I had a delicious afternoon — a pedicure with M. (beyond long overdue), followed by tea and cupcakes at a bakery, the Amai Tea and Bake House, M. had found. M. has a way of finding the perfect places and then sharing them. It is a gift, this ability.
As a working woman in NYC, I eat a lot of cupcakes — on birthdays, at wedding and baby showers, on the good days, on the bad days — someone is always walking by my office with cupcakes from a new bakery. I’ve tried them all: babycakes, sage, crumbs, magnolia, buttercup, sugar sweet sunshine, out of the kitchen. I have to say the Amai chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting was the best cupcake I’ve ever had. While cupcakes are a subjective pleasure, I judge mine on three criteria: 1) “cakiness” of the cake, 2) the quality of the frosting, 3) the ratio of said cake to said frosting. If any of these three are out of balance, I won’t rave about it.
This one had perfect frosting — creamy, full of flavor, not too sweet. And, my god, it was peanut butter frosting. Think about that. The cake was chocolaty and moist, — delicious cake in its own right. Finally, the ratio of frosting to cake was perfect. I didn’t run out of either.
The shop, Amai Tea and Bake House, is both cozy and elegant — I loved the pink Cole and Son “woods” wallpaper in the back nook, and the grey/brown of the walls.
The shop is owned by Kelli, of the blog Lovescool fame. I hadn’t ever read her blog until eating her cupcakes, but, I think you’ll enjoy both. For those of you in NYC, head to 16th and 3rd. For those of you elsewhere, her online shop is here.
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This wonderful treat was created by Kelli’s Pastry Chef Sara Dyson. You should also try her Banana Chocolate Brulee Cupcake or her Chocolate Chip Cookies if you are planning a return visit. Stop by and ask for Sara and tell her cupcake Ed said so.
Sincerely,
Ed