Sweetness in New York City + Lula's Sweet Apothecary (with video)!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

As my plane touched down in New York City, I found myself anxious to get out of the airport & on to my planned destination. A group of friends from the PPK were gathering at Lula's Sweet Apothecary & I was running late, due to delays beyond my control. As the rain trickled down, I ran in to the door to find a tiny little shop with warm colored wood, a wall of candy, & ice cream options galore!

Friends gathered along the strip of seating along the wall & at the end of the ice cream bar. I was happy to see Terry's familiar face, as well as a few faces of those I've been wanting to meet, such as Evan from Bjorked Off & Sarchan of Emo Potato! Evan & I connected on all things dessert, while Sarchan was sweet enough to bring me her awesome Chewy Peanut Butter-Banana-Oatmeal-Peanut Chew-Chunk Cookies!

I started with a sundae, topped with all sorts of goodness from Ricemallow & Whipped Cream to Peanut Butter Cookies, Crumblz, & a Cherry! The ice cream flavors rotate, I was able to sample them all that night, the Peanut Butter Fudge flavor being my favorite at the moment. Not holding back, I also had a swirl of soft serve, provided by Tempation, makers of all things Soy Dairy. Once the ice cream was flowing, other treats started to make their way around, like Malt Shots. It's safe to say I left Lula's on a sugar high!
Lula's Sweet Apothecary: 516 E 6th Street between Ave A & B

On another afternoon, per Evan's suggestion, we decided to seek out some Red Mango treats. The rumor was that they have fabulous cheesecake & we were able to track it down at The Bean, a coffee & tea spot with two locations in Manhattan. We sat down to a slice of Peanut Butter Cheesecake & WOW, people are not joking! This confection contained a chocolate cookie crust, a layer of sweet peanut butter, a layer of plain cheesecake, & then thick ganache topped with peanut butter frosting. It was rich, decadent, & we both agreed it may be the best cheesecake we've had.. ever. Do yourself a favor & find this cheesecake!
Red Mango Bakery: Available throughout NYC

Atlas Cafe is known for their expansive menu with many vegan options & their case full of Vegan Treats, but they also have tofu soft serve. It's certainly no Lula's, but if you're in the neighborhood, get it mixed with peanut butter & enjoy a refreshing treat. Of course, there's also donuts & cinnamon rolls delivered in addition to the cakes on Tuesdays, so it shouldn't be too tough to find an excuse to go there.
Atlas Café: 73 2nd Ave at E 4th St.

Wandering in the East Village late one night, we decided to pop in to Vox Pop, knowing they had more of Red Mango's sweet treats. We acquired two Cupcakes, a Chocolate covered Peanut Butter Krispie treat, & a Chocolate covered Twinkie, oh my! Unfortunately, the were refrigerated & so cold, they were almost frostbitten! The Krispie was interesting at the cold temperature, not bad, & the Chocolate Covered Twinkie had serious potential (although it was no No Whey!), I would be curious to try it at room temperature. The cupcakes suffered from the cold, but I can't see myself anxious to have another.
Vox Pop: 308 Bowery at E 1st St.

On a rainy day in Brooklyn, we headed to the Penny Licks for their selection of Vegan Treats & Tempation ice cream. A large case of sweets, as well as old timey decor greeted us, & I was thrilled by the wire backed parlor chairs. I was looking forward to trying more of the Tempation ice cream flavors, as I loved them when I visited Chicago. While the Peanut Butter Brownie & Vanilla Cupcake baked goods didn't quite do it for me, I was thrilled to try a trio of "Penny Licks" in Strawberry, Cookie Dough, & Pumpkin. Creamy ice cream on a crunchy mini cone? Yes, please! Now if only we could get Tempation around here!
Penny Licks: 158 Bedford Ave between 8th St & 9th St, Brooklyn

Of course, I had to end my trip with another visit to Lula's Sweet Apothecary. Blythe & Derek are so kind & generous, we found ourselves chatting with them, finding many things in common as our final afternoon in NYC slipped away. Another round of soft serve & sundaes yielded the discovery of a new favorite ice cream, S'mores! I have a major marshmallow obsession, so the smooth chocolate ice cream flanked with graham crackers, fudge ribbons, & Sweet and Sara marshmallows may have hit the spot so well, I had two servings!

