By PAMELA BARKER
Community Reporter/Social Media Editor
North Palm Beach Life/ northpalmlife@gmail.com

​Photos: North Palm Beach Life
Related: Cupcakes in the Palm Beaches

NEW YORK_My love of cupcakes goes back to the days of my mother making them from the recipe printed on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box.

Not only did she bother making cupcakes from scratch, she whipped-up Minute Fudge Frosting to top them.

I still use that frosting recipe, mostly for brownies, and it takes longer than a minute. Yes, you boil it for a minute, then you let it rest, then you beat it to the perfect consistency. If you miss that critical point in the process, the frosting will either be too sticky to harden, or gets too hard to enjoy.

Yes, my mother was a master. 

I, am not.

So, with all the joy I had as a kid, when gourmet cupcakes became all the rage a few years ago, I jumped into the foray in earnest.

All this brings me to Magnolia Bakery in New York City.

Yes, it gained high visibility when a couple of the Sex and the City chicks sat and ate a couple.

Who cares about them? Not I. 

No, but I did want to compare Magnolia little cakes to the ones I had sampled earlier at the original Sprinkles in Beverly Hills. Oh, don't even get me started on how Sprinkles are now available in vending machines. 

Anyway, we did make a stop at the original Magnolia Bakery in the West Village when it was still brand new and they had only one location. 

My opinion? 

Delicious.

Although the cupcake rage may have cooled through the years, my love affair with them has not, which is why I have also visited the Grand Central Station and Penn Station, Magnolia Bakery locations.

Last week, at Penn Station we had some fun with the staff. 

Standing at the counter, staring at all the colorful frostings, I turned my attention into the serious face of a waiting staffer.

"I would like to order six, and a banana pudding," I said, with eager anticipation.

The banana pudding had been recommended to us by an Amtrak employee.

"I'm going to need to see ID," said the stern face.

"ID?" I questioned, incredulously.

"Yes," she replied, unflinching.

"Seriously?" I sighed, thinking security in the world had gone completely insane when you had to show identification to buy cupcakes. 

I mean, I had purchased Magnolia cupcakes in NYC in September. Could their policy have changed since then? Why, I wondered?

"Yes" she answered, her face still expressionless.

Staring, unblinking, I was preparing to turn and leave as there was no way I was going for this nonsense.
​
Suddenly the entire staff (it's a small-ish shop) started laughing and she said she was only messing with me.

Naturally, I gave them a hard time right back. You mess with me, I mess with you, don't you know?

Of all the Magnolia shops, I like this one the best. They were not taking life too seriously, we had fun with them, and walked out with our goodies.

Oh, they are still delicious, and I got to share them with my granddaughter in our hotel room at the Ritz.  Pretty special as it was her first visit to New York and her first Magnolia cupcake.

I may not make cupcakes from scratch for her like my mother did, but I suspect my mother would have opted out of all that mixing, baking and frosting if Magnolia had been around!

Visit their site and peruse all the delicious things on the menu. They have much more than cupcakes, just so you know.

Speaking of that, Gerry -- who is something of a banana pudding connoisseur -- gave their version 4 stars!

Banana pudding and
cupcakes? I'm going to
need to see some ID"

No ID needed ... she was just messin' with me!

The Magnolia staff was all smiles

Magnolia Bakery's Penn Station location

Website: www.magnoliabakery.com