As promised, I’ve decided to start off the NYC re-cap with a cupcake roundup! What you are about to see is a bit sickening….so brace yourselves… Just keep in mind that I did all of it for YOU! It’s all about getting the facts right for my loyal readers 
I’m not kidding when I say that myself, the Mister and our good friend we stayed with tasted almost 15 cupcakes. I mean, yea, it was over the course of a few days but still — 15 CUPCAKES! And some of these were MONSTERS! See why I need that detox??? I’ll let the pictures do the talking….
Our first stop: Crumbs
Fairly new to the cupcake scene (but more on this later!), Crumbs Bake Shop first opened its doors in March of 2003 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The menu boasts more than 50 varieties of cupcakes baked fresh daily, with a new cupcake of the week each Monday. While Crumbs also offers many other goodies, including cakes, cookies and brownies, the shop’s specialty is the Crumbs Signature size cupcakes!
Crumbs exterior
The selection - aka HEAVEN
What Crumbs has to say about their cupcakes…
Perfectly formed. Lovely to look at. Delicious to eat. Cupcakes delight both the eyes and the soul. Made with the finest ingredients, they remind us that the best things in life are simple. Made by hand, baked with love, handled with joy.
These are whoppers, too! My goodness, one cupcake was about the size of my head. We gobbled:
Elvis – Vanilla cake filled with banana frosting, topped with vanilla peanut butter swirl and edged with peanut butter chips
Elvis cupcake
Vanilla Sprinkles – Vanilla cake frosted with our rich vanilla cream cheese and rimmed with rainbow sprinkles.
Vanilla sprinkles cupcake
Strawberry – white cake strawberry frosting
For scale - this strawberry cupcake was the 'normal' cupcake size!
Brownie – Chocolate cake filled and frosted with chocolate fudge, drizzled with chocolate and topped with Crumbs’ signature brownie bites.
Brownie cupcake
Fluffernutter – Vanilla cake filled and frosted with peanut butter flavored frosting, edged with white sprinkles and drizzled in white chocolate.
Fluffernutter cupcake
Carrot – Carrot cake topped with our signature cream cheese frosting, rimmed in crushed walnuts and decorated with an iced carrot.
Carrot cake cupcake
Cookie Dough – Vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filling covered in our signature vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with real cookie dough (not raw) and topped with a chocolate chip cookie.
Cookie dough cupcake
The ‘Good Guy’ – Vanilla cake with baked-in sprinkles topped with vanilla frosting, covered with sprinkles and drizzled with white chocolate – MY FAVORITE (talk about sugar rush!)
The Good Guy cupcake
The cake: Moist and buttery – just the way I like it! It was also dense enough that it didn’t smash in your hand.
Frosting: to.die.for. OMG — there’s a reason why this was the place where we couldn’t stop eating…
The flavors: the most flavor variety out of any other shop we visited.
Do these look irresistible to you?! Wanna try one?! Check out the Web site for online ordering info!
Second stop: Magnolia
Magnolia exterior
Made famous by Sex And The City, Magnolia now has three locations in NYC.
We sampled:
Red Velvet
Vanilla cake with Vanilla frosting and sprinkles
Magnolia cupcakes
Me!
The cake: Amazing! Light, fluffy and moist (esp. the red velvet). Melts in your mouth.
The frosting: Meh. I was not a fan of the Red Velvet frosting, but I also don’t like whipped icings. This icing tasted a bit like ‘cool whip’ and I HATE cool whip. I like my icings to be a bit more dense and more sugary.
The flavors: Magnolia didn’t get too crazy with the flavors, but that’s OK. I almost liked not having too much to choose from!
Third stop: Buttercup Bake Shop
Buttercup Bake Shop
A fantastic quote from the shop’s founder, Jennifer Appel:
“With information moving at the speed of light, Buttercup Bake Shop lets you slow down and wile away an afternoon sipping your favorite beverage and enjoying some delectable, nostalgic treats that spell comfort and love.”
Buttercup wall art - LOVE THIS!
We sampled:
Vanilla cake with vanilla frosting (this was my ‘control’ cupcake at each stop)
Lemon
German chocolate
Buttercup cupcakes
The cake: Meh. A bit dry. After tasting Magnolia, this cake just didn’t compare.
Frosting: SCORE! This frosting tasted just like you would imagine the perfect cupcake to taste. When I was leaving Buttercup, I noticed they sell ‘frosting shots.’ Now I know why.
The flavors: Similar to Magnolia, a few interesting flavors, but pretty simple.
The FINAL rundown and RANKING:
1.) CRUMBS
2.) Buttercup (frosting trumps cake in my book! – after all, a cupcake is merely a platform on which to serve delicious frosting )
3.) Magnolia
Interesting story I heard through the grapevine (not sure if it’s true – New Yorkers – can you confirm?)
Apparently Magnolia was originally owned by a couple, but they didn’t agree on frosting flavors (joke!), so they split up. The one who left Magnolia took the cupcake recipe and started Crumbs, and the one who stayed got to keep the name Magnolia. So Crumbs really is the original Magnolia! Crazy, huh?
