At Buttercooky Bakery, butter does make it better
Kidsday reporter Isabel Connolly and employee Jaclyn O'Donnell with a Buttercooky creation. Credit: Connolly family
Have you been craving something sweet after school or on a Sunday morning? If so, I can help. There is a bakery that I have been going to with my family every Sunday after Mass and sometimes as a treat during the week. It’s Buttercooky Bakery, which has two great locations, in Floral Park and in Manhasset.
As soon as you walk through the doors, you come face to face with glass cases packed with arrays of cakes, muffins, cupcakes and cookies in beautiful designs and bursting with color. I was really excited to write about my favorite bakery. I called the owner, Ben Borgognone, who has known me since I was a baby.
When I got the chance to interview him, I wanted to know about his passion for baking. I learned that he started baking with his dad when he was 9. Having gone there so many times, I really was hoping to find out what his style is. He considers it European. In Buttercooky, you can find not only ordinary cupcakes and cakes but also delicious cannoli, biscotti — an Italian almond biscuit — and sweet macaroons, to name a few. He also has cakes for any occasion.
For most of my birthdays I might get a round chocolate cake with mousse or strawberries inside with icing flowers on top. However, for my little sister’s birthday we got a huge sheet cake that could feed 40. As for specialty cakes, Ben has done them all. He has put any theme on huge cakes, from a Mickey Mouse-themed birthday cake to a seven-tier fondant wedding cake with royal icing. On any day you might find someone coming into the bakery and asking for a chocolate mousse cake or a fondant birthday cake to feed 30.
Buttercooky’s slogan, which is on its sign, is “Baked with butter, makes it better.” Hmmm . . . that made me wonder if everything in the cases was baked with butter. So of course, I had to ask. Ben told me that almost all of the pastries have butter as an ingredient. Why? Because it’s the butter that gives the pastries so much flavor and taste. As a lifelong customer, I agree!
Buttercooky Bakery’s future is looking great. As kids, it is hard for us to tell, but many people have stopped eating pastries to be healthier. This really started to worry me. If the adults stopped going to bakeries, who would get us there? I was reassured that I had nothing to fear — nobody can resist a cupcake for long. So, the next time you are in the car, put 217 Jericho Tpke., Floral Park, or 140 Plandome Rd., Manhasset, into the GPS. Then sit back and enjoy a ride to the best sweets of your life.
