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)

Sweet Revenge Crimson and Cream (Raspberry Red Velvet)

Sweet Revenge Crimson and Cream (Raspberry Red Velvet) Cupcake, http://www.sweetrevengenyc.com/

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!

Taste: OMG-- why aren't all red velvet cakes raspberry flavored? This is GENIUS. The fact that other bakeries are making non-raspberry red velvet cakes will now forever be a shock to me. Raspberry red vevet cake is far and away a superior flavoring. There are fresh raspberries baked in to the cake. The flavor is bursts of fresh raspberry flavors exploding in my mouth in fantastic ways. The fresh, real raspberry flavor is unbelievably good, and paired with the sweet cream cheese frosting, I am in cupcake heaven! Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is very dense, but ultra moist, and the frosting is super thick and creamy. This is definitely a filling cupcake! Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Absolutely STUNNING!!! Large in size, with a uniquely large brown paper cupcake wrapper, an extremely generous heaping of frosting, and the signature Sweet Revenge "three stripe" extra application of frosting on top. Drizzled with raspberry sauce and dusted with cinnamon, with so much icing spilling around the edges of the wrapper that the icing looks almost like flower petals. So beautiful! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: The fact that their red velvet cake was raspberry flavored just blew my mind in amazing ways. The crimson raspberry red velvet cake and creamy cream cheese frosting made this "crimson and cream" cupcake out of this world. Sweet Revenge gets extra points for being such a cool VENUE! It's a cupcakery, but although takeout is an option, its designed to be a sit-down cupcake restaurant complete with waitress service. Most unique, the cupcake menu comes with suggested drink pairings! Now, usually my beverage of choice with a cupcake is a cold glass of milk, but Sweet Revenge puts a twist on the usual by suggesting beer, wine or cocktail options that are designed to go best with each flavor of cupcake on their menu. What a cool idea!! The cupcakes also all have fancy names. Sitting down and being served these fancy, gorgeous cupcakes with fancy drinks by a friendly waitress added an extra element to the Sweet Revenge experience that left me feeling extra satisfied. The fact that their red velvet cake was raspberry flavored just blew my mind in amazing ways. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 19.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)