Planning a trip to New York, babycakes?

There's a bakery on New York's Lower East Side called BabyCakes. They specialize in vegan, wheat- and gluten-free desserts. I want to go there. (Numero uno on my list of places to go on our next New York visit.) A recent article in Gourmet features BabyCakes along with a few other vegan sweet spots throughout the U.S.

I love Erin McKenna's (founder of BabyCakes) philosophy about wanting "to create something that would be fun and cool-looking and didn’t make people feel even more alienated by their food sensitivities or choices." I so get this. Recently my son (who is gluten intolerant) was invited to a friend's birthday party. I asked him if he wanted to take along some of his own food. Come on. Just in case. He insisted no. He doesn't want to be viewed as that kid. I told him: "You're not special." We laughed.

So if you're in New York and have a sweet tooth, check out BabyCakes. Let me know if you run into Natalie, Zooey or Mary-Louise. Parker. Weeds, The West Wing, Fried Green Tomatoes...

*Pre-order BabyCakes' new cookbook in which Erin finally shares her trade secrets.*

(Cupcake photo by Horacio Salinas via Gourmet; Natalie photo via Cupcakes Take The Cake via Just Jared)