Batch has a new cupcake: Bacon Caramel Pumpkin. I hadn't been to Batch for a few weeks and stopped by to drop off postcards and could not resist. Technically, they advise you to wait to eat their cupcakes until they've defrosted a little, but I'm an impatient person and was also in a hurry so I dove right in. The caramel frosting is thick, but not as sweet as you might expect (that's a good thing). The pumpkin cake, which I'd had before, was moist and chewy. At first bite, the bacon tasted...sweet, surrounded as it is by frosting. But then after a few seconds, the saltiness of the bacon takes hold.
Trust me, if the idea of mixing salty and sweet sounds weird to you, in this cupcake, they are not so much mixed as brought together, one after the other. You get to appreciate the added twist of the bacon after the frosting has dissolved on your tongue. This is not a savory cupcake in any way; it's a sweet one, and is everything I've come to expect from Batch - a big, beautiful cupcake, a unique taste, a very intense cupcake. In many ways, Batch's cupcakes are not meant to be eaten the way I ate mine: quickly. They are meant to be eaten while sitting, perhaps with a glass of the organic milk they sell from The Manhattan Milk Company. That's not at all to say I didn't enjoy it; I did. But Batch's cupcakes aren't light. They're intense, rich, an investment - surprisingly, not in money (their prices ($2.95/cupcake) are extremely reasonable, but in cupcake appreciation. They're not fluffy and light, and I have trouble finishing them, because half of one goes a long way.
Batch has become my new must-visit NYC bakery for visitors. When my friend Jenny Block (pictured above with their Dragon Devil's Food chocolate cupcake) was in town from Texas a few weeks ago, she asked me which bakery she must try, and that's where I took her. That's not to knock this city's many other fine bakeries, but for out of town visitors, if you are looking for a truly unique cupcake, and have a little time to spare (and room in your stomach!), do check out Batch.
After all, I really don't know anywhere else in New York where you can get a cupcake that looks like a Christmas ornament:
See our previous Batch coverage
Batch
150B West 10th Street
New York, NY 10014
212-929-0250
info at batchnyc.com
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