Baked by Melissa

Back to cupcakes. I'm pretty devastated. I'm down to three slices of Pam-cakes (formerly A La Cupcakes in Glen Rock). Pam was awesome enough to bake me a cake to cut and freeze so I would still have some of her awesomeness to eat. But I'm almost all out. So I'm trying to ration it out. Hear me Pam?? I'm rationing your cake. I have a problem. ;-)

E had an improv class in NYC on Sunday and we didn't really have a plan for the day. We just decided for the first class to wing it. We were going to see if we could celebrity sight-see near the TriBeCa Film Festival but since we didn't know that area well, it didn't go as planned and there was nothing for us going on down there. We'd walked the west village and I'd seen at least three cupcake places I'd have wanted to try. I didn't want to carry them around though so I thought I'd catch at least one on the way back. But when we got lost in TriBeCa, we decided to just take the subway back to 16th Street & 8th Ave where we were parked. Then I got the bright idea to look up Baked By Melissa and see if we were near a location.

Who knew there are like seven of them?! We weren't immediately near one but we were able to drive there and park. I'd had them before at a friend's house here in Jersey but only one or two. I remembered them being good but wanted to really try them myself by getting a box. I also didn't know if all they do are the mini ones. So I needed to see the whole operation.

We went to the one on the Upper West Side. It's very sleek and contemporary. It's all take-out, it's very no frills in there, and just trays of mini cupcakes. There are ten flavors and then a Mini of the Month. It figures, as I'm looking at the menu now, the one *I* loved the most is the Mini of the Month and I assume then, not a regular flavor. Ugh. Of course. It is French Toast and it's awesome.

If you like to bring baked goods to a kid get together or playdate, these are awesome because they're so small they're not messy. It's nice to be able to really control how much sweet stuff they're eating vs just giving them a hunk of cake. I would let E have one of these at an afternoon playdate before dinner, but not a regular sized cupcake.

But there is a negative to the size on the flipside. I get the novelty and all- they're cute. Plus, you get to have all the flavors because they're so small. But I could seriously eat twenty-five of them in one sitting and that's not good. They seem harmless because they're tiny but I bet if you get addicted to them, they will do some damage to your ass! My second favorite was the Cookies & Cream. At least I know I could get that again if I can't have the French Toast.

They're something I might buy a few of in the mall- Baked By Melissa is coming to Garden State Plaza or they're already there. Like, there used to be a My Favorite Muffin there and I used to buy their cinnamon cheesecake minis. But I'm not going out of my way to get these and I haven't seen a My Favorite Muffin in years. I wouldn't be driving around special to get those either and I loved them. It just seems like they're costly for such small cakes. So to me, it's more like a specialty thing. Something to bring to someone's home for an event, party, etc. I'd much rather these than buying the way overpriced mini cupcakes from Crumbs.

Flavors:

• Cookies & Cream
• Cookie Dough
• Peanut Butter Cup
• Peanut Butter & Jelly
• Red Velvet
• Triple Chocolate Fudge
• Tie-Dye
• Cinnamon
• Mint Chocolate Chip
• Chocolate Chip Pancake
• Mini of the Month: French Toast

Pricing:

• 3 for $3
• 6 for $5.50
• 12 for $10
• 25 for $20
• 50 for $40
• 100 for $80

There are other options too- You can only get the "In Chocolate" ones in certain locations. I didn't see any when I was in this location. The flavors for those are:

• Birthday Cupcake
• Sooo Baked
• Coconut Cream
• Coffee Caramel
• New York Cream
• Strawberry
• Chocolate Graham
• Peanut Butter Fluff

Then there are special gift boxes and pricing on those In Chocolate ones.

They ship nationwide

www.bakedbymelissa.com
212-842-0220