I chose a chocolate-chocolate Valentine’s Day cupcake for Lou, a red velvet one for myself, and a banana cupcake for kicks.

Cupcake Trio from Magnolia's

The red velvet cupcake was good, with the customary cream cheese frosting and a decent, albeit slightly dry, cake. The banana cupcake had the opposite problem; the frosting was very plain and mostly tasted of fat to me, whereas the cupcake part was a nice, moist banana cake with chunks of walnut in it. We ate that one a day later so it may have suffered from age.

Banana cupcake from Magnolia's Bakery

This is a closeup of the Valentine’s Day cupcake. It highlights their good choice in selecting different textured toppings. Sprinkles are par for the course, but the addition of tiny hearts and red sugar really added some gorgeous variety.

Cupcake closeup with sprinkles

If I needed cupcakes in New York, I would definitely go to 69th street Magnolia’s again. My other options are the 59th street Whole Foods or Penn Station’s Zaro’s, both of which make gorgeous cupcakes that have lard-like icing and decent-to-terrible cake bodies. If I needed cupcakes in New Jersey, I’d stop by a local bakery rather than bring them home from work. Varrelman’s, Carlos’, and Sweet Avenue Bake Shop are much better than even Magnolia’s.