Birthday Bests

In honor of a poodle's birthday...



Best Birthday Cake:
* Billy's Bakery Vanilla-Vanilla or Chocolate with Vanilla Icing
Yes, chocolate cupcakes can often be dry but Billy's chocolate cake is a consistent crowd-pleaser.

Best Birthday Cupcake:
* Crumbs
The 45 flavors (and 30 locations) ensure you can always give the birthday girl (or guy) their personal favorite.

Best Birthday Cake Decorations:
* Cupcake Cafe
A heavier cake but they come in 6 inch with amazing floral designs. For a kidtastic cake I have to go with Flour Patch Bakery though...They decorate their buttercream frosted cakes with iced cookies in different shapes! The cookies are also available for purchase and would make great party favors.

Best Cake Toppers:
* Oriental Trading (see picture above)
I mean seriously, what don't they have? Pearl River Mart is also a good bet.

Best Alternative Birthday Treat:
* Macarons from La Maison Du Chocolat
These delicacies are not to be missed. Light crispy shells with smooth pastry and complimented with flavored ganache fillings. They are the perfect gift...and the raspberry ones are pink!

Best Birthday Breakfast Baked Good:
* Bouchon Bakery
Oh Thomas Keller, how I love thee...and your croissants...and your baby bouchons...etc.

Best Birthday Restaurant Style:
* This one is still up for debate...It requires a perfect balance of delicious dessert and the decorative component. For example, Gramercy Tavern does a nice job writing Happy Birthday with chocolate sauce...even if their pastry chef is now my enemy.

On an angry note, I am personally against any place that charges you a per person cake cutting fee...(You know who you are Otto - $7 a person for cake cutting!? Even for cupcakes!? We had 12 people! When I asked to speak to the person who made this decision I was informed that it is Mr. Batali's rule...so I asked to talk to Mario Batali about this...they hung up on me.) While I would have no problem with a straight $20 or $25 fee, when you have a bunch of people at a restaurant I think $7 per person is pretty excessive. I get it, you have your own desserts. We will order them. We will order ice cream. We will tip our server accordingly...just don't alienate your customers by trying to charge them $72 to cut a $35 cake...

Birthday Rage.