We are excited to have a new guest reviewer! Jen is a close friend of the Crusaders (and a “name twin” to Crusader Jenn), currently living in New York City. She’s been on many adventures with us and has taken the time to share a review on Molly’s Cupcakes, a bakery with locations in Chicago and NYC who donates a portion of their proceeds to schools in their community. Thanks Jen!

I was thrilled and honored when Stacy asked me to write a guest post for her blog, and I knew that I had to take the task seriously. As the only one of their cupcake-obsessed friends living in NYC, I had many options, but did not want to start with something that we had all tried, like Crumbs or Magnolia Bakery. On a day date with my husband a few weeks ago, I took note of a few places around the city, but none were all that exciting. But then last weekend while down in the Village, we noticed something that we had never seen before – the newly opened Molly’s Cupcakes. I instantly knew it would be perfect for my first guest post, so in we went!

Now, I know that this is a blog about cupcakes, but first I have to say how cool the shop is inside! Not only is there plenty of seating and cute touches everywhere, just look at these hanging bar stools!

And look at the cute logo!

They also have “build your own” cupcakes with a pretty decent selection of flavors, but who needs those when you have so many fun choices already baked? Just look at the choices: a huge cupcake-shaped éclair, apple pie, crème brulee, lemon meringue, peanut butter nutella (yes, you read that right!), chocolate decadence, kahlua…we definitely had some hard decisions to make.

After going back and forth trying to decide which four flavors to try, we settled on (from top left, clockwise) butterscotch caramel, pumpkin, cake batter and chocolate raspberry.

First up: pumpkin!

I’m pretty sure that this was my first pumpkin cupcake, ever. I’ve had many pieces of pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin donuts, but never a cupcake. My first impression was that it tasted a lot like pumpkin pie, just not quite as sweet. The cake was very moist, and just about the perfect consistency, but I am not a fan of whipped cream frosting, at all. Unfortunately, that’s mostly the only type of frosting they use. We were both surprised to find that there was cream filling inside, which was the same as the frosting on the top. As you can see in the photos, there was cinnamon sprinkled on top, which was a nice touch. This cupcake was also probably the prettiest of them all – unfortunately there is nothing spectacular about the way Molly’s cupcakes are decorated. Verdict: the pumpkin cupcake is definitely worth trying, but if you don’t like whipped cream, you may want to try something else.

Next: chocolate raspberry!

I am very glad I decided to try this cupcake, it was delicious! The chocolate ganache frosting was incredible, the cake was delicious and perfectly moist, and there was the perfect amount of raspberry filling. My only complaints were that it was extremely crumbly (I’m glad I was using a fork) and though it’s nice that the raspberry filling was real, the seeds in it became annoying after a while. Also, the raspberry on top may have tasted alright but it was a very strange consistency when I picked it up that made me not want to try it. I will most likely be ordering this cupcake again, it’s a must for any chocolate lovers!

The next one we tried was the butterscotch caramel:

I was quite excited to try this cupcake, doesn’t it just look mouthwatering with those caramel drizzles? My expectations were a little higher than the others for this one, but I was also a bit nervous that it would be too sweet. Luckily, it was the perfect amount of sweetness, and incredibly moist cake (seriously the moistest cake I have ever eaten in my life!). I didn’t mind so much that it was whipped cream frosting on this cupcake, I think it was because the caramel drizzles helped disguise the whipped cream taste. And the filling was absolutely incredible:

Because it was so moist and surprisingly not very sweet, this was the only cupcake out of our selection that I could have easily eaten all by myself. It will definitely be hard to resist this one on our next visit.

And finally: cake batter!

On the description of the cupcake, the sign mentioned funfetti. Well if you know me (or my husband, or Jenn or Stacy) you know that if funfetti is mentioned, we are on it! So we definitely had to try this one. Well…it did and it didn’t live up to our expectations. Firstly, the cake was the driest of all of the cupcakes, though by normal cupcake standards it was decent. It tasted pretty good, but I always end up preferring the boxed funfetti mix. The frosting was again the whipped cream frosting, just dyed blue, as well as some rainbow sprinkles. By far the most surprising and exciting thing about this cupcake was the actual cake batter inside!

Seriously! I don’t know if it is really cake batter or not, but it tastes exactly it, so I don’t care what it is! Overall, this cupcake would have been sort of disappointing in my book, but when I discovered the amazing filling, it more than made up for it!

It was hard to decide a real “winner” out of these cupcakes, but I’d have to say it was either the chocolate raspberry or the butterscotch caramel. The best cake was definitely in the butterscotch caramel, though they were all nice and moist. Due to my dislike of whipped cream frosting, the only frosting I truly enjoyed was the chocolate ganache on the chocolate raspberry cupcake. And obviously, the cake batter filling wins hands down in that category.

My husband and I will definitely be taking another trip to Molly’s Cupcakes (I need to try the peanut butter nutella and the chocolate decadence!), and you definitely should stop by next time you’re in NYC. The unique flavors and wide selection and of course the fun décor, make Molly’s Cupcakes a place definitely worth visiting!

– Review by Guest Crusader, Jen (NY, NY)