The NYC cupcake challenge

I like my cupcakes small and cute. So I never used to like Crumbs in the cupcake wars. I'd prefer Magnolia Bakery (made famous by SNL's viral hit Lazy Sunday) or Buttercup Bake Shop any day (I'm referring exclusively to the NYC cupcake challenge here - SF Bay Area is a completely different matter).

The regular Crumbs cupcake which I first experienced a few years ago was the size of a small cake. I can't even remember if it was good. I just remember it was huge. And that I ate half and felt sick.

But this time, a new Crumbs outlet opened up in Grand Central (as did a new Magnolia outlet) and a colleague told me about their 12 pack of mini-cupcakes, known as a Taste pack. It's pictured above - 12 mini versions of their top sellers.

It was awesome! 2 little bites of heaven per cupcake. At $18 for the dozen, it was definitely not as good a deal as their mega-monster cupcakes. But so much more enjoyable for me.

My favorite was the red velvet. There were a few unusual chocolate variants including cookie dough, oreo cookie, mint chocolate and brownie. I loved this pack! I can't wait to get it again next time!