A Buttercup Batter Makes For A Better Batter...?

Pastry Shop: Buttercup Bake Shop

Website: www.buttercupbakeshop.com

Location: 973 2nd Avenue

Phone: 212.350.4144

Price Range: $

Choices: Caramel Pecan Cheesecake; Hummingbird Cupcake; Lemon Cupcake; Chocolate w/ Chocolate Icing Cupcake; Buttercup Golden w/ Chocolate Icing Cupcake; Red Velvet Cupcake; Carrot Cake; Devil Dog Cupcake; Lady Baltimore Cake; Banana Pudding

**First off, before you continue reading on, I would like to apologize to my dedicated readers for not being consistent with my updates these past two weeks. I understand that having a busy life is not an adequate excuse, if so I should not have started this blog. On that note, I will try my best to keep consistency for my loyal Savory Desserts NYC readers. :D To make up for last week, this week I have updated with two postings; one in honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival and one on a new pastry shop visit.**

This week a couple of friends and I went to pay a little visit to a bakeshop called Buttercup Bake Shop. When you first enter the cute little bakeshop, you see a wide range of cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets in closed display counters. For pastry lovers, it felt like you died and went to heaven. All the way in the back there’s a window that allows you to view the bakers and the kitchen at work. Despite its small area, they still offered a few tables and chairs for the guests to sit and enjoy their sweet guilty pleasures. Typically before we taste any of the desserts, we would organize the order of tasting from lightest to heaviest in richness. This time due to the lack of space on our table, we chose to taste according to which was the easiest to cut and clear up space.

Our first victim was of the Caramel Pecan Cheesecake. The texture of the cheesecake was drier than most; it was stiff but had lots of creamy flavors. What I usually look forward to in a cheesecake is the crunchy graham crust. Sadly, the crust was a bit soggy but had a nice added taste of pecans and walnuts. There was a garnish of caramel pecan on the top of the cheesecake but the sour cream flavor was so overpowering you could not enjoy the toppings of the cake.

The first cupcake we tried was the Hummingbird cupcake. The cake was a bit dry, balancing well with the vanilla frosting giving the cake more moisture. In the cake, I was able to taste primarily bananas, and pecans. When I took a bite of the cake, I felt a texture resembling pineapples and saw swirls of cinnamon but the flavors were not enhanced enough to be tasted.

One of my all time favorites is lemon pastry. At Buttercup Bake Shop we ordered the Lemon cupcake. At first glance, you get a bright yellow color coming from the frosting. Once the cake was cut, you instantly get a burst of lemon aroma. When I took a bite, I noticed that the cake was moister than the first one. It had strong flavors of lemon; most likely produced with lemon extract. One of my friends said, “It just tastes like lemon pound cake, nothing special.” As for the frosting, there were not any lemon flavors nor vanilla flavors to enhance the cupcake further.

The Chocolate with Chocolate Icing cupcake, I would say is not for us. The flavors of the cake reminded me of a brownie however it was much moister. This cupcake is very sweet and is highly recommended for intense chocolate lovers.

The following pastry we tasted was the Buttercup Golden with Chocolate Icing, recommended by the employee. For some reason, it didn’t contain any flavor characteristics that distinguish it was a cupcake, it tasted more of bread.

The Red Velvet cupcake is one that was most recommended in their reviews. It was also the one that I look forward to most. It was a vanilla based red velvet with cream cheese frosting, as told by the employee. Upon tasting the frosting, it struck us there weren’t hints of cream cheese at all rather that it tasted of buttercream. Product knowledge much?

With the first bite of the Carrot cake, you instantly get bursts of nutty carrot flavors. The moisture of the cake was on point. However when taking a bite with the icing, the icing’s overpowering sweetness completely wipes out its refreshingly earthly flavors.

Taking a look at the “Devil Dog” cupcake gave us all a toothache. It was composed of a very dark chocolate cake; with a very sweet marshmallow spread sprinkled with blue sugar crystal cubes, all this equals to an unpleasantness to the palate. It felt like I ate an entire bar of dark chocolate with roasted marshmallows all at once. However, I should add that this was actually a moist cupcake.

The last cake we tasted was a slice of Lady Baltimore. The cake was vanilla based with fillings of shredded coconut, apple-oatmeal cookie crumbs, finely chopped toasted almonds, candy cherries, and almond extract. Although, the composition of the filling was said to have this many ingredients, after tasting we were not able to identify all that was stated. From the tasting, we were only able to extract flavors of coconut and candy cherry preserve. This preserve had just the right amount of sweetness balancing well with the light vanilla cake and marshmallow spread.

Half way through our tasting, an employee came by to offer us two samples of their puddings. The first one was Lemon Raspberry pudding; it was delightful and refreshing with a sour kick at the end. The second one was Chocolate Truffle pudding; it was delicious!! The level of sweetness in the chocolate was on point. It had a light smooth fluffy texture. Once in your mouth, you feel the cake dissolving slowly into the pudding giving you the “melt in your mouth” feeling.

