Cupcakes Take the Cake's Nichelle Stephens and Rachel Kramer Bussel. Cakes by Nora Vetter of Nibbles by Nora

I did these photos of some food world records by the World Record Appreciation Society at Crash Mansion for Time Out New York last month.  They came out pretty cool.

Check out the slide show here.

The whole point of a cupcake is that it’s small and delicious. Not 151 pounds.  Leave it to Americans to build it.  AOL News reported:  “The 1-foot tall, 2-foot wide cupcake on display Saturday at the Minneapolis Mall of America had 15 pounds of fudge filling and 60 pounds of yellow icing.” Jeeze!  Even though it made it to the Guinness Book of World Records, I do not want that, and neither did the people.  Apparently they gave the world record cake to a pig farm and feed the a decent sized portion.

(This is a normal sized cupcake made by Vera, much better I think)

Yes, the airport! The jetblue terminal to be exact. When I was getting ready to leave for Denver a few weeks ago I spotted these moist, succulent beauties. I remember when all airports had was limp sandwiches, chips and sad apples. Now, the airport food culture is booming!

Nothing would have stopped me from going to Union Pool’s cupcake contest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn last night.  I mean, FREE cupcakes?  TONS of flavors?  AND wine?  Done and done.

I arrived a little late so missed out on some of the delectable cakes.  Well, I figured they were delectable given the numerous people that would whisper in my ear, “Vote for number such and such.  I promise, it was amazing.”  Yeah.  Well, I used my free vote to stake a claim in Confections of a Cupcake’s “Carrot Gold” creation.  A perfectly moist treat with sweet, cream cheese frosting, and a pretty dusting of edible gold.  Sure, the gold didn’t do anything–except make you feel like a princess for eating it!  Everyone knows that’s why you eat cupcakes anyway, to feel like a princess.

Another confection I was impressed by was Blondie & Brownie’s “Java Jolt,” a rich chocolate cake with a strong flavor of espresso muddled into each bite.  Yum.  I paid $1 (which got donated to a soup kitchen) and voted for that one too.
The winning cupcake I never did see.  It was called the Elvis, and, thanks to Erin @ seriouseats.com, I found out it was one of THREE cupcakes with that name.  Wow.  I never knew he liked cupcakes.  The winning one had it right though, a mixture of peanut butter, fried banana, and Southern Comfort frosting.  Sounds good and I wish I could have tried it.

Other notable cakes were the parsnip cupcakes, which tasted very similar to carrot cake, the simple vanilla cake with pink and white butter cream frosting, Indira the Sweet’s almond cake with lemon curd frosting, and Matt Robert’s tres leches cupcake.

Despite being late, my bud and I managed to stuff our faces good with a cupcake dinner.  I think I could definitely live this way, but it’s probably good reality doesn’t work in favor of daily free cupcakes.  But please, please have another cupcake contest!  I promise I will be there.

“In a flurry of chocolate cream and crumby debris, the yoga teacher crammed her last cupcake – No. 17 – winning the contest, and defeating her closest competitor by just one of the sweet treats.

Ivy Bakery held its first cupcake-eating contest outside of the shop on 87th St. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The five competitors were given five minutes to inhale as many chocolate cupcakes as possible. The winner took home $75 and dubious bragging rights.”

There is nothing that says “Happy Birthday me” like a pretty little, chocolate topped, sprinkled cupcake.  So, given that tomorrow is my birthday, I wanted to share one of my favorite city cupcakes thus far.  For a measly $2.50, Magnolia Bakery dishes up the freshest cupcake in the West Village.  Though on a Tuesday night the lines proved nothing compared to the Sex in the City hyped monsters.  My line was a quickly moving snake inside the store.  I picked up a couple with vanilla topped with chocolate frosting, plopped them in the perfect box (who know you could actually make a box for cupcakes that allowed them to survive the move instead of getting squished or have half their frosting stuck to the lid), and took them home to my roommate.

After inserting Battlestar Galatia and making a cup of tea, we were ready for sweet tooth fulfillment.  One bite in and I couldn’t stop smiling. The cupcake tasted good, but not in that overly-sweet cupcake way that a child’s birthday party tends to dish out.  The cake was light and fluffy and the frosting smooth, creamy, and sweet without being sugary.  As I consumed half the treat, I felt a little better.  What’s not to like about cupcakes?  This is probably why I choose to have a Cupcake-Unicorn birthday party this year, then everyone can feel like it’s their celebration, one tiny bite at a time. And, if you bring me one, I will be your BFF, for at least as long as my treat lasts!

When I peeled off the wrapper bits of cake tumbled down.  With no napkin on hand I knew I had to act fast and took a bite.  It was…good. The cake part was moist, fluffy and not too sweet.  The frosting was a little too sugary for my taste but not as bad as the stuff you find on a little kid’s birthday cake.  The balance between cake and frosting worked well too.  Definitely this cupcake was worth the price and for something from Starbucks its quality surprised me.  The down side is now there is yet another place where I know I can get a decent cupcake, and this place is easy to get to.  But with a belly full of delectable cake, I’m certainly not complaining.