Tiny Treats

Cupcakes are huge right now and they’re certainly big on my list. But at Baked by Melissa they are actually quite tiny! Baked by Melissa is a cupcake shop that sells cupcakes the size of a quarter. Her concept is to give people the chance to try several flavors without the glutton.

Cupcakes are great because they can satisfy a variety of palettes, with flavors ranging from the simple classic, vanilla with chocolate buttercream, to more complex combinations like chai-infused cake with chocolate cinnamon ganache. They’re a smaller version of the sheet cakes that many of us enjoy on special occasions, so they give us a chance to make any day a celebration but without so many leftovers. Baked by Melissa plays on this concept, but on an even smaller scale.

I pass by one of the shops in New York City every time I go to work. The cupcakes look adorable lined up in rows by flavor: red velvet, cinnamon, cookie dough, chocolate chip pancake. I couldn’t help but try one, especially because you could just pop one in your mouth! So I tried a red velvet one day and a cinnamon the next. The red velvet did not impress me. The top of the cupcake was crispy, not soft and delicate. The bottom of the cake was softer, but because the cupcake was so small you always got some crisp in each bite. Personally, I don’t think that cupcakes should be crunchy. However, the frosting was tasty. It was a smooth, sweet cream cheese. The cinnamon cupcake was a little better. The top was still crisp, but this cupcake was filled with a cinnamon cream that was delicious. The cinnamon flavor in the cream was full and distinct. And the cream cheese frosting on top of it was the same as that covering the red velvet.

For me, the cupcakes were too small to impress my palette. I like more intricate flavors, and it is hard to make such a small treat very complex. On the other hand, they are the right size for a little something sweet after a meal. In my opinion though, I would rather get a big cupcake and enjoy it over a few days. That way, it can be soft and moist, simple or complex, and overall more satisfying. If you’re going to have dessert, really have dessert!