Cake & Shake

Went to this truck with a couple of friends this spring after chilling at Washington Square Park. We were all starved and their choices of flavors looked cool. Plus, the name «cake & shake» was so cute that it couldn’t be bad, right? We all got cupcakes and wow, what a disaster. One of my friends was able to finish her cupcake, but all I can remember about mine is that it was painfully dry. The rest of us couldn’t down more than half of ours. If I recall correctly, it was pretty pricey, too.
Bottom line: Just overall not recommended. We were sorely disappointed.

Sadly probably one of the driest cupcakes I’ve ever had. Great concept, poor execution.

I came to this little food cart to meet up with another Unilocaler before heading out to see the off Broadway show «The Flying Karamazov Brothers» that was playing nearby. Normally for a place that I know very little about, I would fire up Unilocal on my Iphone, see that the place had a decent amount of reviews and yet still average 2.5 stars, use that as a warning, turn tail and run away as fast as I can to protect my precious taste buds. In this case I didn’t because my friend had a Groupon that she needed to use and wanted help eating them. It was too much food for one person.
We took our order and sat by Washington Square Park to partake our little collection of cupcakes and a shake. For the cupcakes, we had one order of the MR. INCREDIBLE (Double Decker Brownie with pecan mousse and salted caramel frosting) and one of MOON CAKE (Yellow cupcake with Tahitian vanilla pastry cream and Valhrona chocolate butter crème). None of the above mentioned ingredients for each cupcake works together to create one cohesive food experience. For example, the first bite of the moon cake would taste like Tahitian vanilla pastry cream, the seconding bite would taste like Valhrona chocolate butter crème, then the rest would taste like a yellow cupcake. It’s like they glued 3 different food together one layer at a time and called it a cupcake.
The cupcakes we had were also pretty hard and dry. I imagine that was because we bought them at the end of the day. They were starting to pack up to leave during the time that we were there. At least I hope that was the reason why they were like that because I can’t imagine them being purposely made that way in the morning.
The MADAGASCAR VANILLA SHAKE on the other hand were decent. Nothing too special about it but it was a good shake. At first I wasn’t sure why It was called Madagascar but with a little help from Ming, another Unilocaler, I found out that it is a type of vanilla bean. It was nice and thick. So thick in fact that I spent the next half hour sipping it. Luckily the show allowed me to bring the drink into the theater.
I totally agree with the 2.5 star averaged reviews of this place as of my visit. Unilocal was right again. Ah, the things I would do for my friends.
Cupcakes: 2 stars
Shake: 3 stars.

So I’m the type that likes sweets and will always make room for dessert — or at least I try to. So I saw this deal on Groupon and was like sure why not. So I got there a quarter til 7PM and was looking at the menu deciding on what to get, afterall it was my first time. The guy who was running this cart told me he is closing now, so I was trying to hurry to make my selection. Luckily, other customers came and was ordering some cupcakes, so I had some time to buy while I waited for my friend to show up. The guy kept rushing me, when I clearly told him my friend was 10 steps away because he really was!
So we’ve gotten the Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, a Mooncake and a vanilla shake. We took our «goodies» to Washington Square Park and tried these cupcakes. Boy these things were hard and dry. One of the cupcakes was in 3 parts, there’s this cookie part in one of the layers. I’ve never had a cupcake like that. The cupcakes were interesting, but it didn’t really please my tastebuds. The vanilla shake was really thick, but it was good I must say. Luckily, my purchase was a deal from Groupon, but after this experience, I don’t think I’ll come back for more cupcakes. Shakes is a maybe.

I was starving and the truck is on my way to the subway so I thought I’d stop and get something. I opted for the «Mrs. Incredible» without knowing anything other than it was one of 3 with any kind of chocolate in it. It might just be one of the worst desserts I’ve ever tasted. I couldn’t barely finish half before reluctantly tossing $ 3 worth of cupcake in the trash.
I’m not sure if the consistency had anything to do with the weather (it was raining) but this brownie-​like cupcake occupied the sketchy liminal space between dry and moist like a slightly chewy hard cookie. The icing was intriguing at first. It tastes something like a Werther’s original, but the overall effect of the entire cupcake is very artificial. Given all the great reviews I didn’t expect to feel like I was choking down chemical additives and preservatives. The icing was very grainy, thick and unpleasant. The cupcake was dry and stale. The filling inside was revoltingly sweet and disturbingly pus-​like.
It’s conceivable that my experience isn’t indicative of the one you’ll have when you go but I thought I should warn fellow Unilocalers of the possibility nevertheless.

