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 taste is actually very much the taste of a brownie-- very unlike a chocolate cake standard cupcake taste, but quite similar to a brownie. The mini chocolate chips laced throughout add a rich chocolate flavor. The mint frosting is very refreshing-- it is distinctly minty, but also sweet, so its nice. The mint and chocolate go nicely together. It's not a very sweet cupcake, but it is rich and chocolatey, which I like. It clearly tastes "different," as in, clearly no white sugar, milk, butter, eggs, etc., in this cupcake, but for a vegan cupcake, it tasted better than I expected it to. Overall Taste Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles
Texture: The cake is super dense and yet very crumbly. Dry, but very much like a brownie with a dryer texture. The miniature chocolate chips baked throughout add crunch-- somehow they didn't melt in baking but remain crunchy-- perhaps they're soy or something, I guess some weird chocolate chip substitute that doesn't melt in the oven-- carob chips? The frosting is very smooth and silky. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles
Aesthetic: This is pretty good looking-- the frosting looks as silky and smooth as it was in my mouth, and the two little chocolate chips on top add some nice precision-- it looks like a colon, and I love a tribute to grammar on my cupcakes. The proportions are even. Though the frosting application is precise, it saddens me that the icing doesn't go all the way to the edges of the cupcake. And I would have liked more frosting on this cupcake for taste as well as aesthetics anyway! The exposed edges reveal how dry this cupcake is. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles
Satisfaction: For all organic ingredients and the special dietary restrictions, this is probably a really good cupcake option for vegans or people with wheat allergies or celiac disease. It fell short for a regular white sugar, wheat flour and egg-filled cupcake, but within the realm of vegan cupcakes, it was pretty decent. Although this cupcake was super expensive-- 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: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles.
Overall Cupcake Ranking: 12.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)
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