Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Cowgirl vegan cupcakes (East Village, NYC)

Vanilla with chocolate frosting (full-size and mini)- sorry about the blurry photo

Clockwise from upper left (blue cupcake): cotton candy, chocolate cake with peanut butter, mini vanilla, second cotton candy, chocolate with chocolate (or was it mocha) frosting, mini vanilla with chocolate frosting.

The flavors rotate daily; other stand-outs include french toast flavored cupcakes (chocolate or vanilla cupcake and cinnamon maple frosting.  Cupcakes do contain soy.  I made an exception in my soy-free diet for this place.  They also offer gluten-free flavors.  For soy-free and gluten-free vegan cupcakes, go to Babycakes on the Lower East Side.

Maybe I went too late in the evening, but I found the minis a bit stale around the wrapper.  I ate them anyway, of course.  My favorite flavor is the cotton candy, despite the blue food coloring and pearl-like adornments, both of which made me a bit nervous.  I surprised myself and liked the vanilla-bottom cupcakes better than the chocolate ones, which is the reverse of my usual taste preference for everything chocolate.  The peanut butter frosting is also quite yummy.  I tasted the mint-frosted cupcakes on a prior visit and found them almost too minty, and learned that you cannot eat a peanut butter cupcake in the same sitting as a mint one.  The flavors just do not mesh well together.  That's what I got for eating three cupcakes in a row.   No big surprise there.

Cowgirl also offers an assortment of other sugary treats, like donuts, cookies, cakes, pies, brownies and more.  It varies from day to day.  You can call ahead or check their blog or Twitter. In addition, they have a savory menu -- burritos, sandwiches and more.  All vegan.  I have not tried anything other than the cupcakes at this point.



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Delicious sweets (Paris)

I loved the sweets and pastries in Paris during my recent trip.  Here are a few photos of the vegetarian (not vegan) yumminess.

Orange chocolate mousse from Le Potager du Marais

Pastries, chocolates and macarons from the 6th arrondissement