Lulu Cake Boutique, Spoiling Everyone

As I pondered the cellophane-wrapped black and white that had long been my favorite cookie, I thought back to my two trips to  Lulu Cake Boutique  and the fabulous confections produced therein.  With its pristine white décor and superb cleanliness, Lulu's seems a separate world from the rest of Garth Road – a utopia of cookies and cupcakes. 

Surprisingly, "Lulu" is neither the baker nor the owner, but rather a very sweet German shepherd. Lulu was founded and is currently owned by Mr. J. Muse--a Culinary Institute graduate who has worked in many fine restaurants including the French Laundry – and Mr. Victor Gonzalez, a former fashion design illustrator who has worked for Calvin Klein and others.  This dynamic duo has been in operation for nine years and has already opened another store in Manhattan.

I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Muse, and it seems he truly loves the Scarsdale community – which he experiences constantly because there is always a steady stream of returning customers.  He remarked that he enjoys making cookies and cupcakes for his friends who come to see him regularly, but especially loves his larger projects such as cakes for bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings.

I felt compelled to try the peanut butter cookie as soon as he mentioned it as a best seller, and I was instantly addicted. 

Two crispy peanut cookies encased a peanut butter flavored French butter cream; I had found the perfect cookie.  I forced myself to save the rest for my trip home and tried one of his traditional Israeli hamentachen, a triangular cookie with a jam filling made during the Jewish holiday, Purim. 

Jewish myself, I was surprised with Lulu's take on a somewhat boring holiday cookie; next year when Purim rolls around, I will definitely be telling my great aunt, "NO THANKS!"

Last to go into the bag was a red velvet cupcake topped with more of the amazingly light and refreshing French butter cream, and I was warned that not unlike a finely aged wine this cupcake needed to decant for an hour for the best results.

The cupcake--which I was generous enough to share--proved truly to be the "icing on the cake." My friend commented that it was beautifully decorated and also tasted like a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.

Lulu's uses organic sugar, flour and butter and welcomes children and anyone else with a sweet tooth.  I was told they will produce special "cake gift boxes" for Mother's Day, but I will be bringing my mom a bag of the peanut butter cookies.

It took all of two weeks for me to succumb to my craving's and go back and try more of Jay and Victor's confectionary creations.   Gourmet versions of hostess snowballs lurked behind the glass, separated by ding dongs and other goodies reminiscent of childhood.

I wanted another cupcake; this time it was iced with ganache, a rich mixtue of chocolate and milk. The cake was buttery and not overly sweet and seemed to set the tone for most everything I tried that day.  I also wanted a scone, as my palette runs to savory more than sweet. It was light and fresh unlike any I had sampled before, with bold flavors of rasberry and dark chocolate.

Because brownies are a family favorite,  I ordered one cocoa and one peanut blondie.  Both were moist and soft several hours later, with the same hints of butter. Bursting with flavors true to their names, the cocoa was rich and fudge-like. The blondie was soft. And anything peanut from Lulu's is instantly addictive.

Rugelach is a staple food for my father, but the ones I bought this time were not for sharing.  Buttery with hints of cinnamon-sugar, they towered over the imitations I had always bought at Costco.  My mother's favorite is chocolate chip, and no I did not share these either, as they seemed to have more chocolate than cookie.

My favorite is the linzer, and  to my surprise the jam in the heart-shaped delights was fresh and still almost liquid in texture.  The last thing that caught my eye was what seemed to be an oreo cookie but was much more than that when I tasted it.  Gone was the bland artificial flavoring replaced with a serious amout of real cocoa, the cream holding  a subtle hint of mint.

Everything from Lulu's piqued my culinary interest, nothing too sweet or covered in sugar, real flavors intrigue my senses making every bite a new experience.

The next time you look at a twinkie ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" It is if it was made at Lulu's.