Cupcake Shop Opens In Essex Market

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A new cupcake shop in the Lower East Side's Essex Market is combining sweet treats with powerful female women to create a pop culture studded menu of baked goods.

I. M. Pastry Studio, which opened inside the Lower East Side food hall Essex Market earlier this month, comes from Prospect-Lefferts Garden, where the pastry shop originally opened before moving to Manhattan. The business began in 2009 when Tiffany Washington began churning out baked goods from her kitchen, before she eventually opened her first storefront with business partner Tamika Young in 2015, according to the bakery's website. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The business is named for Washington's grandmother, Ilene Miriam.

Most of their sweet treats are named after famous women, like Ophra and Ellen DeGeneres. The Riri, an oatmeal rum raisin cookie, is named for Rihanna, of course. There's also a pink lemonade flavored cupcake known as the "Bey," named for Beyoncé. The "Ariana" is a lime flavored cupcake infused with Jose Cuervo topped with buttercream frosting and a lime wedge. This cupcake is among several of the pastry studio's "lit flavors" — that is, cupcakes infused with alcohol. You can view the complete menu here.

Lead image via I. M. Pastry Studio.