NYCupcake Run: Baked!

After a lux nights sleep in my groovy Manhattan hotel room, an inspiring and emotional visit to Ground Zero and a great (free) ferry ride over to Brooklyn, my first Saturday stop was to Baked in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood. Before I left Milwaukee, I called a dozen or so bakeries to find out the best way to visit via subway. Renato at Baked answered that call. (Come to find out later that he is one of the owners). He was so sweet on the phone and gave me the inside scoop on going from the WTC site to Pier 11 in the financial district and then riding the free IKEA ferry over to Brooklyn.
What would have taken me about an hour, a couple of subway trains and a bus ride to get too was instead 20 minutes with the added bonus of getting to see a couple of NY icons in the process. Seeing the Statue of Liberty is a very powerful experience. She stands in majesty, even on an overly foggy day.


Once I got to Brooklyn, Rachel from CTTC met me at Baked and we had ourselves a bakery tasting free for all. Cupcakes and peanut butter crispy bars and cakes and cookies and tarts and ... you get the idea.

The dark chocolate cupcake with crushed Oreo dust was fantastic. GREAT frosting. Like I have raved about in the past, it was light and airy and not too sweet. Just the way I like it.

I would be remiss without mentioning a few of their other treats. This damn Peanut Butter Crispy Bar - it was so damn good it brought a little tear to my eye. Oh! And the HOMEMADE marshmallows - WOW, I don't really even like marshmallow, but they were so squishy and tempting to look at, I could not resist. SOFT and SWEET BLISS! Let's not forget the macaroons the size of a fist! No...I did not eat all of these things...not completely, anyway. The nice thing about having Rachel there with me was that we could order all these treats and sample a little of each and not walk away with massive stomach aches! It may have appeared gluttonous, but we left behind as much as we ate.

P9270385, originally uploaded by Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake.
It is vital for me to tell you that Baked has gone the extra mile, not just with their incredible baked goods, but their fantastic design esthetic was like the cherry on top, so to speak. Browns, oranges, wood, silhouetted forest animal prints, flourish accents, it is alllll in those details. They sell shirts and dishware and books and buttons. (I brought Bobby this awesome t-shirt home) I would have bought every one if I a) had tons of extra spending money and b) had any way to get it all home. By the way, did I mention...Baked was my favorite NY Bakery!

Baked NYC
http://bakednyc.com
359 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231
Tel: 718.222.0345
get there: Pier 11, IKEA ferry in the financial district, 5 short blocks to walk.

UPDATE: CTTC is giving away a copy of the delicious BAKED cookbook! Just pop on over to Cupcakes Take the Cake between now and 10/10 to register to win!