Posted by
manda on May 12th, 2009
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There was a great article in the New York last month that a friend sent me: Gramercy Tavern’s Nancy Olson Rates New York’s Cupcakes We’ve been to Magnolia’s many a time and I agree that they overdose on the frosting. So Robo and I visited ChikaLicious (which btw is dangerously close to our apartment) and ordered the Smores, Mocha, Red Velvet, and Black & White cupcakes. They were smallish, about the size of home-made cupcakes, but so worth it! EDIT: We went back with cupcake fanatics Gen & sis today and here’s the final rundown:
Smores – the marshmallow frosting/topping was actually burnt/toasted so you could taste the carmelized marshallow
Mocha – good but the espresso-chocolate ganache filling wasn’t gooey enough – if it were warmed up it’d be excellent
Red Velvet – Robo’s favorite the cream cheese frosting was to die for…had just the right amount of cream cheese and sugar to make it light but yumyumyummy!
Black and White – solid, no complaints there, just a great cupcake.
Caramel – the sweetest of them all, beware: the cake was nearly saturated with caramel sugar
Coconut – fragrant with the toasted coconut on top, but only so-so
Triple Chocolate – deefinitely a must for a chocoholic, the chocolate frosting wasn’t overly sweet and you could taste the dark cocoa in the cake
We finally got pictures – sorry about the poor lighting
Continue reading Dessert Club ChikaLicious
Posted by
manda on April 16th, 2009
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Disclaimer: Not your typical Tuesday! My parents came into town for business, so before their client rendevous, we got to spend a rare weekday afternoon together shopping, eating, chatting, and enjoying ourselves. We hit up our favorite splurge spot, La Maison du Chocolat at Rockefeller Center, and were treated to macaroons, truffles, and cups of rich caracas (dark) and guayaquil (milk) hot chocolate. Afterward, we shopped and returned to the hotel to prep up for the main (food) event – Basso56 on W 56th St. It was one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in NYC – great service, cozy, not too pretentious, and oh yeah, amazing italian food! We started off with a great bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine, olives and bruscetta, fried calamari, and steamed mussels. For our entrees, we ordered the specials: seafood risotto, mushroom ravioli, swordfish, and roasted duck with figs. Everything was delicious and perfectly cooked, except maybe the duck which was a little rare. Notice how these dishes almost exactly match the dishes from Maggiano’s – Robo and I looove italian seafood dishes
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My Mom also baked some cherry chocolate chip cupcakes with homemade vanilla frosting. They were AMAZING! Better than any cupcake you can find at the chic boutique bakeries like Magnolia’s or Chickalicious because 1) they’re moister 2) the frosting is made with marshmallow fluff and who can resist that? and 3) they’re homemade =) I’ll put up the recipe for
Continue reading Basso56 and a little bit of home
