Cups of cakes! Cakes of cups! Lovely, portable creations that enable us to indulge on the move or in multiple bites. There’s nothing that I like better than a good ice cream cake, but when that’s not available, the cupcake becomes second best.
So what makes a good cupcake? I think that too much emphasis is placed on the frosting. Cupcakes are easily photogenic, with their graceful swirls, piped in different colors and skillful designs. And of course, bakers and cupcake fans alike love to accessorize with sprinkles, fine sugar, chocolate chips, etc… What I’m trying to say is, looks can be deceiving.
That’s why I have a problem with Magnolia cupcakes. While they’re perhaps the most gorgeous cupcakes around, they have no personality. The cake itself is insanely dense and non-moist, despite the monstrous amount of butter that goes into it. The frosting looks pretty and all, but my tooth literally starts aching once it touches the frosting. The frosting is ridiculously sweet and overpowering. I’ve heard that Magnolia cupcakes are delicious when warm so perhaps I’m being too critical. But seriously, if you’re a good cupcake, you should be good- warm and cold.
On the other hand, we have Crumbs, a very commercialized sort of bakery. Their cupcakes (the normal-sized ones) are priced as the same as Magnolia’s at $2.50 a pop. They do have these giant cupcakes that sell for around $3.75 and they come in really original and awesome flavors like Twinkie, Cookie Dough, M&Ms, and well, you get the point. I wanted to get a true cupcake to compare it with the Magnolia’s I had bought with me.
When it came to the taste test, Crumbs won by a landslide. Both were vanilla, but the Crumbs cupcake had a thin layer of chocolate frosting with rainbow sprinkles whereas the Magnolia cupcake was vanilla too, but had a thick layer of pastel green frosting and pink tiny sprinkles. The Crumbs cupcake was rich and moist, and in my mind, a perfect cupcake. It had just enough frosting to give it a sweet kick without giving me a toothache. You can see in the pictures how thick the frosting and dense the cake is on the Magnolia cupcake.
Magnolia is just a craze. Even though Crumbs will never have lines around the corner like Magnolia, for me, it will always have a better tasting cupcake. Either way, you can decide for yourself.
Magnolia:
401 Bleecker St.
New York, NY 10014
at 11th St. See Map | Subway Directions 
212-462-2572 Send to Phone
Crumbs:
37 E. 8th St.
New York, NY 10003
nr. University Pl. See Map | Subway Directions
212-673-1500 Send to Phone
You should also check out:
- An interview with Terry Chen of “Filled with Sweets”
- Co. Pizza
- Crif Dogs (take 2)- best hot dogs ever
- Saturday brunch at Locanda Verde
- Bobo in the West Village
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey JYoh!! You should try out Tonnie’s Minis on Macdougal. Its a really small place and they don’t have the cool flavors that Crumbs has but their cupcakes are deliciously simple and perfect.
I actually like both as I think they are different. The red velvet magnolia are excellent and when you share one, the sweetness doesn’t bother me that much. I think Crumbs flavors are really different and excellent…I like the bigger size especially for sharing. I also loove the smell when you walk in magnolia…smells so much like a bakery. Hard to pick one really as I think both are really good!!!