The highlight of this dessert review would be the Banana Pudding. Quoted from the three of us, “OMG, this taste so good!” I must say it definitely did not look appetizing even when it was displayed in the counters. It was pastel yellow in color, and did not present any aromas of bananas. However, this was a sent from heaven “melt in your mouth” pudding. In the pudding, there are slices of banana and pieces of vanilla wafers. Because the wafers were soaked in the pudding for a period of time, it becomes a nice soft addition to the smooth creamy texture pudding.

As for beverages, one of my friends ordered a hot chocolate. His opinion states, “The hot chocolate tasted of hot steamed milk mixed with NestleQuik powder. It was very generic.” I enjoyed my regular cup of Joe with milk and no sugar because of its bland flavor I was able to balance it with the intense sweetness of the pastries. My other friend ordered the apple cider. She stated, “I only ordered the apple cider because I don’t drink coffee but it was good because the sourness helped balance the sweets.”

One additional detail I must include regarding all the cupcakes was the extremely intense sweetness of all the icing and spreads. First, all of the icings and spreads were sprinkled with little sugar cubes. They were very thick in texture and you can actually chew the icing and feel/hear yourself biting down on sugar.

Overall, I really liked the service I received from the girls working behind the counter. They were very helpful voicing their recommendations, very pleasant and kind. The baked goods were not awful but it was not what we had expected. We highly recommend the Banana pudding, the Chocolate Truffle pudding, and maybe the Hummingbird cupcake.

Mishii's Rating: 5/10

A Moon Made of Bean Paste

*Took a picture of the bakery with my phone but its currently not sending so I decided to upload a picture of all the moon cakes.*

Pastry Shop: TaiPan Bakery

Website: N/A

Location: 194 Canal Street

Phone: 212.732.2222

Price Range for a Moon Cake: $$

Choices: White Skin Single-Yolk with White Lotus-Seed Paste; Single-Yolk with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; Taro with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; Green Tea with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; Sesame with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; Orange with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; Coffee with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake; and Strawberry with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake

Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15^th of August of the lunar calendar, typically in October on a Gregorian calendar. It is a special day when Chinese families get together and admire moon cakes, which symbolizes family reunion, family culture, and the embodying spiritual feelings. In ancient China, moon cakes were used as an offering to Chang E, the celestial being of the palace of the moon. If you would like to learn more on the history of the Mid-Autumn Festival, click on the following links. History of Mid-Autumn Festival. Celebrating the Harvest Moon.

I’ll be covering eight varieties of moon cakes from a popular Chinese bakery located in the heart of Chinatown, called TaiPan Bakery. The varieties are White Skin Single-Yolk with White Lotus-Seed Paste, Single-Yolk with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, Taro with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, Green Tea with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, Sesame with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, Orange with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, Coffee with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake, and Strawberry with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake. The difference between a Snowy Moon Cake and the Traditional Moon Cake is the outer layer. A Snowy Moon Cake typically has components of bean paste and a soft gluey skin made of cooked glutinous rice flour called Koh Fun in Chinese.  A Traditional Moon Cake consists of bean paste and an outer layer of dough. This dough can be prepared in three ways, chewy, flaky, and tender. Here’s a link if you would like to learn more about the different ways of preparation.

The White Skin Single-Yolk with White Lotus-Seed Paste, and the Single-Yolk with Bean Paste Snowy Moon Cake tastes very similar. Both have compositions of sweet bean paste with a salty yolk to keep the palates balanced. The paste had a good consistency, a great combination with the smooth chewy outer layer. The outer layers acted as a container, holding the paste and yolk together giving you the opportunity to really experience the flavors melding.

Taro Snowy Moon Cake and Green Tea Snowy Moon Cake were my favorites. Both outer layers were chewy with just enough taro, and green tea flavors. You can tell flavored powders were used to give each outer layer of snowy moon cakes their distinctive flavors. The smooth bean paste was not too sweet blending well with the lightly flavored skins.

The next two snowy moon cakes I’ll be covering are the Sesame Snowy Moon Cake, and the Coffee Snowy Moon Cake. These two delicacies are a little different than the previous ones. It is evident the skin of the Sesame moon cake were made of black sesame seeds; biting into the skin gives you a nice crunchy texture. Unusually, my mom did not like the sesame moon cake; she said, “It tasted like I was drinking a bottle of sesame oil.” The specialties are also in the sweet bean paste. The sweet bean paste within the coffee moon cake had strong aroma and flavors of espresso while the paste in the sesame moon cake had an infusion of blended sesame seeds. These two moon cakes are distinctive because of the additional details added to the paste.

The last two moon cakes I tasted were not for me. It was the Orange Snowy Moon Cake and the Strawberry Snowy Moon Cake. One bite into these moon cakes instantly gave me a reminder of my childhood days when I was sick and had to take cough syrup. The pastes had its original flavor. The skins were profound with unnatural flavors. The positive end of these two flavors is the smooth consistency of the sweet bean paste and the chewy out layers.

Moon cakes are very filling and it is not recommended to eat more than one in two days. You will definitely need a nice hot cup of oolong tea to help digest the heavy pastry. Overall, I quite enjoy this modern twist to the traditional moon cake, offering more options in flavors that appeal more to the new generations. I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the delicacies in the bakery because it is always crowded. 

