Magnolia’s magnetism

This place is amazing. Not only do swarms of tittering girls and midwestern families line up inside for cupcakes and banana pudding, but they’re pressed to the window in joyful awe and anticipation.

Magnolia Bakery has become a tourist destination, just like Bloomingdales’ fragrance department or Canal Street.

It’s like its own Christmas Spectacular.

1240 Sixth Ave at 49th Street
212.767.1123

More, more, more... Magnolia

Pastel sugar bombs! Magnolia strikes again!

Their third location is officially open in midtown.

You know you want one.

1240 Sixth Ave at 49th St

Danger on the UWS

Cupcake, cupcake, chocolate, cocoa, cookie, cookie.

Within a very concentrated area of the Upper West Side are a number of pitfalls for a trying-to-be-good Sweet Freak. Magnolia’s second branch is in a sprawling corner space at Columbus and 69th, awash with sunlight, packed with baby strollers, and churning out bake sheets of pastel cupcakes. They seem a wee bit smaller than the ones downtown, but anything is worth not enduring that god-awful line.

Onward to 72nd Street, walking west—boom: Buttercup Bake Shop. More cupcakes. But not much atmosphere, so it’s time to carry on. (Though it’s worth noting that Krispy Kreme used to inhabit this very same location. Bonus points for the auspiciously sweet heritage.)


Jacques Torres’s new outpost is on Amsterdam, between 73rd and 74th. It’s smaller than his Soho factory, but bigger than his original Dumbo shop, and they’ve smartly tucked a few cushy seats in by the windows so you can snack in-house. The truffles are piled high, the cocoa bar is fired up, and there are some new treats to behold: chocolate-covered lemon pound cake, for one.

And on to the grand finale: around the corner to Levain for whopper cookies. It seems more crowded these days, but it still has the allure of a subterranean hole-in-the-wall that just so happens to have the best cookies in the city. Or at least the heaviest. Seriously: 6 ounces of chocolate-studded goodness. Cookie monsters.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

A slice of old-fashioned goodness.

On the eve of 2004, before the cupcake craze had really spun everyone's sugar tops, a near replica of Cupcake Central (that would be Magnolia Bakery, if there was any doubt or if you've been detoxing under a rock) opened in Chelsea: Billy's Bakery. Indeed, opened by a Magnolia alum, the style and menu are nearly identical, but there’s one thing Billy’s doesn’t have: lines around the block. TG!

Inside the snug bakery, a couple Formica tables give you a place to sit and inhale luscious baking smells. Key-lime pie, blueberry muffins, snickerdoodles, caramel pecan cheesecake and, of course, cupcakes in myriad flavors are all on the menu to tempt you. But to save you from waffling in indecision, go for the best cake in the house.

A slice of Billy’s Banana Cake is heavy. Not only because it’s ginormous but also because the cake is dense and moist, and the frosting (cream cheese frosting—the better to temper those sugar jitters) is spread unabashedly thick. This is serious stuff. Made with fresh ripened bananas and the goodness of unrestrained dairy like butter and eggs, this two-layer cake is Billy’s most popular. But don’t worry, you shouldn’t be caught short: the bakery churns out a few every day. And if you want to go really bananas, you can special order your own.

Billy's Bakery
184 Ninth Avenue
212.647.9956