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Butter lane
I'm a big fan of sampling food. If you ever go to Costco you know exactly what food samples are. That place is just crawling with food samples. Nothing like samples to help you make informed decisions about what kind of food you'd like. I've been around the block a few times and seen quite a few cupcake places and never has a place said, "Here, taste the different types of frosting we have to offer today." It's just... genius. I guess part of the reason Butter Lane lets you taste test is because they offer two main types of cupcake frosting: American and French.
You could head over to Cupcake Takes the Cake or Blondie and Brownie to read up on the difference between the two. The main difference was the mouth feel of the two types of frosting; the French one is smoother and creamier.
Actually I think they call it 'buttercream' and not 'frosting'. But I just feel so bad if I have to tell my doctor, "Yo, um... so I been eating a lot of buttercream this winter..." It's a compound word that probably would scare the bajesus out of my doctor. Yes, my belly is full of butter+cream. Yeaaaa...
There are still times when you would opt for the American frosting/buttercream because they are better for incorporating flavors into the buttercream. When I went, there were three daily specials: blueberry, pumpkin, and strawberry. All three plus the American and French butter cream were on the front counter for you to try. You could taste each and then decide what suits your tastes.
I settled on two cupcakes from Butter Lane, the vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream (French style) and the pumpkin cupcake that featured the American buttercream. I ate the vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream and it was quite tasty. The cupcake itself had an interesting texture that sort of reminded me of a sponge cake. It wasn't exactly like it though... it's just difficult to explain the exact texture but it was different than any other cupcake in the city right now. Paired with the subtle sweetness of the French buttercream, it made for a nice treat.
Steph helped me try to the pumpkin cupcake because it's better to share the sweetness. Unfortunately that cupcake was not as successful and exhibited some dryness. The pumpkin flavor in the frosting was potent and I really enjoyed that. Despite the dryness, I still feel that Butter Lane is a great new cupcake place. If you go, definitely start with the vanilla or chocolate cupcake with the French frosting. Then from there see how you feel about their flavors of the day.
Butter Lane
123 East 7th Street.
New York, NY 10009
212-677-2880
Map
Sign up to the feed and never miss a post!Posted by Danny on December 16 2008 at 1:21 am
This place rocks! I absolutely love their cupcakes. Funny that you mention French frosting. I am in Paris now, where it appears, cupcakes are catching on. They have a long way to go to catch up to the US of A.
I have a write up on one place, Berko, on my blog. Click over if you are interested.
FN on December 16 2008 at 5:46 am
Butter Lane sucks!!! I was guilty of all the blog hype on Butter Lane and happen to be walking past the shop several nights ago. I tried the frostings & decided to get a chocolate buttercream chocolate cupcake. That thing was so dry & gross I was instantly pissed off that I was so mislead by my favorite food blogs. Never again. Pictures lie, blogs over hype.
I've been burned twice so far with the food blog over hype, the other being the Treats Truck. That truck produces some skimpy, over priced unappetizing treats. I cannot believe how it has such a fan base. Sugar Sunshine Sweets has the best sweets in all of Manhattan & their prices are great.
Marina on December 16 2008 at 11:50 am
I'm a huge fan of samples at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods too! Free food samples are amazing :)
Hillary on December 16 2008 at 1:32 pm
I "heart" cupcakes! I wonder if Bernie Madoff loves cupcakes too?
Choco Hugs and Vanilla Kisses,
Opinionated Cupcake Bitch
"Hungry Bitch has no association with Bernie Madoff or Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities"
Hungry Bitch on December 16 2008 at 2:02 pm
Marina, you are knocking the Treats Truck? Them's fighting words....
(Sugar Sunshine is pretty good, though, I have to agree.)
FN on December 17 2008 at 2:06 am
You are such a cupcake connoisseur :)
Agnes on December 17 2008 at 4:54 am
Sorry, I hate to get burned by a dry, expensive cupcake. And if I buy food from a truck, it better be good & cheap or why else BUY FOOD FROM A TRUCK??!! LOL!
Marina on December 17 2008 at 5:18 pm
well it depends where you're buying it from a truck. If say, at 45th and 6th where, prior to Magnolia opening, the closest good bakery was Crumbs on 42nd, then TT fulfills a need because it's either TT or chips ahoy. But if it's directly in front of Amy's Bread or SSS, then you are probably making a bad decision. Also, none of the trucks are cheap. Yes, SSS prices are great, but the store is all the way down on the LES. Half the fun of the trucks is mobility aspect.
Blondie on December 17 2008 at 9:58 pm
I am willing to pay a lot for the taste of those delicious peanut butter sandwiches from TT! That is, of course, unless the credit crunch gets me and forces me to heist chips ahoy from Key Food.
FN on December 18 2008 at 4:57 am
@FN,
Oh wow, cupcakes made it over there? You figure it's only a matter of time. They said Magnolias exploded after Sex and the City. So if that show travels well...
@Marina,
We are in agreement about the treats truck. I feel that they're too expensive for what they offer. I'm much more of a dessert truck person because treats truck just feels like someone who's baking cookies. Sometimes you pay $2 for a cookie and you expect it to be.. more. I can certainly understand that blogs overhype, and I want to try to stay away from that as much as possible.
@Hillary,
Yes! More free samples would totally rule!
@Cupcakes,
There you go telling us more about your finances than we need to know! Stick to investing in flour, sugar, and butter, ok? It will serve you well in the future.
@Agnes,
cupcake connoisseur perhaps, or maybe just fatass :P
@Blondie,
You bring up a good point about the location about the trucks. Sometimes it still sucks when a cookie that cost $2 dollars is not as big as you want it to be. :(
Danny on December 21 2008 at 12:22 am
Danny! Go to the Momofuko Milk Bar and enjoy their chocolate chocolate cookie for $1.50,I swear to you that I ate that cookie for 3 DAYS! It looked on the medium side & when I tried it, heaven!! Delicious doesn't justify it. It was dense, smooth, chocolatey and impossible to finish in one shot.
And I also bought a polenta blue cheese bread roll. I went outside, took a bite, made a u-turn back into the bakery & bought a 2nd one because it was out-of-sight good (I was off of carbs for 3 1/2 weeks).
The bake & pies didn't interest me. And who would be stupid enough to pay $9 for 2 pork buns (LOL!!!)
Peace - M
marina on January 8 2009 at 12:03 pm
Anyone who comes into Butter Lane and mentions they saw us on your blog gets two for one cupcakes Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays through the month of February. (Limit two per day.) At the end of the month, the blogger with the most mentions wins a dozen cupcakes!
Maria Baugh
Maria Baugh on January 28 2010 at 10:30 am