The Cupcake Challenge

Last night I had five lovely ladies over to find out, once and for all, which bakery makes the best cupcake on the Upper West Side. The bakeries represented: Crumbs (75th and Amsterdam), Buttercup (72nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam), Soutine (70th and Columbus), and Magnolia (69th and Columbus). Now that I realize all of these places are within six blocks of each other, I will start refering to this area of Manhattan as The Cupcake District. Spread the word.

The cupcakes were numbered so that none of the taste-testers went into the experiment with name biases, and each person was provided with an evaluation sheet created by yours truly:

To make things fair, I bought two vanilla cake/chocolate frosting cupcakes and two chocolate cake/vanilla frosting cupcakes from each place. I realize some places have insanely creative recipes, but simplicity can sometimes be the most difficult thing to master.

So the results are in, and the winner for the best overall cupcake (judged on icing, cake, combination of icing & cake, and appearance) is Crumbs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen - after years and years of saying,"Crumbs is so much better than Magnolia; go to Crumbs," I now have evidential proof that I am always right.

More interesting stuff: Buttercup came in last place, Magnolia had the most aesthetically pleasing cupcakes, and Soutine's chocolate cake/vanilla icing cupcake came the closest to beating out Crumbs. The cheapest cupcakes were from Buttercup, and the most expensive were from Crumbs. Apparently you get what you pay for.

Comments from the test group:

BUTTERCUP: Most complained of a coffee flavor in the chocolate icing, which Kiera pointed out as most likely cocoa powder. Tsk, tsk for not hiding your ingredients well enough, BC. The taste testers also felt that the vanilla icing tasted more like cream cheese icing.

CRUMBS: More positive reaction from the crew, but Kiera at this point decides she hates cupcakes. Sad news.

MAGNOLIA: Not one, but TWO people described the icing as "lobster-y." Well, I don't know about you, but I'm never buying cupcakes from there again.

SOUTINE: Vanilla cake had no taste and the vanilla icing, while it had the texture of whipped cream (which is a positive, I think?), there was not enough sugar in the mix.

There you go, kids. Use this scientific study wisely for your future cupcake endeavors on the Upper West Side.