Butterdose Cafe is a bright bakery and coffee shop in the East Village in New York City. It has a large variety of sweet pastries and savory options, such as sandwiches.
The stars of Butterdose are its cream puffs ($3.75 each at the time of our visit), with a mix of fun flavors, and we tried three: black sesame, ube coconut, and yuzu. The choux pastry overall was solid and did not have a strong egg flavor. The craquelin added a nice sweetness and light crunch.
The cream within each puff was extremely light, more of a diplomat cream rather than just pastry cream. Within the cream center, in the ube coconut, there were pieces of coconut. For the yuzu, there were jelly squares that ultimately didn’t add much to the texture experience.
The flavors were light and could have been stronger overall. The lightness of the yuzu flavor was aligned with the lightness of the cream, making it a nicely bright pastry, rather than a typical heavy one.
Ube is a tough flavor to use in general, as it is often not noticeable when overpowered by sweetness. But Butterdose does allow some of the flavor to come through and doesn’t overdo it with purple food coloring, as other bakeries tend to do.
The best was the black sesame. While it could have also used stronger flavor, the cream puff didn’t have bits of black sesame, which was a good call. The crispy triangle on top was the star of top, with a lovely crunch and strong, toasted flavor.
The tart was a surprise winner. There is the option of having it warmed, which enhances it. The custard was creamy and light and the pastry was nice and flaky.
The atmosphere is bright and warm, and a bonus is that for iced coffee, there is both drip and cold brew options.
Address: 236 E 13th St, New York, NY 10003