All the best things are named Lulu

We have Lululemon, which is of course the best running & yoga clothes ever.
We have my brother's nickname for me, which is Lu, and I'm of course awesome.
Now we have Lulu's, an awesome bakery in Chelsea that made the cut for this week's blog post.

Lulu's takes classic desserts like twinkies and snowballs and adds their own twist.
You can find 3 different kinds of twinkies - blackout twinkies - chocolate cake covered in chocolate and filled with chocolate pudding. Lemon twinkies - lemon snack cakes filled with lemon curd dipped with white chocolate. And Red Velvet lulu's - filled with cream cheese frosting and dipped in white chocolate.

The snowballs were filled with coconut custard, and looked liked larger, fresher versions of the ever-famous Hostess snacks. They have them in pink and white, which I am pretty sure taste the same but just use different colored marshmallows.There are a ton of cupcakes - dulce leche (which of course I'm partial to since that's what I lived on in Argentina!), pistachio rose, chocolate hazelnut, black sesame and strawberry.  There are of course also traditional flavors, vanilla and chocolate and red velvet.  They all looked pretty good, but the purpose of today's visit was to try something new. There's also about 8 million cakes - birthday cake!

cheesecake! devils food cake! carrot cake!  I developed diabetes reading the menu.  Disclaimer* my birthday is September 8th, and there is a cake called Cookie Monster (chocolate devil's food cake, organic vanilla buttercream, chocolate-covered homemade "oreos") which I wouldn't be disappointed if someone got for me.

My main complaint was I think their prices are out of control. $3 for one twinkie? Can't you buy an entire box for $2.50 at Pathmark?  Have I been away so long that bakery prices have doubled?  An 8" cake costs $45 which also seems a little insane. But, for a one-time treat, it might be okay.

I tried the blackout twinkie. It might have been a little bit too much chocolate, which is something you rarely hear me say. But the chocolate cake with the chocolate pudding filling with the chocolate - a little bit overwhelming.  I had to take bites of it over the course of two hours (thank you guest blogger of the week Michelle for holding my twinkie and letting me take bites every half an hour!)  Thank you other guest blogger Steph for telling me about this wonderful place!

Lulu Cake Boutique is located at 112 Eighth Ave (between 15th & 16th st). There's also a location in Scarsdale, but since New Yorker don't leave the city, I won't bother posting that location :)

The first cupcakes, straight from the West Coast

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since we've last written! Lori's been off traveling the world, and Caryn felt guilty finding new snacks on her own. But the Chocoholic Cjaps are back, and are going to pick up our reviews to help clue you in on what's happening in the wonderful world of desserts in NYC (and, on occasion, surrounding areas).

While we were in blog-writing hiatus, a wonderful thing happened. Sprinkles (https://sprinkles.com/), a cupcake shop from LA that we've heard amazing things about for years, opened it's first location in NYC! Located on Lexington Ave off E. 60th street (Only one block away from Dylan's Candy Bar, Serendipity, and the 40 Carrots inside Bloomies - lots of competition) - this new location was still exciting because in our trips out to the West coast, we'd never made it to Sprinkles to try. Sprinkles are THE ONES that started the cupcake trend.

Luckily, I had to order a dozen cupcakes for a project and was able to try a few different flavors, which was perfect for reviewing purposes. The flavors change daily, with only a handful available 7 days a week. Black and white, chocolate marshmallow, cinnamon sugar, dark chocolate, red velvet, vanilla, and vanilla milk chocolate are available daily. Others, including non-chocolatey flavors like banana, carrot, chai latte, and pumpkin, are available select weekdays.

From the outside, the shop is colorful and reminds you of walking down CandyLand's gooey gumdrop lane. Inside, the colors swirl, the workers behind the counter are super nice and cheery from all the sugar they're inhaling all day, and although it's small, people huddle around to get a taste of these west coast delights.

The Cjaps aren't the biggest fans of cupcakes. We usually eat the frosting off and the rest is garbage, with the exception of Crumbs which usually has a filling that we pick out too. The cakes on cupcakes are usually pretty bland, and we just like the overly sugary parts.

The Sprinkles cupcakes were way better though. The frosting is perfectly sweet, not too overwhelming, and the cake part is soft and moist and surprisingly enjoyable. My favorite was the gluten free red velvet. I usually don't even care for red velvet, and this has nothing to do with trying to eat less gluten-filled products, but this one really did have the best taste. My least favorite flavor was surprisingly the dark chocolate, which was just too basic and the frosting and cake tastes didn't really separate, and I felt like I was just eating pieces of ok-tasting chocolate on a spoon.

They even have special cupcakes for dogs! Now, I will admit, $2.50 for a cupcake 1/4 the size of the people cupcakes (which cost $3.50 each) is a little bit ridiculous. And the only difference the girl at the counter said is that they don't have sugar or chocolate.  But I got one for Foxy, and her little eyes popped out of her head in excitement as she eyed the mini cupcake with a plastic bone on top. She devoured it in 2 bites, and seemed to enjoy it although she also digs through garbage so I'm not sure how accurate her contribution to the review is.

Other flavors I personally liked were the chocolate coconut and carrot. Although I probably won't be bringing home a dozen of anything ever again - too much sugar, and a limited time to eat it til it goes bad! They label the boxes with what flavor is what (very helpful, since most of ours were chocolate), and close it of with a pretty little sticker with the Sprinkles logo.

The shop accepts orders for pickup and delivery, and inside you can buy coffees and teas. You can cater them, or have them designed into a platform for your wedding. The founder, Candace Nelson, will be a judge on Cupcake Wars this season.

But what makes them truly special?  They use good, natural ingredients - sweet cream butter, bittersweet Belgian chocolate, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries and natural citrus zests. Their sprinkles come from France, which along with their European-designed shops, provide them with an air of international sophistication. All of their boxes, napkins, plates, etc are made from recycled material. They are good people, with great cupcakes, and we are so happy to have them on the east coast!!