I love sweets but I have to say «NO» to this cart. My sister snagged some home for us to try and we were ALL disappointed. I’m not cocky but «honey, my cupcakes taste better than these.» The biggest offender was the ‘Angel’s Kiss.’ The cake had a rubbery texture to it filled with sugary sweet preserves. The other cupcakes were more on the muffin/​cake texture. It was decent but nothing close to good.

*Mobile Review*
Came here to use Groupon coupon
Décor: ³⁄₅
–You can’t miss it
–Apparently people steal their menu magnets lol
Service: ³⁄₅
–Service is good
Food&Drink Presentation: ⁴⁄₅
Taste: 3.5÷5
–The cupcakes deserve 4 stars. The drinks deserve 2.5 stars.
–Haitian Mango shake is not good. The Salted Caramel is good initially but the base just makes me gassy lol.
–Warm Glow and Yummy Nut are yummy. My favorite so far is the Warm Glow because it’s spiced cake with nutmeg, cinnamon and coconut cream cheese frosting.
If you come here on Saturdays, you will see the same cupcakes and shakes offered. I wonder when they have the London Lily… I love Earl Gray :]

I had the same experience as Paul H did on 10÷10÷10. I checked the website first for hours and exact location. I got there at about 1:45pm didn’t see them, walked around the perimeter of the park, and back to «their spot». No sign of them, I also called Gina the owner twice, but no answer (I left a message) and no return phone call. I was very disappointed.
I bought a groupon for Cake and Shake and want my moeny back!

Using a Groupon I scored — I made my way to Washington Square Park with my son (19). I opted for the Moon cupcake and the Caramel Salt shake. My son got the Banana w/​Caramel cupcake and the Peach shake.
He liked his cupcake a lot — the peach shake was «off the chain». My cupcake was just okay — I think I’ve been spoiled by the Cupcake Lady in Philly (where I’m from). My Caramel Salt shake tasted like peach because my son asked for extra peach in his shake and the fella must have gotten them mixed up. I didn’t bother going back to ask him to fix it. So I guess I really ended up with a Peach Caramel Salt shake.
Would I stop here again if I’m in the area? Yes. Would I take a special trip up to NY for their goods? No.

I found out about this place on groupon when they had a deal get $ 12.00 worth food for $ 6.00. Since it was only $ 6.00 I said why not try it. So I bought it then I went. I decided to only try cupcakes not the shakes. I got 2 Whozeewhatsit, 1 Haven Split and another kind that had an orange like flavor. I liked the Whozeewhatsit and the Haven Split but didn’t care for the orange flavor one. I want to try there shakes one day but as far as the cupcakes go they are good some flavors are definitely better than others but overrall they are okay.

Uhm… it’s SUPER dangerous that this truck is DIRECTLY across catty-​cornered from my church. DANGEROUS I TELL YOU!!! If you’re in the area, GO!!! They’re really nice. The truck is clean. The display window is cute. The banana cake one was AWESOME! I haven’t dove into the others yet. And they have a separate cupcake option that is big enough for two people to share (I haven’t seen it yet… so it’s pure myth to me at this point). $ 3 a cupcake for these suckers ain’t a bad deal at all!!! OM NOM SUPER NOM!!!

I truly wanted to like this place. I mean, I was absolutely looking forward to a nice shake on a hot day. To make it better, they really stress the «green-​ness» of the cart, but I was not thrilled with the service, with the flavour or the «groove.»
The girl working was on her phone when we got there and didn’t even acknowledge us. She must have talked for about 5 minutes, and couldn’t give us recommendations or even tell us if there was gluten in the shakes.
I have celiac disease which automatically meant the cupcakes were out for me, but what a great thing it would be for this company to even consider the gf population! But seriously, the dining partner is always up for a sweet, so it wasn’t a hard decision for us to still go — she had the whatchamacallit and we split both the salted caramel (way too sweet) and the wild raspberry (way too runny!). The compostable straws didn’t last but a few minutes, which was disappointing. We’re from the SF Bay Area and I’ve never had that happen anywhere.
We sat in the park for a bit, and on our way out wanted to compost our ¾ full shakes, but she lady in the truck couldn’t even confirm that the «trash can» outside was for compost or not.
My breakdown — one star for the fact that the shake didn’t make me ill
and the second star for the cupcake that my partner seemed to enjoy.

Ever since I heard of this place, I’ve been looking forward to it, especially with their unique menu found on the website. Please imagine my disappointment when i stood in front of the cart, realizing they only offer 5 flavors each day, which btw was not mentioned anywhere. So out of curiosity I asked how they select the «daily 5», whether it’s random or there’s some popular flavor that’s always available.
The guy told me they don’t even make all the flavors posted out there!
I was shocked and honestly didn’t believe him. Then one thing convinced me he was not kidding… He didn’t know what «London Lily» is! What’s more disturbing is he seemed to be oblivious of the impact of what he just told me. I mean, seriously?
The cupcake itself is okay. Cake is on the dry side, but still the creativity is impressive. 2.5 stars on the food but definitely disappointed on the service.

