best bakery

Luxist Readers cast their votes for the best chocolates, truffles, cakes, cookies and cupcakes. The winners for each of these categories are:

Best Cake
Crumbs Bake Shop is the winner of the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award for Best Cake. The bakery is also famous for its cupcakes (it was nominated for a Readers' Choice Award in the cupcake category, accordingly).

Crumbs offers an irresistible blend of comfort-oriented classics and elegant baked goods. Crumbs homemade cakes come in a variety of delicious flavors, from Red Velvet to Vanilla Cake and Chocolate. Crumbs cupcakes come in three different sizes. At each of its bake shops, it offers more than 50 varieties baked fresh daily and a new cupcake of the week every Monday. Crumbs also offers a variety of delicious cakes, from Red Velvet to Vanilla Cake and Chocolate. Accordingly, Crumbs Bake Shop is also a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Cake.

Currently, Crumbs has locations in California, Connecticut and New Jersey. Its baked goods can also available by placing an order online.

Gallery: Best in Sweets

Luxist Readers have nominated their favorite cupcake bakeries and the top five are:

Baked (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Crumbs Bake Shop (New York, N.Y.)
Magnolia Bakery (New York, N.Y.)
Sprinkles (Los Angeles, Ca.)
SusieCakes (Los Angeles, Ca.)

Gallery: America's Best Cupcakes

Luxist Readers have nominated their favorite cookie bakeries and the top five are:

Eleni's New York New York, N.Y.
Levain Bakery New York, N.Y.
Sweet Adeline Bake Shop Berkeley, Ca.
Tate's Bake Shop Southampton, N.Y.
Tom's Mom's Cookies Harbor Springs, Michigan

Gallery: The Best Cookies in the Country

Tate's Bake Shop is a nominee for a Luxist Readers' Choice Award in the Best Cookie category.

This nomination will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever tasted the signature cookie of one of the country's leading independent bakers.

The company was founded by Kathleen King, who has been baking professionally since she was eleven. Born and raised on North Sea Farms in Southampton, she started to baking cookies to earn spending money. Packaged simply at first, Kings' cookies came in plastic bags with twist ties.

Gallery: More from Tate's Bake Shop

Crumbs is famous for its Signature size cupcakes. At each of its bake shops, it offers more than 50 varieties baked fresh daily and a new cupcake of the week every Monday. Crumbs also offers a variety of delicious cakes, from Red Velvet to Vanilla Cake and Chocolate. Accordingly, Crumbs Bake Shop is also a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Cake.

Made with the finest ingredients, Crumbs' cupcakes remind us that the best things in life are simple. Crumbs offers a selection in three different sizes: Classic, Signature and Taste size cupcakes. "Classic" cupcakes are the largest variety and are sold individually. The medium sized cupcakes, "Signature", are sold individually in stores, and can be ordered online in increments of six. Customers can create their own individual six packs or choose a pre-selected assortment. The smallest size, the "Taste" size cupcakes are offered by the dozen in single flavors and pre-selected favorite assortments. At this time Crumbs is not shipping its classic size.

Gallery: More from Crumbs

The Ice Box Cafe has been nominated for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Cake.

Owner Robert Siegmann, is a former New York caterer who was discovered by Martha Stewart after he prepared a celebatory luncheon for 100 people at her home in East Hampton. Born in New York, but raised in Mexico,

The South Beach (Miami, Fla.)-based cafe features a massive bakery counter and a minimally decorated, informal dining room. From its old-fashioned pink coconut layer cake to its signature Ice Box Cake, all of its hand-made baked goods are natural and contain no artificial colors or artificial flavorings.

Gallery: More from the Ice Box Cafe

Oprah Winfrey said the Ice Box Cafe bakes the best cakes in the country. Her favorite? The Bomb, which is a decadent symphony of chocolate with two layers of rich chocolate cake filled with melt-in-your-mouth bittersweet chocolate mousse and a layer of cheesecake brownies. The Bomb is topped off with a bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Baked, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based bakery is a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Cake.

The company's founders, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, came from the world of advertising, in which Matt was a producer while Renato was a graphic designer. Their thoughts were never too far from cake and coffee, and slowly (even unbeknownst to them) the idea for Baked was born.

Matt wanted to open a bakery that celebrated American desserts beyond the cupcake, and Renato had always been hankering to open a neighborhood cafe, so together they scoured New York City for the perfect location. They found a small, storefront church in the largely industrialized and gritty section of Brooklyn, and together with Rafi Avramovitz, set about building their inspiration. Finally, after many long delays, they opened Baked in 2005 on the shores of Red Hook, Brooklyn with just a few ovens, some mixers, and an espresso machine.

Gallery: More from Baked NYC

Baked is both a neighborhood spot, and a nationally recognized bakery. Baked has been featured on the Martha Stewart Show, the Today Show, the Food Network, and the Style Network. Baked has also received an awards from Time Out, French Culinary Institute, Citysearch, and America's Test Kitchen. Oprah recognized their brownies as a "favorite thing" and they have written recipes for Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and many more.

Gallery: More from Baked NYC

Baked is both a neighborhood spot, and a nationally recognized bakery. Baked has been featured on the Martha Stewart Show, the Today Show, the Food Network, and the Style Network. Baked has also received an awards from Time Out, French Culinary Institute, Citysearch, and America's Test Kitchen. Oprah recognized their brownies as a "favorite thing" and they have written recipes for Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and many more.