Happy Happy Happy

Walking through the Lower East Side side this afternoon I spotted a little bakery named Happy Happy Happy that specializes in dairy-free and gluten-free desserts. Being a big fan of dairy and all regular desserts, I proceeded to walk by and continue on with my shopping. On my way back I felt a tinge of guilt for passing up a bakery, and I decided to check it out. I peaked into the door and saw a row of mini cupcakes (about an inch and half in diameter) on a shelf behind the counter. Dairy-free or not, these were adorable, and I went in to try one. The woman in line in front of me was thinking the same thing, and placed an order for 9 mini cupcakes - 3 vanilla, 3 chocolate and 3 strawberry. The different colored cupcakes looked beautiful together in the box, and at $1.00 a piece, the entire assortment cost less than a single dessert item at most restaurants.

While the cupcakes did look good, the thing that impressed me most was the woman behind the counter who looked genuinely happy and went out of her way to make sure the customers were being taken care of. She attended to each customer in line as if they were one of her friends. After I ordered my chocolate cupcake, she went behind the counter and personally frosted it, and hand delivered it to me in the small seating area up front. After I finished she asked me how I liked it and told me how much she enjoys making the desserts for her customers. She told me about a few children who live in the area who can’t eat wheat but can still come to their bakery to enjoy cupcakes. That’s a happy happy happy story if I’ve ever heard one.

As for the chocolate cupcake I tried, I would give it a thumbs up. The cake is not quite as good as a regular cupcake (it is chewier and sticks to the paper) but it is still moist and has a strong chocolate flavor. The chocolate frosting on the cupcake was the best part, and I much prefer it to the sugary frosting found on most cupcakes. I also really liked that it was small in size and did not have an overwhelming amount of frosting. I strongly support any bakery that makes reasonable portions and leaves you satisfied without feeling like you’ve gained 10 pounds. On my next visit I will have to try their chocolate chunk cookies, recently voted as one of the best in Manhattan by New York Metro.

Happy Happy Happy is a great bakery for those interested in dairy-free and gluten-free products. For those of us who love our eggs and cream, it’s still worth a trip for those cute mini-cupcakes with fantastic frosting.

Happy Happy Happy Bakery
www.happyhappyhappy.com
157 Allen Street (F Subway at 2nd Avenue)
New York, NY
(212) 254-4088

Posted by Kelli Bernard at 6:35 pm. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a trackback from your own site.