On Baxter Street in Chinatown, you’ll find Spongies, a tiny cafe specializing in Hong Kong-style, paper-wrapped sponge cakes. The sweet smell of freshly baked cakes reached us out on the street, and that was enough to pull us inside.
There were plenty of flavors to choose from, and we ended up ordering five: Thai Tea, Pandan Coconut, a Lunar New Year special with orange and apricot, Cappuccino, and Purple Yam.
The texture was incredibly light and airy, velvety soft on the inside with a thin, slightly crisp top. They reminded us a little of chiffon cake, with a gentle, subtly eggy sweetness running through all of them. Fluffy to the point where eating one felt a bit like biting into a tiny cake cloud. Steve’s favorite was the Lunar New Year, while mine was the Pandan Coconut, a pretty green cake with a pronounced pandan flavor. Cappuccino was a strong second for both of us, especially paired with the coffee we also had.
The cakes are just a couple of dollars each, and drinks are reasonably priced too. The space itself is very small with limited seating, so if the weather is good, the better move is to take everything outside and find a spot in the sun.
Spongies Cafe, 121 Baxter St, New York, NY 10013, United States