Mishii's Rating: 6/10

A Taste Of Old New York

 *Photo obtained from Yelp.com* because I forgot to take one.

Pastry Shop: Venieros Italian Bakery

Website: www.venierospastry.com

Location: 342 East 11^th Street

Phone: 212.674.7070

Price Range: $$

Choices: Cannoli (Vanilla), Red Velvet Slice, Frangipane, Cheesecake NY Style w/ Strawberries, Tiramisu Pastry, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Slice; Latte

Veniero’s Pasticceria & Caffé is an Italian Bakery established in 1894. It was not difficult to find this bakery, although it was far walk from any train station. Looking at the front of the shop, you immediately feel you have stepped back in time to the mid 1900’s which was the time of their last renovation. Every detail of the interior design from the tiles on the floor, the furniture used, and the lightings looked as if it hasn’t changed; kept in its old-fashioned ways.

When my close friend and I walked in at first, we were not greeted; it was possible that it was because we looked as if we were lost. We were actually wondering if there was a room in the back for us to dine in. The waiter found us and led us to a table. His name is Raba, and looks well in his 40’s. Hint hint – turnover rate is probably very low. He was attentive, giving us just enough time to look over the menu before asking if we were ready to order. After about 20 minutes of debating, my friend and I decided to pick our desserts this time and ask Raba for his recommendation on the beverage pairing. In the end we ordered a Vanilla Cannoli, Red Velvet Slice, Frangipane, Cheesecake – NY Style with Strawberry toppings, Tiramisu Pastry, and Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Slice; Raba recommended the Latte to pair with our selections.

The way we start our tastings is always from light to heavy so that the heavier pastries will not overpower the lighter pastries. We started off the day with a Vanilla Cannoli. The shell was crispy with proper browning. Within the shell was a thick, creamy, smooth filling prepared with bits of fruits and crunchy chocolate chips. This palatable filling gave the overall pastry just enough sweetness.

We chose the Red Velvet Slice because I had recently baked my own Red Velvet cake not too long ago and wanted to compare it to one of the oldest and best pastry shops in New York. It was apparent from first taste the frosting is a cream cheese recipe with a hint of white chocolate aftertaste. The slice composed of strong vanilla flavors. The texture was grainy, stiff, and crumbly although you can still feel some moisture. This slice was garnished with a small piece of white chocolate and crumbs alongside the cake. It definitely isn’t recommended with coffee. We don’t need you here Joe!

Frangipane was one of our first selections because my friend is fanatic about it! I’m not too sure why… Here were his thoughts, “Fantasizing about the Frangipanes we made in school, I couldn’t help but to order one …” When it arrived, we instantly noticed that it was completely dry. Sadly, we couldn’t taste any of the almond paste either. The candied raspberry fruits and raspberry jam did it no justice due to its excessive sweetness. We believed that if this pastry was made perfectly it would’ve been delightful with our latte. “…but it was a total disappointment,” with these last words we moved onto our next delight.

 

With the first bite of the NY Style Cheesecake it instantly coated the inside of your mouth. The texture was thick, luscious, and creamy with strong flavors of sour cream and cream cheese. The cheesecake was paired amazingly well with the fresh strawberries; however it was noticeable that these fruits were soaked in sugar before used for garnish. The fresh strawberries gave a wonderful balance to the heaviness of the cake. The body is soft and fluffy with perfect browning along the circle surface of the cake.

The Tiramisu Pastry was a small layered cake garnished with a small piece of white chocolate. It was supposed to be composed of sponge cake soaked in coffee with coffee flavored cream and dusted with bitter cocoa powder. To my surprise, the cake was not properly soaked with coffee rather it contained a hint of alcohol in its taste; it was dry and not flavorful, quite the disappointment. On the other hand, the cream had a very strong coffee flavor and was unbearably sweet. The bitterness of the cocoa powder counteract the sweetness of the cream giving the overall pastry somewhat of a balance.

Our last pastry was the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. From the looks of it, we already knew it was going to be the heaviest of all. This slice consisted of a moist chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirsch, raspberry jam, very rich truffle, a thin crumb layer of chocolate butter cream, and heavy ganache completely covering the outer layer. This is an intense chocolate lover’s cake. Extremely sweet to the point where it feels like you’re about to have a toothache. If you would still like to order this cake, you might want to ask them for a glass of milk.

The experience at Veniero’s was quite unexpected. I suppose we had higher expectations of the pastries from one of the oldest and best pastry shops in New York. I must say the service we received from Raba was just as unexpected. He was attentive to our needs, applied the 50/50 rule when we asked for knives (remember dining room class?), also it turns out that he goes out to the bakery section of the shop to retrieve our orders from the shelves and personally prepares our lattes. If you get a chance to come here with a friend, some must-haves are the Vanilla Cannoli, the NY – Style Cheesecake, and if you’re chocolate lover the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle slice. The overall experience was enjoyable.

Mishii's Rating: 7/10