Wedding Blog
I have been on hiatus from posting for a while, due to an extended vacation in New York (visiting family and having fun in the Big Apple). While in NYC, I decided to do a cupcake taste test to compare to Southern California’s beloved Sprinkles. Mr, Pearl and I tried both Magnolia Cupcakes and Crumbs Bakeshop (unfortunately, we ran out of time to try Buttercup Bakeshop). I also figured this would be good advice for New York based readers, since it’s become quite popular to do cupcake trees for weddings instead of cakes.
Magnolia is famous for being the shop featured on “Sex and the City.” However, the flavor didn’t seem so great. We could only try chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, since we would have to order ahead for the other flavors (like german chocolate). The cupcakes themselves were OK, but they seemed a bit on the dry side and a bit crumbly. Also, the vanilla buttercream frosting tasted like pure powdered sugar and didn’t have much flavor. I was a bit disappointed, but had been warned by a friend, so I was prepared.
The sprinkles are fun looking, but these cupcakes seem a bit closer to homemade.
I found Crumbs Bakeshop on Citysearch looking for restaurant recommendations for New York. They have more gourmet types of cupcakes at their stores, as evidenced by their menu. They also have four different locations in New York (Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Bryant Park, and East Hampton). Mr. Pearl and I bought seven different cupcakes before our flight back to Los Angeles yesterday and taste-tested them this afternoon. They were FABULOUS!!! The cake was nice and moist and the cupcakes all have some sort of filling in them. My favorites were the Boston Cream Pie cupcake and the Blackout cupcake.
In addition to tasting fabulous, they also look exquisite. See for yourself!
Clockwise from top, Boston Cream Pie, Coconut (excuse our bites, I remembered to take pics after we sampled), and Red Velvet.
Clockwise from top left: Blackout, S’mores, Hostess (not the real one, a remake of it), and Devil Dog.
Lucky New York brides! For now, I can just visit on vacation and dream of a franchise opening in Los Angeles. Oh, and FYI…Crumbs Bakeshop is also kosher!
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next time u should try Billy’s too! i agree, most of these gourmet cupcake shops have dry cupcakes and the icing is too sugary and sweet. the other day i made cupcakes for my brother and his friends and they all were saying how mine are so much better and moist. and they came out of the betty crocker box too!!!
Next time, do try sugar sweet sunshine. It’s moist and just perfect icing. Not fancy, but delicious. We had them at my shower and will also have them at my birthday party two days before the wedding 
I’m not a fan of Magnolias either. Billy’s has an insane cake selection, their cupcakes are alright in a “pinch” but my faves are from the CupCake Cafe on 18th. the flower decorations are beautiful and the cake is the most fine textured (comparable to an out of the box only better). the frosting isn’t too sweet and is delicate in texture.
Sugar Sweet Sunshine is great!
For people who are looking for sugar-free, wheat-free, or gluten-free, try Babycakes on Broome. We got the most delicious cupcakes from there - and we didn’t even know they were sugar and gluten-free until afterwards.
Billy, Magnolia, and Buttercup taste pretty similar to me.
I’m a big fan of Baked
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/41429581/brooklyn_ny/baked.html
And Out of the Kitchen
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7117660/new_york_ny/out_of_the_kitchen_.html
Dang those look so good….I am a carb fanatatic too.
Miss Pearl~See? Now we know Sprinkles rules all!! 
I’ll agree, you should have tried Billy’s and Sugar Sweet Sunshine over these two. Magnolia is horribly overrated and I find Crumbs awful (just my humble opinion).
We’re going to have Sugar Sweet Sunshine cupcakes at our RD — we’re schlepping them down to Delaware, we love them so much!
ooh if you’re in the LA area,
Toast (bakery/cafe/really popular with celebs)on 3rd St. (near the Beverly Ctr.) has some really awesome cupcakes as well!
Their red velvet is the best I’ve ever had!
Really? You thought Crumbs was awful? I found them to be super delish…even better than Sprinkles (sorry Jaggy!!).
I now have to go back to NYC for more cupcake sampling
I agree with Rebecca about Crumbs.
Me and some other brides did a cupcake tasting and Crumbs was the least liked.
IMHO, Crumbs doctors up their cupcakes with all that candy, etc. to hide their inferior cake. (Yes, I am a big cupcake connoisseur. My FI proposed to me via cupcake — stuck the ring in the frosting!)
Come back to NYC anytime for more cupcakes — there’s plenty to go around!
And if you’re ever in DC, try Cakelove … yum yum.
I am not a HUGE cupcake fan ( I am not American so it took me a while to fully comprehend the whole fuss around it, haha but now that I understand, I like ButterCup Bakeshop (they have more “fancy” cupakes - aka red velvet, German chocolate, lemon cake, etc).
Magnolia, in my opinion, is more of an experience - standing in a line the winds around the corner in the middle of the night, then eating the cupcake strolling around the West Village or sitting in the park that’s across the street from the store.
I’ve heart great stuff about Billy’s Bakery, but haven’t yet tried.
As a follow-up, I just took the half-eaten Hostess cupcake out of the fridge to snack on pre-dinner (ahem…don’t mind my complete torching of the healthy eating resolution) and it was still yummy.
My heart is sad that Crumbs is so disliked (I mean, could I be so wrong about something like cupcakes?!), but then hey…more yummy goodness for me
I will definitely have to try some of these other places next time.
*counting down the days*
i’ve been going to Crumbs for almost the past 2 years. At first they were really awesome but then there was a time they were very dry and icing was way too sweet… so I understand what the other locals are saying.
But recently, their cupcakes have been incredibly good and i think they are some of the best in the city now (they stay moist for at least 2 days)… They also just opened a new store near NYU on 8th street — great selection and one of their biggest stores. it’s worth checking out!
i also agree about sugar Sweet sunshine. They are by far the best. their satin buttercream frosting cannot be beat!
i’ve had Sprinkles in LA (my hometown) and love them… but i think NYC has so many more cupcakeries and variety… and most of them are very good. you must come back and try more!!! reviews in my Nest bio… “NYCaliBride” =)
Downtown Atlantic will always be my go-to cupcake bakeshop.
Magnolia’s is just a tourist trap and their cupcakes aren’t all that great. I like the cupcakes at Crumbs much better.
[...] of the yummy discoveries I made while visiting New York City was Crumbs Bakeshop. I blogged about this previously, so I’ll spare you the gory details revisited. My dreams of that time have [...]
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Mrs. Pearl, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation: 26, High school history teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 37, Software engineer
Engagement Date: No official date, we just decided :-)
Wedding Date: July 2007
Venue: St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Church, Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel
About Me: Mr. Pearl and I have been together for about four and a half years now. We've been "engaged" since 2004 and were originally supposed to get married in June 2006, but postponed the wedding to July 2007. I love shopping for housewares and office supplies, music, reading chick lit, football, and the diverse world of Los Angeles dining.
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