A birthday cupcake tableau

This year, for my birthday, I received two incredibly thoughtful cupcake deliveries. The first came late on my birthday evening, courtesy of my Dad: two Red Velvet monsters from Crumbs, packed sweetly in a little twin tin. I tucked in happily the next day.

Get your mind out of the gutter!

These were bright crimson cake bases, the traditional softball-sized Crumbs indulgences, slathered with cream cheese frosting and decorated with white sprinkles and more red cake crumbs. While the cake wasn't really moist at all (perhaps due to the fact that it was a day old by the time I ate it, so reserving judgment here), I give Crumbs major props for the fact that it actually tasted like chocolate. Most RV cupcakes these days only taste like food-colored vanilla cake, but there was definitely cocoa in this batter.

Ready to go

The frosting was also delicious-- not really that cream-cheesy, but smooth and decadent and really bad for you in that honest, straight-up way that frosting has. The sprinkles added a tiny bit of texture and not much else. I ate about 2/3 of this cupcake and felt pretty sick. And then I went and played wiffle ball. My team lost.

Really really red

When I returned that evening, I was greeted by cupcake delivery #2: A dozen Billy's Bakery gems, courtesy of my employers and the rest of our team in London! Oh man, what a treat. The following day, I had a banana cupcake, my favorite. It was the traditional real banana cake, tender and delicious, beautifully frosted with the signature Billy's cream cheese frosting that may be may favorite thing on God's green earth. Thank you, AY and DL and the rest of the team, for such a thoughtful gift-- nothing makes my day like a big bunch of Billy's.

So pretty!

Yum yum

Crumbs
Locations throughout Manhattan

Billy's Bakery
184 Ninth Avenue and 75 Franklin Street
212-647-9958

LWF&D makes yummy treats. And eats them.

On Tuesday afternoon, I made delicious, delicious cupcakes. They went a little something like this:

First, a thorough search of the internet for the perfect recipe. Chocolate cupcakes? Maybe. Buttermilk vanilla? Perhaps. Banana? Aha! Yes! After my love affair with Billy's banana cupcakes was sadly truncated by a return to my "real" job, I haven't had that blissful taste in months. Well, it was time to rock 'n' roll.

Following Martha Stewart's recipe (yes, cringe. I'm not a Martha fan, but I am man--well, woman--enough to recognize a good recipe when I see one), I conjured up a big bowl of cupcake batter. It was an interesting batter-- more of a muffin mixture than a traditional cake batter, using melted butter and mashed bananas. And then before I baked the little delights, I hid a secret surprise in each, my little editorial addition to the recipe. You'll see.

They came out of the oven looking beautiful:

Tiny golden beauties

The corner cupcake

And then I frosted them. Martha's recommendation is a honey-cinnamon frosting, basically a traditional American buttercream with a bit of honey and a dash of cinnamon. But, in my quest to replicate Billy's masterpiece, I wanted cream cheese all the way. So I whipped up a batch using, yes, another Martha recipe. And once my beautiful cupcake stumps were cool, I slathered those pupplies with the frosting. They looked like this:

Crowned with snow

Finally, after dinner, I chose the perfect one to be my tester cupcake. Yup:

THE one

As always, I cut it in half... revealing the surprise!

Hidden Hershey kiss!!

And then I dug in. Dear readers, forgive me for tooting my own horn, but these cupcakes were damn good. I'll admit the frosting wasn't as good as Billy's cream cheese frosting, which I suspect has a higher ratio of sugar to cream cheese (my version was tangier and softer). But the cake was delicious, and the bit of chocolate hidden inside put it absolutely over the edge. I gobbled this down in the blink of an eye.

And then I licked the frosting bowl. Oops?

Give it a try yourself. Recipes are available here:

Banana cupcakes
Cream cheese frosting

Billy's Bakery Blitz: The fabled banana cake

On Sunday, I spent a while at Billy's Bakery (more on that to come...), and when I left I was the proud owner of a slice of banana cake. Now, as you know if you've been reading closely, I very much enjoy Billy's cupcakes, but their banana cake is a work of art. Well, consider me a collector.

After the pathetic non-dinner at Pierre Lodi, I was hungry enough to take on a full slice of this banana bohemoth. I brought home the cute little Billy's box and set to work.

Classic.

Inside the box sat my quarry, surrounded by tissue paper and giving off a faint sugary fragrance.

You can see the real banana in there

I decided to cut the slice in half, just in case I didn't end up wanting the whole thing at once. I transferred it to a plate, grabbed my knife and fork (which in the case of cake is actually appropriate), and settled in at the table.

This looks upside-down somehow

I took the first bite-- mostly cake-- and savored the true banana flavor. The cake is like a sweet, dense banana bread, studded with pockets of real banana. It's cakey and not overwhelmingly banana-y-- again, I don't usually like banana-flavored items, but man, do I love this cake.

Great frosting coverage

But the true star here is the cream cheese frosting. Billy's makes the best cream cheese frosting ever. It's smooth and sweet with just the lightest cream cheese tang. Quintessential, classic, and inimitable.

Check out the moisture there

I polished off this half-slice, saving the frosting for last. And then I ate the other half-slice. Oops?

Let's just say that I am writing this 24 hours later, and I'm still savoring the memory of this cake. It's that good.

Billy's Bakery
184 9th Avenue
212-647-9956