Midtown Lunch

I took advantage of this deal last Wednesday and got a Black & White, Red Velvet, and Peanut Butter Chocolate. The Black & White cupcake’s frosting was too sweet for my taste, especially the white side of it. Plus, the frosting was a bit hard, with the same consistency as solid butter. I wasn’t a big fan of the cake itself either. It passed on the soft and fluffy factors, but was a bit on the dry side.

The Red Velvet was a win for me, but I’m a complete sucker for red velvet. Naked’s Red Velvet was soft, spongey, and had a decent moistness. What I liked most about it was that the chocolate component of the buttermilk-vanilla-chocolate batter was more prominent than the typical red velvet. The frosting tasted just like whipped sweet cream cheese. And who wouldn’t like that?

Oh, but the Peanut Butter Chocolate is definitely Naked Chocolate’s best cupcake. The cake itself can stand alone with a good amount of moisture and chocolate, but the salty, smooth peanut butter frosting really tops it off. The salty peanutiness provides contrast to the frosting’s inherent tendency to be too sweet. Or in mathematical terms: peanut butter + sugary cream = balanced diet.

Lucky for me- this week in honor of National Cupcake Day, the guy at Naked Chocolate hollered out a special mini-cupcakes deal: 2 for $1, so I bought four to sample the flavors I hadn’t yet tried. Lucky for you, I get to tell you which are worth  getting. Chocolate is not surprisingly the strongest flavor here as the mini was rich and moist. However, I was almost equally impressed by the strawberry, which was a huge surprise! I had expected the frosting to be artificially sweet and lacking strawberry flavor, but it pleasantly resembled strawberry milkshake or strawberry pocky. Not too sweet either! The vanilla-vanilla was a saccharine disappointment and the carrot cupcake had unidentifiable things in it. (I swear I saw shredded coconut embedded in the cake.)

Overall, I’d say the cupcakes were decent, but not the best. Naked Chocolate’s signature treat is still the thick ganachey European hot chocolate! Don’t bother with the lunches or teas though. (I tested them out.) It’s a CHOCOLATE café, people.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Big variety of chocolate items
• Relaxed atmosphere, good for reading
• Often has special deals

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Awful normal food
• Desserts can be hit or miss
• Desserts are not made on the spot, less fresh

Naked Chocolate Cafe, 3401 Walnut St (@34th) 215 222 3710