Butter Lane's new cupcake flavors: photos and tasting notes

I was lucky enough to be able to stop by Butter Lane (post-Martha) today, as I heard the bakery was debuting some new flavors.


Butter Lane



Butter Lane



The vanilla lemon was refreshing! Bright and bold and crisply lemony. I really liked this cupcake. Although it’s perfect now, in the freezing-cold dead of winter, it’d be amazing in the warmer months. Mmm, an iced coffee and a lemon-yellow cupcake from Butter Lane. My summer fantasy. Well, one of them at least.


Butter Lane


Also in the refreshing category is the key lime cupcake. Wow! Is this outstanding! I’m a huge fan of key lime pie, so it’s no surprise I’d enjoy this. The frosting is piquant and sprightly with flecks of what I am assuming is key lime zest. I think I can also see vanilla bean flecks in the frosting. I love that Butter Lane uses actual vanilla beans in addition to vanilla extract. This is a brand new frosting flavor for Butter Lane and I, for one, heartily approve.



Butter Lane


Now for the chocolate peanut butter: The chocolate cake part was a touch on the dry, crumbly side, and was light, airy. The peanut butter frosting somewhat overpowered the chocolate part of the cupcake. The cake crumbled when I tried to cut the cupcake in half, so I couldn’t get a decent shot. The peanut butter frosting is quite peanut-y, and sweet. It was, like most of Butter Lane’s cupcakes, smooth and flavorful. Not my favorite pick of the litter, but I am not a huge chocolate cake fan, so caveat emptor.



Butter Lane




Butter Lane



The vanilla peanut butter was a better combo in my opinion, even though the chocolate peanut butter is standard flavor profile and combo. The peanut butter frosting was better balanced I believe by the vanilla cupcake. The cake was perfect. This is a winning cupcake if you like peanut butter frosting. And possibly even if you don’t.


Butter Lane



At this point, even though I only took a small slice out of each cupcake, I started having a very fast-beating heart and the sure signs of sugar overdose. There’s still the coconut cupcake and the strawberry one, which I’ll not review in this post because it’s not new, and I’ve had it before.


Butter Lane



Okay, after a brief break for homeostasis, I return to cupcaking.



Butter Lane


Last up, the coconut cupcake. This is a beautiful cupcake. White on white on white. First things that hits you in the scent. The coconut-y, vanilla-y bakery smells. I am not normally a coconut fan, especially sweetened coconut, but this one is very good. The cake is sweet (but not too sweet) and had a bit of excessive crumble to it. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not. Also, I think the cake is coconut-flavored, but I’m not sure. It’s hard to separate them, but when I taste just a bit of cake by itself, I smell and taste coconut. Perhaps some extract?



Butter Lane


One of the best things about Butter Lane (besides its cupcakes) is the scent that hits you when you open the door to the bakery. It’s warm and inviting inside, and you can see that the owners are dedicated to using organic, local ingredients wherever possible. Today they also had a carafe of Jacques Torres hot chocolate. If I’d had time to sit and savor, I would have enjoyed a mug.


Coowner Pam Nelson was there, and she was kind enough to treat me to the cupcakes and share in some Vosges chocolate tasting. That’s a teaser, so you’ll have to tune in and find out what happened next, when we sat down with friends, ate chocolates, and talked shop.


All photos by Stacie Joy, please provide credit.


Comments

Lina said…
Those cupcakes look amazing!

In a completely unrelated note, has anyone else noticed that Starbucks is selling cupcakes now? I went in today and got a wonderful red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Divine, even for Starbucks...
Anonymous said…
Know what? the vanilla lemon was refreshing! Bright and bold and crisply lemony. I really liked this cupcake,i agree coz i know how to baked this. It's delicious so true.

-vee-
me melodia said…
I'm thinking of having some butter lane cupcakes delivered to a friend in nyc.
Does anyone recommend an other cupcake delivery in either the city or Brooklyn?

Thanks!
I CANNOT wait to try these cupcakes when I come to NY in March - your site keeps tempting me with all these gorgeous updates!