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!!

There's no taking your clothes off after a trip to Naked Chocolate Cafe

While this chocolate blog was originally created to review bakeries and chocolate shops in NYC, we soon realized that other major cities had great chocolate options that needed to be made aware of as well.  Philly has proven to contain a very large amount of dessert places that need to be reviewed.  So far on the blog we've been to the Franklin Fountain and Flying Monkey Patisserie.  On our most recent trip to Philly, while running into a store to take a break from the racing winds, we stumbled upon the smell of baking chocolate, and a line of eager customers lined up out the door.  We knew this must be something worth checking out, so we joined the line to see what was in store.

Naked Chocolate Cafe, located at 1317 Walnut Street, makes absolutely beautiful chocolate creations.  At the front of the store were custom Philly chocolate treats, like a block of chocolate with Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell, and chocolate pops with the LOVE sign.  There were also artistic creations like chocolate paint palettes and chocolate iPods!  As we walked down the line, there were an assortment of filled chocolate truffles and pieces; Venezuelan chocolate with ganache filling handpainted, chocolate butterflies filled with lavender honey - so many options.  These could be sold individually, by the pound, or in assorted  boxes, placed in an EDIBLE chocolate box - amazing!!

The dessert case was even more outstanding - lemon tarts, Oreo chocolate mousse, brownies - the options were endless.  But we wanted to try what Naked Chocolate Cafe was most known for - the reason people came out on this bittercold day and were lined up down the block.    Two words - drinking chocolate.  Available in frozen chocolate or regular, melted down chocolate, you could get a Petit, Indulgent or 'We'll Never Tell' glass of pure, naked chocolate; with added in spices and flavors to keep you coming back for more.

The choices were classic - a blend of milk and dark chocolates.  Bittersweet, with deep chocolate.  Aztec - full-bodied chocolate with nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, or spicy - chocolate with spices.  They were made European or American style.  The American was served with the chocolate in a glass, and a heap of hipped cream and wafer on the side.  The European version was served in a taller glass, with the chocolate on bottom and whipped cream on top.  We opted for the American version, since we'd had our chocolate fill for the day and this trip to Naked Chocolate was purely for research!


The drinking chocolate was delicious.  It was like sipping some of the finest, thickest chocolate I'd ever tasted.  We had the Spicy version; the spices gave it just a little kick but didn't affect the flavor too much.  The Petit size was perfect for the two of us to share without being overwhelming, since it was heavy and decadent.

We watched as people ate the chocolate fondue, which for $8 was a reasonable price in comparison to what I've seen fondue charged in NY, and it came with rice krispie treats, marshmallows,and strawberries.  This is a must-try next time we come back here!  They were giving out samples of the lemon tart, and even though I'm strictly a chocolate girl, the tart was amazing - cakey and buttery, and the sample almost got me to buy a piece to bring back with me.

We can't wait to go back to Philly and check out the fondue, and maybe even the 'We'll Never Tell' chocolate drink!

We'd fly to Philly to go back to Flying Monkey Patisserie

While watching the Travel Channel recently, there was a feature on some of the country's best desserts.  Located in Reading Terminal market on 12th and Arch streets in Philly, this historic specialty Amish farmer's market since 1893 features some of Philly's most unique and mouth-watering merchants, ranging from Amish sweet shops to chocolatiers to Philly cheesesteaks.  On this particular episode of the Travel Channel dessert show, I watched as the Flying Monkey Patisserie baked the most interesting cake I've ever seen.

Called a Pumpple Cake, I watched as an apple pie was baked inside a vanilla cake.  Covered in a layer of buttercream, the cake was then placed on top of a SECOND cake - a pumpkin pie baked inside a chocolate cake.  The double-decker was then covered with a layer of buttercream, speckled with colorful spirnkle bits and pieces, and then ready to be sliced.  Not being a fan of pumpkin or apple pie, and discovering a single slice of the cake was estimated to be 1,800 calories, I wasn't going to try the cake, but I needed to see it up close. 

