Valentines Day Heart Cake

La Provence has done it again! This is actually the best thing in the world - it needs to be on their regular menu of desserts. Its the thickest richest flowerless chocolate cake that basically just tastes like a fudge bar. It is frosted with the same ganache as their cupcakes I love, and topped with some gold dust. I can't explain how much this is my favorite dessert ever.

The Ivy

Part two of my birthday cake eating happened when my office got me cake from The Ivy. It is one of the best red velvet cakes, up to par with the La Provence. The icing is a little sweeter, and is pink! It was so good, definitely dangerous to have this cake live so close to our office.

Birthday Cakes!

All I wanted for my birthday was to try a bunch of the cakes I had seen around town, so that's just what we did...


The first was the famous Red Velvet Cupcake Cake from La Provence:


Not only was this the cutest cake, but it was actually amazing. Both the cake part and the icing were fantastic, and the center had a surprise filling of cream cheese frosting! It may have beaten Sprinkles for best red velvet. I think most people said this one was their favorite.


The second is the famous Berry Cake from Sweet Lady Jane:


I was happy to have one light and fluffy fruit styled cake to balance out the other two rich ones. It was great, nothing to rave over, but I would definitely eat it again. The whipped cream was great and the fruit design on the top was beautiful.

The third was the Seven Layer Chocolate Cake, also from Sweet Lady Jane:


This one was my favorite, obviously. Seven layers of yellow cake stuffed with seven layers of chocolate butter cream. The outside frosting was a thick ganache. I died.

While this last one is not a cake, it was by far the most unique treat! My cousin sent me this from NY and not only did it not break in the mail, but it stayed SO tasty. It was like a freshly made cone.. with chocolate on it. And of course, came with a great fortune inside!

Pot de Creme

I went to The Den the other night for dinner, and while the food was just ok, the Pot de Creme we all shared for dessert was great. The milk chocolate creme had a flavor to it that I can't explain, but it was very sweet, almost like a vanilla, which for chocolate is kind of unusual. It was very good though. It came with two cookies that were pretty great too, they added a nice crunch to the creme.

Al Gelato

I finally made it to Al Gelato after living down the street from it for months, and was pleasantly surprised.

The gelato flavors were good, I liked the fruit flavors more than the chocolate or other ones, but the other desserts were amazing.

This yellow cake was great, just how I like it. The cake part tasted like a pound cake and the frosting was dense and dark. The raspberry gelato was a great match for the rich cake.

Cuvée Cupcakes

In case I don't have enough cupcakes on this blog.. here's another. This chocolate cupcake from Cuvée is up there with the one I love from La Provence. The cake is good, but the icing is amazing. Its a thick ganache topped with crystal sugar sprinkles. I think the best part of it is the way the icing is piped on, looking like Hershey's Kisses.

Demel Cafe and Bakery

As I was stuck in a blizzard in NY on Christmas Eve, I didn't want to go out to find dessert to bring to our family Christmas, so I ran downstairs in my building, The Plaza, where I found the little cafe I had always overlooked. Demel is a Viennese bakery that has amazing cakes, cookies, cupcakes, sandwiches, coffee, etc.

I fell in love with these cupcakes, all of them! I don't even remember what flavors I chose, but they were all incredible, so fluffy and really flavorful. My Grandma even made the bold statement of saying, "These are the best cupcakes I've had in all my life!" She and I stood over the box with two forks at 1am and finished them off..

Butter Lane

While I was in NY over the holidays, a friend brought me to Butter Lane on the LES. We arrived moments before closing so they didn't have many to chose from, so I figured I would try the regular chocolate and vanilla. There was some kind of mix up and I got mint frosting...it was amazing! I love mint chocolate, and have never had that as an icing before. It was a very pleasant surprise. I'd like to go back and try more flavors next time.

Ghirardelli Brownies

We had a party and decided to make brownies and came across this Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix. I will never used Duncan Hines again... these are incredible! This time we put Heath Bar crumbles on top which added a nice touch, but is by no means necessary. The actual chocolate of the brownie is so rich and dark, and the cake part moist yet perfectly flakey on the top.

I love box mixes.