Banana cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting

Here’s something different. I baked.
I actually made cupcakes from scratch and they were actually edible!

I give credit to Marguerite, who adapted her recipe from The Craft of Baking. The combination of banana cake and peanut butter buttercream frosting was too irresistible to deny, n’est-ce pas?

But I was making the cupcakes for a party; a dinner party that I knew would be chic because my girlfriend who was throwing it is chic. So my secret weapon…

Bespoke Chocolates.

Each moist, flavorful cupcake got topped with a divine bonbon.

A 70% Columbian dark chocolate truffle. A peanut butter honey square.

A hazelnut praliné. And the famous pretzel-covered sea-salted caramel.

They were chic and delicious.

And if Cowgirl and Butter Lane and The Spot and Tulu's weren't all so close, I might even do it again.

Giddy up! Back to Cowgirl Baking

It’s too close to home. I feel the pull of those vegan cupcakes all the time.

And I can tell you, the chocolate with vanilla icing (though cruelly small)…

…and the red velvet…

… are just as delicious as the peanut butter bomb.

Next time I go, I’m hoping they have the tres leches or tiramisu cupcakes.

Chocolate soufflé cupcakes

I've always been a fan of Kyotofu. Needless to say, it's been awhile since I'd visited but when I heard New York Magazine touted their chocolate soufflé cupcakes the best in the city, it was the perfect excuse to go.

I'll take three, please!

They pair perfectly with a glass of Cote du Rhone.

My top 10 all-time favorite sweets in Paris

Though, I think you’d agree, this is an unfair list. An impossible task. There is no limit to the to-die-for deliciousness on every block in Paris. To try to select only 10 is a cruel challenge. But if I had to choose… 10 sweets I wouldn’t want anyone to miss… I would start with:

• A good, ole piping-hot oozing Nutella and banana street crepe.

• La Folie at La Patisserie des Reves: The heft and texture are pure magic. The doughy, whipped brioche is piped full of vanilla pastry cream that has a hint of rum raisin. Topped with praliné crumble and a touch of confectioner’s sugar. Unbelievable.

• The obscenely addictive Praluline from Pralus. Buttery, chewy, crunchy, sweet but a titch savory, caramelized—what doesn’t this beauty have?

• The sweet little strawberry Coeur from Coquelicot. Relatively modest in size—just 4-5 bites—it’s also sweet and fruity and has a pitch-perfect texture that’s both spongy and moist.

• A chocolate éclair from Stohrer. The crisp pastry shell envelopes an uber generous chocolaty custard filling and is slapped with a sweet chocolate glacage. It’s a serious sugar rush in the best way.

• Angelina’s stick-to-your-ribs chocolat chaud. It’s like sipping melted truffles. In a tearoom that Coco Chanel used to frequent.

• Speaking of truffles, Jean-Paul Hevin’s truffles are le mieux. And his mendiants. And his cakes. Hevin = heaven.

• The rice pudding at Chez l’Ami Jean. I never would have thought I’d care a lick about rice pudding. Last year’s dinner at Café Constant made me reconsider. And a later dinner at Chez l’Ami Jean changed everything. Served in a massive bowl with sides of candied granola and salted caramel cream, this is an unforgettable dessert.

• The Plenitude Individuel from Pierre Hermé. While his macarons are, oui, divine, this little cake is transporting. Fluffy chocolate mousse under a dark chocolate shell. Kissed by salted caramel. Adorned with tiles of more chocolate. It’s gorgeous, exquisite and delicious.

• The almond croissant from Boulangerie Julian. When Bennie and I split this, we were giggling in the middle of rue Saint-Honoré. Fresh and flaky, slightly chewy and caramelized at the edges, heavy with almond paste and lightly dusted with powdered sugar and slivered almond. I mean, how can something taste so good??

Infinite chocolate chip cookies

One of the very few good things about working way over on 11th Avenue is that it’s not so far from Ruby et Violette.

Do you know this itty-bitty cookie shop? And their marshmallow cookies?

Their butter pecan cookies?

Caramel popcorn and cassis...


...Irish, peach cobbler, French vanilla, and many, many more...



Trust me, it's not the most convenient location. But it's more than worth the haul.

457 West 50th at 10th Avenue

Big blues

Some mornings just warrant a humble little breakfast.

Cafe au lait and a blueberry muffin.

At Thé Adoré.


17 East 13th Street between Fifth and University
212.243.8742

Happy Macaron Day

In honor of my 47 macaron-feat in Paris last year...

...and all the brave and hungry souls doing it in New York this year, this year...

Happpy Macaron Day.

One bite, and I was in love

Cowgirl’s Baking is only one-week-old, but it’s already one of my favorite bakeries.

With flavors like Rocky Road—chocolate chocolate-chip cake with marshmallow filling, caramel frosting and chocolate-caramel drizzles—and Tres Leches, vanilla cake soaked in vanilla bean creme anglaise with dulce de leche and vanilla frosting, well…I was pretty certain without even ordering that I was going to love this place.

I wasn’t sure what flavor to get. The Coffee & Donuts, a vanilla cupcake soaked in coffee, topped not only with coffee frosting but also a mini doughnut?

The Midnight, a chocolate chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting? Or the aptly named Heaven: vanilla on vanilla with rainbow sprinkles?


After my Nutella-banana French toast at the Brindle Room, I was pretty sure I shouldn’t be getting anything.

(At least I didn’t also have a doughnut at the Brindle Room.)

But I figured it was too auspicious that Cowgirl was just a few doors down from the scene of my gluttonous breakfast. I knew my day wouldn’t be complete without sampling something.

So I ordered the Chocolate French Toast cupcake.

Where to begin? Creamy frosting with a cinnamon-spicy kick. Uber rich chocolate cake, flecked with chocolate chips. It was moist. Delicious. Pitch-perfect.

It wasn't just a fluke, was it? Would a different flavor also send me over the moon? In a word, yeessssss.

I can’t even describe to you how delicious the Peanut Butter Bomb is.
Chocolate chocolate chip cake with peanut butter frosting.


Oh yeah. All of these are VEGAN. Which makes me think that maybe everyone in Manhattan should start baking vegan?

With cookies, doughnuts, tarts and other pastries on the Cowgirl menu, just blocks from home, I am in trouble. I am in heaven—but I am in trouble.