To commemorate some kick ass ice cream, I made a little video of my trips to Lula's. Check it out!



Don't forget, Lula's Sweet Apothecary: 516 E 6th Street between Ave A & B, yum!

New York City Dessert Reviews; Part Two; Vegan Treats Edition!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

The dessert dissection continues! Many New Yorkers will tell you, there's no shortage of places to consume goods from Vegan Treats. Luckily, I took the opportunity to try a plethora of their sweets & the range of rating may be a surprise to you!

Once again, I'll keep it short & simple with excerpts directly from my notes & a star rating between 1 and 5. Be sure to check out Anatomy of a Dessert Review, so you can understand my process & the meaning of the ratings you see here.

Peanut Butter Bomb Brownie- A delicious peanut butter mousse, chocolate shell, & peanut butter drizzle a top a dense brownie, not for the faint of heart, this is dessert is intense! Peanut Butter Bomb is a specialty of Vegan Treats & you'll find it on cakes & cupcakes as well! 4 stars

Pumpkin Cake- This cake is nicely spiced & addictive, I enjoyed the frosting & found myself repeatedly going back for “one more bite". 3 ¾ stars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake- Sometimes people agree to disagree. I liked the textured chocolate & peanut butter topping, but disliked the bland, gelatinous peanut butter layer & Ryan felt the opposite! Sure, this worked out well for us, but neither of us were bowled over by this dessert. 2 ½ stars

Brownie Cheesecake- At first bite, this is a dense dessert. After digging in, I found the brownie layer to be nice, but the cheesecake portion to be a bit bland for my taste. 2 ½ stars

Lemon Cupcake- The texture of the cake was chewy & lacking lemon flavor, luckily the frosting was quite nice, but not enough to make me love this dessert. 2 stars

Hazelnut Cake- While it has a nice fluffy hazelnut frosting & tasty fudgy center filling, I found the chocolate cake to be dry & flavorless. I would give this another try, it could be better on delivery day. 3 ½ stars (I was lucky enough to share this slice with my fellow jet setting blogger, Bazu from Where's the Revolution!)

Boston Crème Donut- Ooh, lovely fluffy donut with delicious chocolate icing! Unfortunately, I found the crème filling to be a bit strange & salty. 3 ½ stars

Oreo Cookie Donut- This has a nice cream filling, but the donut & topping seem to be lacking. Can I have the Boston donut filled with Oreo cream, please?! 3 stars

Cinnamon Roll- I found this to be a bit too dense & lacking that soft gooey center people expect of cinnamon rolls. The icing was almost cream cheese-like & while I enjoyed it, Ryan thought there was far too much of it. 3 stars

Lemon-Lime Cake- A nicely flavored lime cake, but texturally it's bit dense & chewy. The lemon & lime frostings were both fluffy & delicious! 3 ½ stars

Death by Chocolate Cake- This is no joke; chocolate cake with 3 different types of filling, all held in by chocolate ganache! The cake is clearly a catalyst for all of the other components, when it’s fresh, it’s good & moist, although not particularly flavorful, a day or two later, it’s dry. That being said, all of the fillings are delicious & flavorful & help to keep the cake moist. The ganache outer shell is nice as well, although not the star here. 4 ½ stars

Overall, I was impressed by the confections Vegan Treats has to offer. They're obviously made with care & the flavors are diverse & exciting. Best of all, they look fabulous, so anyone, vegan or not, would be attracted to them!

Check out the Vegan Treats myspace page for locations!
For more photos of the Vegan Treats I tried, check out my Flickr.

