Before leaving to New York, my aunt urged me to go to Magnolia Bakery in Chelsea, since she’s a huge Sex & the City fan and this is Carrie Bradshaw’s favorite bakery on the show. Located in a rather quaint neighbourhood, this bakery doesn’t look like anything fancy-shmancy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as it looks like nothing more than a normal family-owned bakery. Looks can be deceiving though, since Magnolia has gotten so big since being on Sex & the City that they even have a franchise shop in a Bloomingdale’s now. But although there are four other locations of this bakery around Manhattan, it’s this plain old original one that has the longest lineups and the most dedicated fans.
Cupcakes are definitely the most popular items at Magnolia. There were seven available flavours when I went, and customers grabbed them on a self-serve basis.
There were also other cakes on display too, and I really liked how they looked like true decadent American classics.
I picked out a Red Velvet and a Mint Chocolate cupcake to try out here. These cupcakes were absolutely delicious as they were flavourful but not too sweet. They even had the melt-in-your-mouth sort of effect. A little less icing would’ve been more preferable for me, but that wasn’t a major issue. These cupcakes both were fun to look and at fun to eat.
Along with the cupcakes I got an Iced Cappuccino to drink. This drink was had just the appropriate balance of sweetness and espresso, so I liked it a lot. It’s also not too slushy or icy, making it oh so easy to finish all at once.
Iced Cappuccino ($4)
Magnolia Bakery is one more thing to love about the fantastic Chelsea district. It’s a place where you can grab some first class desserts further away from the city smog. The only downer is that this bakery is rather small and often crowded, but they serve pastries that are really worth lining up for. So even if you don’t know who Carrie Bradshaw is (like I didn’t at first), drop by here for a quick visit and you’re guaranteed to leave impressed.
- Amazing desserts and coffee
- Wide selection
- Home style appeal
- Small and crowded place