When we located Flying Monkey at the far end of Reading Terminal Market, there was a long line of people waiting to try the snacks.  Upon closer look, we saw that not just the Pumpple Cake looked amazing, but everything that was baked by scratch on the premises looked better than the next.  There were brownies with neverending chocolate chips, whoopie pies, cupcakes, smore bars...you name it, they had it.  The more unique desserts were the Arnold Palmer cake - a lemon and sweet tea vodka bundt cake with lemon/sweet tea vodka glaze, and the Elvis cake - a banana chocolate chip cake layered with peanut butter buttercream, adorned with mini chocolate chips.  There were also dozens of cupcakes, ranging from your traditional vanilla and chocolates, to the more interesting red velvet and spumoni.  There were also cake truffles (similar to what Momofoku now sells pre-packaged out of their midtown location) in chocolate covered dark chocolate cake and chocolate covered strawberry at only $1 a piece.

Since the Cjaps were determined to fit on the return bus back to NYC, we opted to try the brownie and the S'mores.  The brownie (priced at $3 a slice) was extremely fudgy, and filled with chocolate chips so that each bite was more chocolatey than the next.  The double chocolate brownie was made with two varieties of cocoa and dark chocolate, and each bite had enough sugar to ensure I was never going to sleep that night.  I placed this high in my brownie rankings.  Caryn liked it, but said it still didn't compare to Baked or Astor Bake Shop.  There were other brownies that looked like they would have been amazing as well; Cheesecake brownies with a cheesecake swirl throughout, white chocolate blondies, and Junk in the Trunk brownies - brownies with pretzels, white and dark chocolate, and oreos.
The Smores bar was good, but nothing in comparison to the brownie.  It was a homemade marshmallow, half covered in dark chocolate with a splash or Oreos on the side.  It was good for a lighter, less guiltful treat, but if you're going to Flying Monkey, I would stick with their cakes, brownies, cupcakes or whoopie pies.

Flying Monkey's website (http://www.flyingmonkeyphilly.com) has an online shop available to ship cookies and brownies only, however the site was down for now, so for the non-Philly chocolate fans, you're going to have to take the Bolt Bus for now.  But believe me, it's worth the trip!

Flying Monkey Patisserie

Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Streets
215-928-0340

Open Mon-Sat, 8-6; Sundays 9-5

Pong Hits the Spot

Happy New Year everyone!  For the final Chocoholic Cjap visit for 2010, we have Pong, located down a flight of stairs beneath a Japanese restaurant on St. Mark's Place.

Pastry Chef Pichet Ong blends together classic American desserts with unique Asian inspiration to bring delicious and interesting cookies, cupcakes and puddings.  Pong made it to our wish list when they were featured in one of my dessert blogs as having one of the best black and white cookies, made with Japanese Pocky cookies.  We stopped in, to find out they no longer make the black and white cookies.  The desserts looked so good though, that we had to try something else.

There were a ton of perfectly frosted, interestingly flavored cupcakes.  Vanilla caramel vietnamese coffee. Chocolate green tea fruit jam. Vanilla Yuzu lemon.  Mocha maldon salt caramel.  We actually didn't try the cupcakes today since we were on our way to dinner and wanted something small, but we'll definitely be coming back to try this.  They also had puddings and ice cream with a wide toppings bars including chocolate pearls, walnut soil, roasted kumquat, and blueberry compote.  I don't know what half of the words I just wrote actually are, but I'm sure they taste great over condensed milk, basil, Vietnamese coffee or green tea ice cream.  Or apple mint mojito or blood orange sorbet.  Weird, but interesting, and worth trying.  There's also a wide assortment of dessert tapas combining all the weird ingredients you can add on to your ice cream.

We decided to try the chocolate coconut cookie and the Valrhona brownie.  The cookie was big, definitely needed to be shared between two people, a tiny bit smaller than the City Bakery cookies.  They were fairly thin, and were full of large, soft, freshly-baked chocolate chunks.  The coconut taste was subtle, but gave it a special kick not found in a typical chocolate chip cookie. 

The brownie, despite being made with our favorite type of chocolate (Valrhona), was just okay.  It was dense and rich (Val is a dark, rich chocolate) and had a spicy kick aftertaste, but there were no chocolate chips inside and I just didn't care about the brownie one way or the other. 

