Some might argue cupcakes have lost their title as New Yorker's favorite designer dessert, but mix anything with booze and we'll try it. That recipe has been the key to Prohibition Bakery's success; the LES bakery infuses their mini-cakes with alcohol, creating flavors like Margarita, Sangria and Car Bomb. They're celebrating their one year anniversary next week and created a very special cupcake to mark the occasion.
Named for noted boozehound Ernest Hemingway's 1932 novel, the Death in the Afternoon cupcake packs a potent punch of champagne and absinthe. The bakery describes the confection as a "champagne cake with champagne filling, absinthe frosting, and a champagne cube on top with a touch a lemon." The bakery kindly set us up with the new cupcake, plus a variety pack of their bestsellers. Our staff had mixed reviews:
- "I feel like either cutting my ear off, writing a poem about the underbelly of Paris, or shooting my pal Art Rimbaud in the wrist. So depraved, decadent and delicious." — Josh Steele
- "I liked the beer and pretzel one but that one had Nutella so it's cheating. That said, Nutella could not have saved the champagne and absinthe cupcake, which tasted like medicine." — Jen Carlson
- "The margarita cupcake reminded me of a margarita, or at least margarita flavored bubble gum." — Jen Chung
- "I really liked the chocolate one (car bomb). Did not like Death in the Afternoon. If you pounded a dozen or so of these, you would likely get a slight alcohol buzz, which might be more than slightly overwhelmed by your guilt over having eaten a dozen or so sugary confectionaries at once." — Ben Yakas
If you're interested in experiencing your brain on boozy cupcakes, the bakery will be making the Death in the Afternoon all of next week, plus you can get some of their other alcoholic cakes as well. They'll set you back $2 each (they are miniature, keep in mind—eaten in one or two bites), 3 for $5, or a dozen for $20; not Prohibition-era pricing, sadly, but it's cheaper than a bottle of absinthe!
