Cakewalk in Penn Station, NYC

New York City's Pennsylvania Station is lovingly referred to as "the home of the dashing commuter", and anyone who's had the pleasure of visiting during rush hour will know this to be a very apt description. It's certainly not for the feint of heart--slow down here and you're likely to get knocked over by suit-and-sneaker clad commuters barreling on by to the 5:23 to Ronkonkoma. Luckily, we know exactly what will give you the strength to deal with the jostling crowds--sweet, sugary pastries. While you won't find Payard here, there are a lot of ways to obtain a good old-fashioned (and at moments, a little bit trashy) sugar jolt at Penn Station; here are our favorite ways to do so:

Cakespy Note: Pennsylvania Station (and thus, all of the below purveyors of sweets listed below) is located on 34th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan; there are two main levels, the "Upper" level housing New Jersey Transit, and the Lower Level housing the Long Island Railroad. Locations are noted in the below Cakewalk as being on the Upper or Lower level.

Au Bon Pain: Yes, they are a chain, with locations around the country, but we have never been disappointed by their crunchy shortbread cookies or crumb cake, which has just the right degree of buttery saltiness to satisfy the palate. Just don't look at the nutrition information which they insist on posting visibly in the cafe--you don't need to do that to yourself. Just enjoy your sweets. On our most recent visit, the Creme de Fleur pastries (title photo) were divine. Lower level, LIRR; online at aubonpain.com.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels: There's a sign by this little pretzel kiosk that says "Snack like you mean it" and this isn't hard when you have cinnamon-sugar dusted pretzels or pretzel bites to keep you company on your long (or short, we're not particular) train ride. Also, we can't help but feel a nostalgia when we go here--it reminds us of being sixteen and getting pretzels and lemonade at the mall in New Jersey. Upper Level, NJ Transit; online at auntieannes.com.

Don Pepi Deli: Although we think their pizza across the hall is better than their deli sandwiches, they do have yogurt muffins and cookies that will make your commute a whole lot happier at this location. What we like about the yogurt muffins is that they seem to maintain a nice moisture and freshness, while not being as heavy as some of their counterparts; the cookies are of that big, crunchy deli variety that never fail to bring us a smile. Upper Level, NJ Transit.

Dunkin' Donuts: Clearly the commuters need caffeine to keep on dashing, and Dunkin Donuts is available for that need--there are several locations and kiosks throughout Penn Station on both levels. As we've mentioned before, they don't have the best quality donuts we've ever tasted...but there's just something so perfect about them anyway. Various locations on both the Upper and Lower Levels; online at dunkindonuts.com.

EuroPan Cafe: We'd never tried this spot before, but found their sweets to be a pleasant surprise, with a nice array of carbohydrate-laden treats. Most of the pastries are from various wholesalers, but they do have our favorite type of deli crumb cake, and a nice array of cookies, cakes, cupcakes and several more Frenchie-type pastries. Lower Level, LIRR.

Hot & Crusty: It always smells and looks good in here, but if we are to be completely honest, we've found that a lot of their pastries look better than they taste--the Black and White cookies in particular. However, they do have a very decent crumb cake, and other cookies (sprinkle-topped and M&M varieties) are quite good. Lower Level, LIRR; online at hotandcrusty.com.

Krispy Kreme: In all honesty we'd choose Dunkin' Donuts every time over Krispy Kreme, but we're taking this one for the team because we know there are Krispy Kreme die-hards out there (although if you're one of them, can you please explain what the attraction is?). We will admit that the holiday special donuts they bring out (Heart-shaped Valentine's Day donuts were on display when we went) are awfully cute. Upper Level, NJ Transit; online at krispykreme.com.

Le Bon Cafe: Mostly average sweets of the caliber that you'd get at a typical NYC deli--rich and satisfying, but not necessarily subtle or unique. Nonetheless, they fulfill that need that you sometimes have for something sweet and familiar. However, they do get bonus points for having a novelty we have not seen before: Black and White Rice Krispie Treats--a very nice variation on two classics! Lower Level, LIRR.

