A baker's heaven

I'm hosting a small dinner party tomorrow night and in honor of that, have decided to try out my Mom's new recipe for individual molten chocolate cakes, kind've like the ones they have at Applebee's and Chili's, for those of you suburbaners (don't get me wrong, I actually miss the simplicity of Applebee's at times).

I didn't have the correct pan to make said dish, however, so I ventured down to Chelsea and hit up New York Cakes and Baking Supply on W 22nd street, between 5th and 6th.

Much as I had expected, it was literally a pastry chef's wet dream. There were mountains of cookie cutters, cake pans, wedding cake decorations, dozens of varieties of sprinkles, baking tools...you get the picture. I found several different options for what I was looking for and, of course, ended up going with the most expensive one (because it was the coolest!). I got a pan that looks kind've like a muffin pan, except instead of muffins, it makes six individual bundt-shaped cakes. I guess only a kind've dorky 22-year-old would be excited by this, but whatever.

As I had been warned on the Chowhound boards, the service was brusque and abrasive, but you can't beat the selection for your baking needs. This place, combined with my accidental find of Broadway Panhandler (See: previous entry, "Non-cookie cutter cookie cutters"), should keep me well-supplied with anything I need for my kitchen.

One of my favorite parts of living in Manhattan is the ability to find a specialty store for just about anything you could possibly want. You can get so much unique stuff if you know where to look, which I don't always. I won't lie, though...I still wish they would build a Target in Manhattan. Brookyln's got us beat on that one.