Diary of a Sweet Tooth

Dessert mania this weekend. But why do I still find myself on this particular Sunday night, lusting after a matcha green tea cupcake? The following isn't even a full account of all the desserts I consumed this weekend. 'Tis but a snippet of my eating activity over the past few days.

CHIKALICIOUS DESSERT CLUB
E. 10th btwn 1st/2nd av.

Thursday night, I finally made it out to Chikalicious (Dessert Club, not Bar) and ordered a red velvet cupcake, adult chocolate pudding, three chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake and molten chocolate cake.
(Red velvet cupcake in forefront, chocolate pudding in background.)

Report card
Red velvet: C+ (The cake itself was fine, but unexciting. The frosting was whipped and weakly flavored. Whipped + warm do not equal delicious.)
Cheesecake: B (Good grade, considering that I don't usually like cheesecake.)
Cookies: A- (lots of chocolate; reminiscent of a Subway or McDonald's cookie, rather than an upscale bakery, but still pretty darn tasty.)
Adult Chocolate Pudding: A (yum, yum, yum, but not sure about the bed of chocolate crumbs below it.)
Molten Chocolate Cake: B- (Too "molten" for me...needed some more cooking time. It was basically raw brownie dough inside a thin cooked layer. The vanilla ice cream was unoffensive though.)

SHANGHAI CAFE
100 Mott St.

I had the chance to devirginize a soup dumpling newbie this weekend, and where did I take her? Shanghai Cafe, where my friend took me after I realized what those buns I had been eating were called in English. So in a way, I guess I also had my first experience with what others call "soup dumplings" at this place, too.

Ordered a dessert item for the first time here. At our gruff waitress's behest, we selected the red bean pancake, which was surprisingly not very sweet, though the pancake part was sadly too oily (not good oil, either, but the old, stale kind). Next time I'll probably opt for the red bean steamed buns or the sesame rice balls instead.

MOMOFUKU BAKERY/MILK BAR
@ 2nd avenue/13th st.

Pictures probably do more justice to this place than I could:


Ordered the above slice of banana cake for $5. I wasn't a fan of the banana cream portion, but highly enjoyed the hazelnut crunch (the brown layers). The cake layers were my favorite part, though: nice and cold (and moist), summoning back memories of many a Sara Lee pound cake consumed straight from the freezer. Two opposable thumbs up for the banana cake!

P.S. Also tried two samples of their soft serve (one rosemary, one apricot). The rosemary was strangely salty and the rosemary was too overpowering...I felt like I was having savory overherbified cream. McDonald's soft serve wins hands down against either of the flavors I tried at the milk bar.

P.P.S. Kyotofu's matcha green tea cupcake is to die for.