Sedutto Cafe: Sedutto is a good spot to pick up some Jersey-shore style soft-serve before your commute. What we love best here though is the cones, which are chocolate-dipped and coated with various types of sprinkles and nuts, which add a nice texture to the cone, and lend a certain "happy" factor to the overall experience. Various locations on both Upper and Lower Levels; online at seduttosicecream.com.

Zaro's Bread Basket: Zaro's Bread Basket may have a monopoly over the train station business (they have multiple locations in both Penn and Grand Central Stations) but all things considered, they do a pretty good job: solid black and white cookies, cakes, and unique cone shaped cupcakes have kept us going through many a ride down to the Jersey Shore on the train. We don't love their "regular" cupcakes as much as their cakes, but of course we welcome you to choose your own adventure. They're our top pick in terms of good-looking bakery cases, with colorful and ogle-worthy displays. Various locations on both Upper and Lower Levels; online at zaro.com. 

Have we missed your favorite commuter sweet spot? Let us know!

West Side Story: A Tale of Two Magnolias

Magnolia Bakery, a landmark in NYC’s West Village, is the veritable shot that started the cupcake revolution. And now, they’ve opened a second location on NYC’s Upper West Side.Though in actuality these two locations are only about three miles away, in many ways they are worlds apart; the culture, clientele and location are distinctly different. But what does this all mean for those famous cupcakes? We did a side by side comparision to find out who really does take the cake. For ease of reading, we will refer to them as "Magnolia Downtown" for the original Bleecker Street location and "Magnolia Uptown" for the new Upper West Side location.

A little background...

Location: Both bakeries are in Manhattan; Magnolia Downtown is located at the corner of West 11th Street and Bleecker Street in the West Village; Magnolia Uptown is located on 69th Street at Columbus Avenue, on the Upper West Side.

Culture: While both are neighborhoods of privilege (in our humble eyes, neighborhoods where apartments regularly rent for upwards of $3,000 a month would classify as neighborhoods of privilege), they both have a distinctly different feel; whereas Greenwich Village has a more eclectic feel, with cozy brownstones, zigzagging streets and quaint boutiques and boasts celebrity residents like Julianne Moore and Sarah Jessica Parker, the Upper West Side boasts the grand old apartment buildings of yesteryear, and you just might find yourself brushing elbows with with residents like Bono and Mia Farrow.

Some details about our visits and impressions...

Crowd: We went to the locations one after the other to get the truest read. When we went to Magnolia downtown at 11.30 am, there were about 5 people in line; Uptown 30 minutes later, there were about 16 people in line. However, we feel it would be unfair to say this means that Uptown is more popular; it's newer, so part of this is probably novelty; also, we do understand that as lunchtime draws closer, sometimes you need a little sweetness, so perhaps that 30 minute window does make a difference.

Service: (photo above: the crowd at Magnolia Downtown) To us, Magnolia Downtown has never been about the attentive service; the staff is largely made up of bored-looking hipsters (albeit, bored-looking hipsters who always give you great ideas for new haircuts). Nonetheless, there is sort of a charm to this type of service, and it seemed no different at the new location--same cool haircuts, same slightly-bored attitude. We'd call this one a draw.

Interior: They’ve done the new location with similarly checkered floors and retro décor; so although it is not a different look per se, we are going to give this point to Magnolia Uptown, which seems more spacious, airy and less cramped than its downtown cousin.

Maybe we're shallow but we think about these things...

Presentation: (photos above, Magic Bars at the Downtown and Uptown locations, respectively) While both locations had similar elements of presentation: glass cases and cake plates, cupcakes on cute doilies, etc., Magnolia Uptown emerges slightly ahead in this category due to (in our opinion) their better choice of typestyle for the store signage; the simple typeface allows the baked goods themselves to shine, whereas Magnolia Downtown's more whimsical typestyle is ultimately distracting and hard to read.