I’m on a cupcake quest over on my blog, ‘Fork it over, Boston!’ — I’ve been eating my way through Boston’s cupcakes for the last several months. When I found myself in NYC last weekend, I knew I had to continue the quest.
On the way to Magnolia, I happened upon the Cake & Shake truck. It looked like it was going to be a double cupcake day for me — hooray!
Cup o’ joe cupcake: Deliciously creamy frosting. Spongy moist cake. Mocha nirvana.
For my full review, check out the blog:
And for more information on my delicious cupcake quest, go here:

I had one thing and one thing only, that was the Huckleberry milkshake. They basically put up 20 or so shake flavors, but the small truck can only hold three at a time… which means, you never know what’s going to be there… booo…one star off for not being consistent. Four stars because what was more a curious opportunity for trainwreck was quite amazing…
All that was missing was a smurfberry shake… don’t steal my idea…

3.5, rounded down, because it is summer and carts do not have air conditioning.
Their shakes are perfect for sharing romantically with your boo under the Washington Square Arch, and their cupcakes make a perfect treat for studying so dang hard all day!
Not better than THE Butter Lane, but what is?!
(in case the mystery was killing you: nothing, the answer is NOTHING)

No sure why the low stars here as this is one of the few cupcake places I know that uses 100% organic eggs, flour, milk and sugar in everything they make. On top of that, all of their plastic products including the cupcake wrapper are biodegradable. Funny, how this hasn’t caught on in my hometown of SF… But I digress as you don’t eat the wrapper but what’s in it.
I had the Whatchamacallit with its milk chocolate cake batter and caramel mousse with nougat frosting. Yummy from first to last bite and the perfect treat to pick up before you sit on the grass in the park or put your feet in the water. Friendly service and I can’t wait to try their shakes. Enjoy!

Nobody beats Crumbs in the cupcake business and still don’t!
Cake and Shake has a weird carmel icing filling which leaves a odd taste. Most of their cupcakes have nuts or some form of nuts either inside or on the outer icing. Not one to fall over heels with.

Cake and Shake is the latest in a line of cupcake carts and trucks popping up all over the city.
It’s been open for about a week now on the northeast edge of Washington Square Park and I’m told a second cart is planned to open in midtown soon.
As for the cupcakes… they have a dozen unique flavors on the menu and it appears they rotate day by day. Today they were only serving 5 choices. The cupcakes are priced at $ 3.00 and shakes are $ 5.00.
I only tried the Whatchamacallit cupcake which does not contain the actually candy bar pieces by the way. That said, it was the hot seller of the day, so I figured it would be the best introduction.
My colleague and I both didn’t think it was that good. The cake is basically a brownie, not a cupcake. It’s very dense and heavy. The frosting was also thick and heavy. It’s not a bad dessert, but it’s not a good cupcake. Definitely an unexpected and disorienting experience.
I’m not sure if all the cupcakes have this heavy brownie aspect to them, but if they do then I’ll look elsewhere next time to get my fix.

New cupcake cart on the northeast corner of WSP.
Cupcakes: got the «Whatchamacallit” – milk chocolate cake, caramel mousse, nougat frosting. Decently moist – could have been more so – relatively dense, good frosting to cake ratio. The filling was a little odd, but I didn’t mind it. ³⁄₅
Value: This is what got me. My friend and I got the «cupcake for 2,» under the impression you got TWO large cupcakes for $ 7. We actually only got one. The thing is the size of these «cupcake for 2“s are only slightly bigger than a Crumbs cupcake, and for double the price of one… no thanks. I should have just gotten the smaller cupcake, which is $ 3 (still steep, considering it’s smaller than a Magnolia cupcake). And for what the cupcake was – decent, but nothing impressionable – I would opt for one of the city’s more well-​known bakeries. ²⁄₅
Service: This is the redeeming thing about this cart. The people are clearly very passionate about what they’re doing, and very excited to have started their business. However, I wish they’d been more clear about the «cupcake for 2.» I think they should just label the prices: $ 3 for a small cupcake, $ 7 for a large cupcake, so it’s not confusing. But new businesses, whether restaurants or food trucks all need a bit of time to iron things out, so I wouldn’t write this place off entirely. ⁴⁄₅
Overall: Convenient if you’re craving a cupcake on the way to class or whatnot, but I think the prices need some work, because it’s really not that hard to head over to 8^th St. and grab a Crumbs cupcake for better taste and value. I haven’t tried their shakes ($ 5) or coffee (they serve Gimme! coffee) yet though, but it seems like this place could do well if they had more time.