• Cupcake Kids!

  150 W. 10th St., nr. Waverly Pl. 646-789-5554; cupcakekids.com

  At least one good thing came out of last year’s tsunami of layoffs on Wall Street: Cupcake Kids, the brainchild of Jessi Walter, a Harvard-educated credit specialist who was cut loose from Bear Stearns. Her cooking classes teach future gourmands ages 2 to 14 how to make, bake, and decorate holiday treats, pizzas, and, of course, cupcakes ($60). Kids sing songs about how to make green macaroni and cheese and recite rhymes about the elements of a healthy meal, all while cooking in the private kitchen of P*ONG in the West Village. Walter also does private birthday parties ($100 per kid), where for two hours, kids are taught, fed, entertained, and afterward don’t even consider asking their parents for dessert.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine