Last Thursday, the folks over at Serious Eats shared the results of their arduous review of NYC bakeries. Their mission: Find NYC’s best cupcake.

The outcome? Brooklyn’s own Baked NYC won in a “seriously close call,” after beating out more than 47 bakeries and 60 flavor combinations!

To the uninitiated, Baked NYC seems like a hole-in-the-wall bakery (in a former storefront church!) on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. Its humble, cozy space isn’t large, but it’s all about the bold flavors. Serious Eats had this to say about the winning ‘cakes:

But Baked stood out among all the contenders for their consistently moist cake, good cake-to-frosting ratio, and interesting flavors that highlighted the title ingredient. The lemon drop cupcake was one of the overall favorites of the tasting, with bright flavors that reminded us of summer citrus and not jarred lemon curd. The vanilla cupcake was a big pick for best of its category; it “tasted like vanilla,” rather than just a neutral flavor, and had a light, fluffy texture. Though its somewhat inconvenient location in Red Hook, Brooklyn, makes these cupcakes tough to reach for some, the tasty treats at the end of your long trek will be well worth the effort. I promise.

To help celebrate this sweet victory (and sample some of their non-cupcake delicacies), I took visiting friends to Red Hook this weekend for a divine breakfast of sticky buns and lattes. Not only were they impressed, but fell in love with the space as I have in the past. Check out a few shots of the bakery below, or pick up their beautiful cookbook to try one of their recipes at home!

Hmmm… maybe we need to visit some of the other bakeries on the list, too… you know, for research purposes.