My friend Allison mentioned to me on the Friday before Valentine’s Day that she was thinking of going to Magnolia’s, a New York bakery famous for its cupcakes. I was puzzled because the Magnolia’s I knew of was a considerable distance away over by Rockefeller Center, but it turned out there was a second Magnolia’s in the area by Central Park. They had a nice selection out, with several Valentine’s Day cupcakes in chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla flavors, and some “sweet sayings” treats that were more or less hostess cakes with ‘amore’ and ‘cupid’ scripted atop them with white icing.

They also had their usual selection of  s’more, banana, carrot cake, red velvet, and key lime pie cupcakes. They take their flavors seriously. I chose a chocolate-chocolate Valentine’s Day cupcake for Lou, a red velvet one for myself, and a banana cupcake for kicks.

Valentine's Day cupcake trio

Cupid cupcake from Magnolia's

The Valentine’s day one is pretty, right? That angel was made entirely out of sugar. It was the kind of “edible” that you air quote even out loud. You could eat it if you were an otter, and you had a rock to smash it with. The heart is just plastic, though. They figured you’d break your teeth on the angel and never find out, but I have a pretty persistent jaw. I like the insert because it reminds me of the cheapo way we used to celebrate v-day when we were in elementary school — candy hearts, homemade cards, and cupcakes with mass-produced decorations. It’s kind of quaint.

Magnolia cupcake - nothing says Valentine's Day like a red plastic insert.

More cupcakes and my monkey puppet after the jump.

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