New Yorkers know Madeline Lanciani as a lot of things: the Plaza Hotel's first-ever female chef, a Chopped champion, and, most recently, the woman who makes those fancy Rings Dings. Yes, Ring Dings — the tiny, cream-filled chocolate cakes you had as a kid. Lanciani's been selling her version from the Ring Ding Bar in her bakeshop, Duane Park Patisserie, for a couple years.
Lanciani's got enough flavors on her menu to please every customer. There's the classic original, funfetti, and peanut butter and jelly for those looking to relive childhood and ones like matcha and pistachio raspberry for the millennial set that's Instagramming their Ring Dings from Brooklyn's Smorgasburg, where Lanciani sells every weekend. Each one is made by hand, a tedious process that involves trips from the prep station to the oven back to the prep station, then back and forth to the freezer a few more times. But the end product — a super moist cake enrobed in chocolate that melts the second it hits your mouth — is worth it.
Judging from all those Instagrams — not to mention, the Duane Park Patisserie customers who ogle the candy-colored cakes when they walk in — Lanciani's struck a nostalgic cord. Her pastries are the latest of those niche desserts (cupcakes, macarons, donuts) to take a city by storm. She's fielded custom orders for Ring Dings decorated to look like Snapchat filters, ones piped with birthday messages, and even a pastel-colored set rigged to look like a wedding cake.
So now you're left with two options: Keep gawking at the trend from afar, or get yourself to the Ring Ding Bar and start snacking. (Non-New Yorkers can have Lanciani's Ring Dings shipped straight to them. Visit duaneparkpatisserie.com and request your flavors in the comment section before ordering.)
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