumbly. The frosting is far too light for such a dense cake. Overall Texture Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: I think this cupcake looked better than it tasted-- the hue of the frosting connotes a delicious, strong blueberry flavor (that was actually very weak) and the real blueberries swirled throughout the frosting make it look appealing. The dollop of lemon curd on top is also a nice touch, and is applied in a precise swirl with an icing tip. But the dry top of the cupcake is left exposed on all sides, looking unattractive! Cover up those naked cupcakes, pastry decorators of the world! Ice those cupcakes down to the base!!! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Pretty disappointing, even for the realm of vegan/organic cupcakes. This cupcake was also super pricey-- I get that all-organic ingredients are expensive, but it's apparently expensive to be vegan! People with restrictive dietary needs shouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg just to get a cupcake! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 10 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Buttercup Lemon Cupcake

Buttercup Bake Shop Lemon Cupcake, http://www.buttercupbakeshop.com/

Taste: I LOVE lemon, but this was awful-- my mouth puckered up at the strong artificial lemon flavor in the frosting-- have you ever had a Warhead candy? That level of sour-- and the sourness was so overpowering that even the confectioner's sugar didn't add a sweetness, but the whole sugar/super sour combination made me almost choke. The cake was advertised as a lemon cake, but I didn't taste any lemon at all in the cake, just a plain, boring, near-tasteless golden cake. Overall Taste Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is dense and a little chalky. The cake is a little bit dry. Blech. Overall Texture Rating: 2 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: The artificial fluorescent yellow color borders on frightening. The amount of color dye that must be in there frightens me. It looks to me a little bit like Elroy Jetson's cartoon hair. I guess it's proportionate and festive, but... I'm not impressed. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles.

Satisfaction: A VERY disappointing cupcake for a lemon-lover such as myself. I'm an extreme lemon cake lover-- when I was a little girl, I used to always ask for a lemon flavored birthday cake, which was not especially popular amongst the majority of children attending my birthday parties, but I absolutely loved. I also had a deep childhood love of Freihofer's Lemon Cupcakes, which I have not been able to find since my childhood, but were boxed Freihofer's cupcakes with lemon frosting, vanilla cake, and a lemon curd filling inside the center of the cupcake. They were the best, though I believe they were discontinued decades ago. And I'm obessed with the Lemon Cake at Del Frisco's Steakhouse, which is always available though not always listed on the dessert menu-- if you're ever there, definitely ask for it, it's outrageously good. Anyway, I LOVE lemon cake, and this was awful, absolutely awful. This is NOT the place to find a good lemon cupcake. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 0 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 5.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)