There are tables inside Spot where you can sit and get a dessert and tea and enjoy your novelty desserts, you can take it to go, or order from Seamless Web if you live in the East Village.  I'll definitely be back here to try one of their cupcakes, and I'm definitely recommending this place.

Spot is located at 13 St. Mark's place, basement level.
Spot Dessert Bar

Featuring Laurie's Organic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's always fun to review new bakeries and chocolate shops.  But what's even better is when your own friend creates her own recipe for a vegan chocolate chip cookie that tastes better than store-made brands!

Laurie Porter is a big fan of chocolate chip cookies.  Some of her favorites include Bouchon, Levain, and Dean and Deluca.  When she started dating her now husband Eric, who was  vegan, she wanted to be able to share her love of chocolate chip cookies with him.  Since there are so few vegan cookies on the market, and the ones that exist are usually hard, bland and tasteless, Laurie decided to create her own recipe and show the world that she can create an organic  chocolate chip cookie without any animal products that tastes delicious.

Laurie's recipe includes organic cane sugar, brown sugar, flour, a butter substitute, agave and vegan chocolate chips.  Without butter, eggs, or milk, it's hard to make a good baked goods, but through experimentation Laurie has perfected her recipe.  I tasted her cookie (okay, not going to lie, I had two of them) and it was delicious!  They didn't crumble the way most vegan products do, and were filled with chocolate chips that melted in your mouth.  You would never know that this was vegan, and the fact that it's organic too - you can have a guilt-free chocolate chip cookie experience!

Now Laurie can enjoy chocolate chip cookies with Eric, who loves the cookies and has given her extra 'cookie' points.  Hopefully one day Laurie's vegan cookies will be found at your local organic store or Whole Foods!  If you'd like to try a batch, please contact me and I'll put you in touch with Laurie for an order!

Here's one Bar in the West Village I could live without

Close friends and loyal readers of our chocolate blog might have figured out by now the way we pick the places we write about in the blog.  It's not your standard, any run of the mill cookie or cupcake blog.  We seek out the desserts are either new and unique, or supposed to be the best out there.  Gourmet chocolates are often so interesting because they're infused with all sorts of interesting flavor combinations that you would never expect to find together (chocolate and bacon has become a big trend at a lot of the cupcake and chocolate shops).

I had read about The Chocolate Bar down in the West Village a few times, usually getting called out for interesting twists on traditional desserts.  Chocolate covered ring dings.  Chocolate covered oreos. Homemade mallomars.  Definitely worth trying!  My roommate and I stopped by The Chocolate Bar once a few months ago, late in the day (they close at 9 Monday-Wednesday, and we were there around 8), so they were sold out of most of their popular treats.  I had read about their homemade mallomar, but that was of course gone when we had gotten there.  We got a brownie instead, which was fine - it wasn't anything to rave about, which is why I never made a post from that trip.

While wandering in the West Village this weekend, we decided to go back to Chocolate Bar to check it out again, and see if maybe they had my mallomar this time.  While I didn't find something specifically labeled 'mallomar', they had chocolate covered smores, and chocolate bars filled with marshmallow, caramel and flourless chocolate cake.  The bar seemed like the best option, since flour is the death of me, so I went that route.

I will tell you this much.  I have very little to say about this confection.  The best thing about the picture to my left is the manicure.  It tasted like one of those marshmallow twists you get in the blue box, you know, next to the purple box of jelly rings for Passover.  With a little bit of caramel.  Except not really as good, and 15 times more expensive ($3.50 for this tiny little bar).  My roommate and I split it in two bites, and it was gone, and I didn't miss it even a little bit.  This blog post saddens me, because I had high hopes for this place.  It's been around since 2002, and been written about so many times that I had to add it to my hit list.  Either my expectations are getting higher, or this particular bar just wasn't that exciting.  They do have a chocolate tasting for groups of 10 or more, so maybe that's worth checking out for someone's birthday or a client event. 


This Chocolate Bar is located at 19 8th Avenue (between Jane & W 12th St)  Other locations can be found in LBI, NJ, and Dubai. Random, I know. If you're at the Apple store or Chelsea Market and you want to check it out, by all means.  If you find something worth going back for, let me know and maybe I can do an update entry.


Chocolate Bar's site