New York City Dessert Reviews; Part One!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

New York City; the land of vegan desserts! I had my share of sweets (plus the share of a few others) & wanted to give you the inside scoop on the options out there. Initially, I set out to review cupcakes, but once I saw the other offerings, I decided to expand my horizons! In part one, you'll find mainly cupcakes, but coming up are items from Vegan Treats; cakes & donuts & cheesecakes, oh my!

Rather than write long paragraphs, I keep it short & simple with excerpts directly from my notes & a star rating between 1 and 5! Be sure to check out Anatomy of a Dessert Review, so you can understand my process & the meaning of the ratings you see here.

When asking folks about the cupcakes of NYC, S’nice came highly recommended. I decided to start with a meal at this cute little spot & finish up with 2 cupcakes, vanilla with chocolate frosting & chocolate with vanilla frosting, both delightfully topped with Halloween spider rings!

Vanilla cupcake with Chocolate frosting- The vanilla cupcake was dense & muffin-like, not a bad item, but it wasn't high in flavor. The frosting was cocoa based & tasty, almost like your favorite fudgy canned frosting, but with a different consistency. 3 stars

Chocolate cupcake with Vanilla frosting- The 1^st bite in to the cake seemed to have a nice chocolate flavor, but then it started to taste salty & it’s quite dense. Luckily, the frosting was thick & almost like Oreo cream filling, yum! 3 stars

S'nice: 45 8th Avenue between Jane and Horatio, NYC.

As you may recall, I took a trip to Babycakes a few months ago & was underwhelmed. I decided to give this cute little bakery another shot, as I can't imagine a place so adorable being anything less than tasty. I opted for Carrot, Lemon, & Chocolate cupcakes & a slice of gluten free Chocolate Crumb cake.

Carrot cupcake- I found this to be a bit bland, under spiced, & muffiny, the frosting was nice, making an overall OK cupcake. 2 ¾ stars

Chocolate Spelt cupcake- Nice depth & chocolate taste in the cake with a mild chocolate frosting, the best of the “babycakes” I’ve tasted. 3 stars

Lemon cupcake- The cake doesn’t taste of lemon & it’s a bit grainy. For some reason this cupcake seems to give me “cottonmouth”! I love lemon, so I expected more. 2 ½ stars

Chocolate Crumb Cake- The chocolate cake was gritty, which could be due to the use of alternate flours making it gluten free, the crumb topping was OK, but I still couldn’t bother with more than a few bites. 2 stars

Babycakes: 248 Broome Street on the Lower East Side

If you know dessert in New York, you know Atlas Café; home of the display case of Vegan Treats. What you may not know is, they have vegan soft serve! On my first trip, I had plain vanilla due to being told this was their only flavor. Little did I know the list of items to accompany the soft serve are not toppings, but options to be mixed in!

Atlas Soft Serve- Creamy & rich, not “beany” like some soy creams out there. This was thicker than traditional frozen yogurt & great on it’s own, but even better with a peanut butter mix in! Thank goodness I don’t live in NYC, I could eat this often! 4 stars

Atlas Café: 73 2nd Av at E 4th St.

On Halloween, we walked down Bowery & made our way in to a place where I'd spied vegan cupcakes earlier in the week. Lucky's Café is located inside the Bowery Poetry Club & carries vegan baked goods made by a local woman with no business name. I opted for two items; a banana cupcake with vanilla frosting & a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting.

Banana cupcake with Vanilla frosting- The cake portion was dense & bland, I would consider it a fluffy muffin, thankfully the frosting was delicious, like something you’d find on carrot cake. 2 ½ stars

Chocolate cupcake with Peanut Butter frosting- The cake was lacking flavor, although it had a nice texture & fluff to it. The frosting was fluffy, but lacking in peanut buttery flavor & I found it to be overly salty. 2 ½ stars

Lucky's Café at Bowery Poetry Club: 308 Bowery

I hope you enjoyed round one; of course this is merely my opinion, so I encourage you to try these places on your own. It's important to support vegan businesses, but it's also important to produce a high quality product that can stand up to comparable items, vegan or not. Stay tuned for round two; Vegan Treats edition later this week!