[title]
Pretty much every New Yorker is familiar with Baked by Melissa's twee, one-bite cupcakes: they probably showed up at at least three of the holiday parties you attended. Established in 2008 at the height of the once-indomitable cupcake trend by former ad exec Melissa Ben-Ishay, the coin-sized treats have managed to retain their massive popularity even throughout the inevitable decline of the mini-cake, due to their relatively low price point and fun-loving flavors.
But the times they are a-changin’ in the varied world of NYC pastry, with flaky pretzel croissants, dense chocolate babkas and, of course, Cronuts steadily eroding cupcakes’ hold on the city’s sweet tooths. The steady rise of the macaron further attests to the wane of the cupcake, a trend that has no doubt influenced Baked by Melissa’s recent announcement that the bakery is branching out into the world of those delicate sandwich cookies.
Starting today, all locations of the formerly cupcake-only shop will also stock six flavors of macarons, two of which are inspired by Melissa’s most popular mini-cake flavors—cookie dough and red velvet—plus sugar cookie, snickerdoodle, salted caramel and double chocolate varieties. Like the shop’s cupcakes, the macarons will be tiny and colorful—the sugar cookie flavor stacks white and pink meringues with a pale orange frosting and tops the whole thing off with rainbow nonpareils—and will also cost a buck a pop (less when purchased in bulk).
