For my friend Melissa's going away party (she's moving to LA this week), she had a going away party at 8 Mile Creek. While there was no sign of Eminem or Mekhi Phifer, the bar was nice enough to let Melissa rent it out and BBQ for her friends and family. For dessert, Melissa chose to order 200 of Baked by Melissa's mini cupcakes, so everyone could have a taste of one of her desserts of choice. I was thrilled, because this gave me an opportunity to review every flavor of cupcake without having to look like a pig at the store ordering one of everything!
The cupcakes, made by Melissa Bushell (who MY Melissa went to college at Syracuse with), are made bite-sized so that cupcake lovers can taste more flavors without the extra dose of guilt. There are 10 set flavors with a flavor of the month (this month it was Sundae, complete with a cherry on top!) They're about the size of a quarter, so I'm going to assume they're only between 50-75 calories each. That might be low-balling it, but I can dream, can't I?
The available flavors are (and I am ranking in order of my preference): Tie-Dye, Cookies & Cream, Sundae, Cookie Dough, Smores, Chocolate Chip Pancake, Red Velvet, & Mint Chocolate Chip. 3 other flavors are Cinnamon, Peanut Butter & Jelly and Peanut Butter Cup, but since I don't like PB and Cinnamon doesn't have chocolate in it, there was no reason for me to try them. I don't actually know what flavor the Tie-Dye ones are, but they were adorable, a perfect mixture of pastel pink, blue, green and yellow, and I just adored them! The cupcakes have a tiny bit of filling, and a tiny bit of icing on the top and, depending on the flavor, an extra little treat (i.e. mini chocolate chips on the mint chocolate chip). Jake seemed to agree that the tie-dye was the best; as you can see he stole the cupcake right out of my hands!
Baked by Melissa has 2 locations;Baked by Melissa has 2 locations;the original being a stand in Soho at 529 Broadway, and a newer location in Union Square at 7 East 14th street. I recommend going to the Union Square store, where there's more room to look at them up close and a spot to stand and eat them. At the store they sell for $1.00 each, and the price drops as you purchase more (a dozen are $10.) Melissa also custom bakes them, with the minimum order of 100 cupcakes. They cost $70 if you pick them up, or $100 if you get them delivered.)
