Sweet Sugar Sunshine Cupcakes on the LES

We know that food is subjective, so these are just my thoughts and feelings on what I think is the best cupcake in the city.

This is my second post on Sweet Sugar Sunshine because it's a spot that we just keep wandering by and are never disappointed. Located on Rivington street between Essex and Norfolk, Sweet Sugar Sunshine continues to deliver on value-packed cupcakes ($1.50/each) for the cupcake fanatic. On this visit, we continued our journey down cupcake alley with a Pistachio, Lemon yummy and Red Velvet dessert.

The Lemon Yummy and Pistachio offer a light cakey base topped with medium thick frosting. Subtle nutty flavors come through in the pistachio while a soft lemon tang can be tasted from the lemon yummy.

By definition, the Red Velvet is going to be a bit heavier as the cake dough contains cocoa powder. Again, topped with a vanilla icing that was not too sweet provided a nice contrast in flavors and textures to a more dense chocolaty cake.

We will continue to eat up the cupcakes at this lovely bakery. Yummy eating in NYC.

126 Rivington St
Tel: (212) 995-1960
sweetsugarsunshine.com

In search of the perfect cupcake

Not satisfied with our first cupcake experience at Crumbs, off we went through the Lower East Side and East Village exploring a previously unfamiliar area to both of us. Though we were not specifically looking for cupcakes, we did find two noteworthy bakeries - Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Butter Lane.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine was, as the name indicates, a ray of sunshine in our young cupcake journey. Fair prices, a delicately soft, moist cake and a not-too-sweet, but just-sweet-enough buttercream icing made this $1.50 treat a welcome sight. The Bob, a yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream was delicious, so much so that we talk about going back almost daily. Our next venture to the LES will undoubtedly yield expanded waist-lines as we stuff ourselves on these delicate clouds of sugar sweetness. 126 Rivington Street (212) 995-1960 www.sugarsweetsunshine.com

Another standout cupcake shop is Butter Lane at 123 East 7th Street. This tiny shop in the middle of a quiet street offers local, organically sourced ingredients including real vanilla beans and local, organic dairy. You mix and match the bottom cakes (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet) with an American or French buttercream icing. American buttercream icing is the most common type of icing and does not require the addition of eggs - its main ingredients are powdered sugar, butter and milk, while French buttercream is made of granulated sugar, butter and eggs. The consistency of the French meringue icing is quite different than the American, but a smoother, more creamy texture makes for a nice contrast with the standard cupcakes found in the city. On par with the other prices in the city - $2.50-3.00 each.

Crumbs Bake Shop

East 93rd and Lexington

Mint Chocolate Chip cupcake from Crumbs bake shop.

While wandering up the Upper East side, we stumbled up this bake shop, which we later found out was a chain throughout Manhattan. These dense, large cupcakes look sweet and delicious. They are definitely sweet, but too dense for my taste. I like my cupcakes light and fluffy with a soft butter cream icing.

That said, this was a nice treat on our walk up to 125th.