Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Today's indulgence: Cupcake Stop

As I pedalled down Fifth this morning I wasn't just keeping a look out for kamikaze taxis and suicidal pedestrians: I was searching for a large white truck which I knew was parked up somewhere near Madison Square Park.

A couple of weeks ago I'd seen a piece on the Diner's Journal blog on The New York Times website about Cupcake Stop, a new food truck prowling the mean streets of Manhattan, selling frosted cupcakes from its window.

I immediately started following its Twitter feed and started to get tweets telling me where it was parked (usually mere blocks from my apartment) and which flavours they were pushing. I was sitting at home filing copy, dreaming of frosting.

So today, when I had promised to return to Jersey with Red Velvet cupcakes for Y,

nothing was simpler than to click on Twitter, pin down the location and cycle up to the truck. $10 bought me a dozen mini cupcakes in the flavours of the day:Red Velvet (as requested), Key Lime Pie, Oreo Crumb & Chocolate Mousse

An added bonus was meeting Lev Ekster, the man behind the cupcakes who was lurking in the back of the truck and came to say hi when I mentioned finding the truck through Twitter. He immediately won me over with two free mini cupcake vouchers. Who says journalists can't be bought?

And the taste? Y cldn't get the box open quick enough. And I am presuming the frankly indecent sounds he made as he inhaled the Chocolate Mousse mini were appreciative. The crumb is incredibly moist, the icing smooth and not too sickeningly sweet. I like the little well of icing inside each cake and, in the case of the Key Lime, the green gooey stuff.

Win or Fail? We say WIN. Yet another reason not to eat those awful dry Magnolia cupcakes ever again.

Oreo Crumb Cupcake Stop cupcakes