Don’t Call Me Chef The cupcake hunt
New York hasn’t seen the end of these single-serving snacks – although some have gone on steroids! Yet.
THINK cupcakes are frivolous? Well, take this in: sometime last June, British Intelligence averted an online terrorist recruitment exercise with ... cupcakes.
According to the Daily Telegraph, British intelligence agents replaced a manual on how to make bombs at home with a magazine on how to make cupcakes, complete with recipes and coloured pictures.
“When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions on how to ‘Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom’ by ‘The AQ Chef’ they were greeted with garbled computer code.
“The code, which had been inserted into the original magazine by the British intelligence hackers, was actually a web page of recipes for The Best Cupcakes in America published by the Ellen Degeneres chat show,” reported the Telegraph.
Maybe this doesn’t prove that cupcakes aren’t frivolous but it’s a funny anecdote, isn’t it?
I’m in a cupcake state of mind, you see. I’ve just returned from a week-long trip to New York City and boy, did I feast on cupcakes! ! The city is known as the Big Apple but judging from the number of cupcakes shops I encountered (ok, I’ll be honest, I sought them out), a more appropriate - nickname would be the Big Cupcake.
Serious Eats, a blog for food enthusiasts, published an article listing the “best cupcakes in New w York City” some two years ago. As a serious food resource, the blog took the task very seriously: y: some 60 cupcakes were sampled d from 47 bakeries/cupcakeries (yes, es, I made this up) in the city. Fortyseven? Well, that wasn’t the entire ire sum of bakeries/cupcakeries but the ones that apparently were the most talked about, in cyberspace and beyond.
In my one week there, I must have visited at least a dozen cupcakeries. Truth be told, I amnot a huge fan of cupcakes. In fact, I used to scoff at cupcakes – particularly “pageant cupcakes” (a term I read in issue 183 of Martha Stewart Living): you know, the ones that are so pretty they deserve to be in a pageant?
It isn’t the awe-inspiring cupcake art I was disdainful of. No, having failed many times at decorating my own cupcakes, I appreciate the hard work and creativity that goes into the often elaborate decorations on these miniature cakes.
What disappointed me was that with many of these cupcakes, the inside didn’t match the outside. More often than not, beneath the decorative frosting – be it fondant (not a fan), marzipan (can only take so much), buttercream (a big fan) or cream cheese (a huge fan) – lies a dry, crumbly excuse for a cake. Some of these cupcakes were choke-worthy and required at least a litre of water to wash down. But, as I walked past Crumbs, one of New York’s popular cupcakeries on West 42nd Street, I couldn’t resist buying myself a cupcake. The bake shop runs with the tagline, “Made by hand, baked with love ... just like Mom used to bake”, so I was banking on my cupcake to be pretty darn tasty. The Crumbs’ cupcakes are huge – about the size of my palm (and I have relatively large palms for a lady). They’re visually very appealing too, though nothing fancy – you won’t see a Louis Vuitton Bag fashioned out of fondant or anything like that!
There are about 50 varieties of cupcakes on any given day and under each label is the caloric count of each cupcake ... just so you know how many crunches you’ll have to do to burn off your treat! My Raspberry Swirl (US$3.95/RM12) cost me 500 calories. Was it worth it? Yes! The cupcake was delicious but perhaps a tad too sweet, especially the frosting.
Encouraged, I decided to look for Magnolia, the bakery that is largely credited for starting the modern-day cupcake craze after it was featured in an episode of Sex
and The City – Carrie Bradshaw ate a pink-frosted Magnolia cupcake and in those days, anything Carrie did, every woman wanted to do also.
So on Day Two of my “Great Cupcake Hunt” I went to Bleeker Street in the West Village to track down Magnolia. Customers apparently queue for blocks for a Magnolia cupcake but I was lucky and didn’t have to wait long. I bought a coconut cupcake for myself and a red velvet cupcake for my friend – we shared. People say TV distorts images – as in you look 10 pounds heavier on TV. Well, maybe food looks 10 times better on TV too. The Magnolia cupcakes were a little disappointing – not horrid, just average though they looked delectable.
Moving on. Day Three led me tomy third cupcakery – Baked by Melissa, a delightful shop that sells only miniature cupcakes that are small enough to eat in one bite. There are several branches throughout the city but the one I tried was on 14th street (between 5th and 6th Avenue). Because they’re so small and have fewer calories (and cost only US$1/RM3 each), customers can afford to sample more than one flavour. Smart theory? Well, it worked: I bought three cupcakes! I loved them. The cakes were moist and soft and the frosting wasn’t overwhelming. A little sweet (almost like candy) but this is, I think, typical of all American desserts.
Having loaded up on so much sugar, I decided to walk around the city. This seemed like a good plan ... until I saw more cupcakes. I was tempted but the fear of being unable to fit into the two skirts I’d just purchased stopped me. Well, until I chanced upon a cupcake street cart in Soho. A food cart selling cupcakes? New York is famous for its streets carts selling bagels, hot dogs and pizzas but cupcakes?
I had to try this! The street cart cupcakes are cheaper (US$2/RM6) and smaller (about the size of the average cupcake you’d find here) and not as fancy-looking. But, they were tasty enough and not as sweet – well, my Nutella Mint cupcake was anyway.
You’d think after feasting on so many cupcakes, I’d be sick of them? On the contrary. I haven’t stopped making cupcakes since I returned home a week ago – I fear I may need a new wardrobe. Included is a simple recipe for a tasty butter cupcake with two flavour options to try.