What is your favorite cupcake flavor?
Tags: daily delish, travel
oh my god those cupcakes are monsters… delicious, mouthwatering MONSTERS!
I need the Elvis and Cookie Dough cupcakes… HOLY YUM.
All those cupcakes look delish! and HUGE haha. I about died when I saw the elvis one or the fluffernutter. I’m a peanut butter freak!
-kristen
I’m so happy you guys did the taste test for us! Interesting trivia!
Crumbs sounds heavenly but I don’t know how on earth I’d be able to pick ONE to eat! Elvis, cookie dough, carrot cake, I want them all!!
omgoodness this looks like so much fun!
my alltime favorite cupcake flavor is red velvet!
I love this post!! Cupcake heaven!! I have to make a trip to NYC just for
cupcakes now
Ummm that Crumbs Brownie Chocolate thing should be called “The Lindsey”. No joke. I swear I heard my name called when I looked at that picture. Thanks for the comparison!!
What a fun recap. I love chocolate cupcakes!
That brownie cupcake looks like my heaven on earth. I’m going to be in NYC for 38 hours this weekend. I will hunt Crumbs down. I will fight it, and I will reign victorious.
Mmmmm delicious! My favorite right now is red velvet with cream cheese frosting from the South End Buttery in Boston.
Oh. my. goodness. Every one of these looks so delicious and decadent!
I pick the carrot cake!!!
I love this post!
Oh wow Shannon!! That’s a lot of cupcakes!!! haha
Looks so tasty!!
I want to go to NYC! For crumbs! I agree with you about the frosting being sugery and dense!
they all look so pretty!! and you look lovely for your date with the Mister
Whoa–those are my kind of cupcakes: almost all frosting:)
I love carrot cupcakes!
Oh. My gosh. What a heavenly day. How was the German Chocolate?! That’s my favorite cake ever! Or maybe it’s carrot cake. Or red velvet. I can never decide
You should have tried Magnolia’s double chocolate cupcake! Their chocolate frosting seriously has crack in it! I think Buttercup is owned by the same people as Magnolia (or at least used to be) and supposedly was using the same recipe but I never thought they tasted the same. I always prefered Magnolia. Crumbs on the other hand, I’ve never tasted for some reason despite the fact that I used to live on Upper West side and passed by the place a million times. I’m going to make sure I stop by on my next NYC trip. Thanks for doing this research for us
My cousin came home from NY with a box of Magnolia cupcakes at Easter. To be honest, I was NOT impressed! To me the frosting was just BLAH. Nothing memorable.
Cupcake City! Oh, the things we do for our blogs
If the first post is about cupcakes, I am DYING to know what’s next!
Oh. God.
The Magnolia Red Velvet.
I made it my mission in NYC to eat one of those baby’s this weekend. I swore I’d make it home to savor it. Nope; it was done before we even hit Bridgeport, and it was glorious. Hands down, it’s my favorite cupcake EVER.
This is such a cool post
[...] ladies and gentleman, it’s time to get serious. Yes, after our NYC cupcake and za escapades, the Mister and I come back to reality. Vacation is over. While we did manage to [...]
As I mentioned, I’m going to NYC for a brief romp around town this weekend. My boyfriend’s brother and sister in law are NYC-ers and Magnolia devotees. They scoffed when I told them I’d read a review that Crumbs is better than Magnolia. They’ve never tried Crumbs, so we’ll have to see what they think this weekend! I love a good cupcake challenge
[...] addition to our NYC cupcake and pizza escapades, the Mister and also went to a chocoholics paradise — Max [...]
[...] but for me, it really helps me get back on track (like you know, after I gorge myself with NYC cupcakes and za.) One of the other things I really like about Lose it! is that it keeps track of your [...]
[...] NYC Cupcake roundup [...]
Wow! Crumbs’ Elvis & Brownie cupcakes look like they are to die for!! I know my first stop the next time I visit NYC
I believe that when the owners of Magnolia split, the offshoot bakery was Buttercup, not Crumbs.
You need to try Billy’s – better than all 3 above. Billy was a former employee of Magnolia. Billy’s is in Chelsea on 9th Ave. between 21st and 22nd. Their vanilla-vanilla is the perfect balance of butter and sugar, and they have seasonal favorites such as pumpkin for fall and lemon in the spring. Enjoy!
HI, a minor correction, the orginal owners of Magnolia Bakery were Allysa Torey and Jennifer Apel (now of Buttercup bakery). They were not a couple.
Crumbs has no affiliation with Magnolia Bakery.
Cute blog!
[...] It’s no secret that I’m a little obsessed with cupcakes. [...]
Hot recipe!
. I enjoy studying that blog. Where did you buy this pretty blog design from? Remembrance from russia.
[...] game and scale back, I stick to 1300-1500. And of course I’ll have those days when I probably consume 3,500 calories (but those are few and far between) — it’s all about balance and finding [...]