Burgers & Cupcakes

Guys, this is kind of the best idea ever. But I don’t know why I’m surprised. This is New York City after all and they have everything. I’m all about cupcakes. This we know. But I’m also a huge fan of meat. I will rarely say no to a burger and the only reason I will is probably because I want tacos. I didn’t even know this place existed until I did my preliminary research and put them on my list but then I forgot about them. I walked past this small shop after spending Friday morning at the DMV in midtown. I know, not fun, especially since I made the courageous decision to end my California love affair and finally get a New York drivers license. 9 years after moving here. It was an emotional day. Which calls for a cupcake.

I walked in right in the middle of Friday lunch rush and headed straight for the cupcakes. I was impressed with the assortment of flavor offerings, from the usual suspects of Vanilla and Chocolate, to more adventurous ones like S’mores, German Chocolate Cake, and Strawberry. I went with Lemon Poppyseed because I was feeling springy.

By looking at these cupcakes you wouldn’t think much of them. It’s like they were an afterthought (which they might have been). First impressions: that’s a lot of frosting. Is that really necessary? It’s frosting, a lot of frosting is always necesary. And there is a lot of frosting piled high on these cupcakes. Just a dome of butter and sugar. So while, they aren’t very visually appealing, I would not mind eating this frosting all day. It’s really good. Creamy, not grainy, and perfectly sweet.  Biting into the cupcake is challenging, not in the way biting into a Crumbs cupcake is, but the dome of frosting posed a challenge. But man, was that first bite good. The cake:frosting ratio is not really working for me, but taking these parts separately is where this cupcake really shines. Slight lemon flavor and a surprise of bluberries at the base. I mean, blueberry, lemon, cake? Sign me up every single time. This cupcake is actually a lemon bluberry poppyseed cupcake, but the addition of blueberries makes it even better. Time for a breakdown. The cake is good, it has a moist crumb, but I didn’t really get any lemon here. The frosting had all the lemon flavor and it was perfect. Tart enough to offset the sweetness of the frosting, and good poppyseed distribution. Overall, this is a perfectly passable cupcake to pair with a burger it’s not my choice for a solo cupcake treat. But cupcakes and meat do go well together. Just ask anyone whose feasted on my Car Bomb Cupcakes after eating my boyfriends corned beef. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Burgers & Cupcakes
458 9th Avenue (@W. 36th St)
New York, NY

Price
$2.50

Flavor
Lemon Poppyseed

Scores
Presentation: 1/5
First bite: 3.5/5
Cake: 3/5
Frosting: 4/5
Cake:frosting ratio: 3/5
Total: 14.5/25