Cuteness: (photos above, cupcakes at the Downtown and Uptown locations, respectively) While cuteness can be an open-ended category, it cannot be ignored. In evaluating the baked goods at both locations, the cuteness factor was high all around; however, if pressed we would have to say that the Downtown location's cupcakes seemed to have a jauntiness to their swirl that the Uptown location simply couldn't match.

Places to eat your cupcake: Magnolia Downtown has only one tiny table; however, there is a park directly across the street which, weather permitting, is a good place to eat your cupcake and full of great people-watching. While they are working on an added seating room Uptown, it was not yet ready at the time of our visit, leaving noplace to sit in the uptown location. Though Central Park is a short walk away, who’s going to make it that far with their cupcake? Ours was gone by the time we were halfway down the block. So while things may change when the seating area is available, in this case, Downtown wins.

But most importantly, the sweets themselves:

Selection: The selection was nearly identical at both locations, with some variations in frosting choices and layer cakes available that day, but mostly the same; overall a tie.

Freshness / Quality: Everything we tasted at both locations tasted extremely fresh, which provides a happy tie (yay for fresh pastries!).

The Baked Goods Themselves: (above: photos of banana pudding Downtown and Uptown, respectively) Each bakery has its own kitchen, so we wanted to see for ourselves how the tastes stacked up. In evaluating the cupcakes, we noticed that the frosting was a bit heavier-handed downtown (this is not necessarily a bad thing!); on the banana pudding, the Uptown version was a little more "whipped" than the slightly creamier version Downtown. The "Magic bars" (quite similar to the Bakedbar we featured a while back) looked slightly crisper on the bottom downtown. But really, all of this is subject to the day and baker who made them, and are natural variations; small differences aside, the taste was very similar between both locations. And yes, we liked what we tasted.

So, if you were halfway between locations and had to choose one or the other, which one would Cakespy suggest?

Well, certainly the new location has a few things going for it. For one, it's bigger; with more space, perhaps they won't even need a cupcake bouncer. But have they won us over with better typestyle choices and more seating? While on the one hand they seem to have answered a need, there was something that we realized while standing on the line Uptown to pay; we sort of...well, missed that Cupcake Bouncer and cramped space that we've cursed so many times Downtown. So while we're excited to see the Uptown addition and to monitor its growth, our hearts are still in that cramped, inefficient, sweet little spot on Bleecker Street.

Magnolia Bakery, two locations; Downtown, 401 Bleecker Street (at W. 11th St); Uptown, 200 Columbus Avenue (b/t W. 69th & W. 70th Sts); online at magnoliabakery.com.

Cake Byte: Sweet News from Cakespy

They say that while the cat's away, the mice will play. While we're not completely sure what this means, we at Cakespy have been having a wonderful time in NYC, seeking out the sweetest new developments in baking and bakery culture.

While we continue our travels and apologize for not being able to respond to all of your comments until we're back in Seattle, there is some news which simply has to be shared in the meantime:

First, we would like to report that Natalie of Bake+Destroy! is an absolute genius. Not news? OK. But did you know that she recently immortalized Cakespy artwork in a series of brilliantly propped and photographed cupcakes that she made (above)? Check out more at the Bake+Destroy Blog.

Next on the agenda: perhaps you've found yourself alone and unaccessorized in the cold, cruel month that gives us Valentine's Day? Avoid heartbreak with some good old fashioned retail therapy: Jessie Steele (whose wonderful booth we were able to visit at the NY Gift Show) is debuting hot new cupcake aprons which are available to ship on February 15th this year. Guaranteed to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling! Available at jessiesteele.com; will also be available soon at wishingfish.com.

Finally, are you so over the "best commercial" conversations about the super bowl? How about cutest cupcake? This year our pick goes to Sweet Avenue Bakeshop in NJ, who has made some cupcakes that made us feel happy in a Giant way. Check them out at their web site or even better, if you're in Rutherford NJ, go buy some. Even if you're not in Rutherford NJ, why not take a road trip? They're also having an Oscar Party / Vegan Ice Cream tasting tasting later this month, so clearly the Super Bowl isn't the only Giant of New Jersey.

Til we return to our regularly scheduled posting later this week: Stay Sweet!