Ian Duncan Owner Sam Penix makes a coffee at Everyman Espresso. Customers now swipe their credit cards through an iPad to pay

When web designer Matt Norris wants a coffee at Everyman Espresso, he doesn’t reach to his pocket for cash or a credit card. With a quick few swipes on his iPhone and a look at the barista he has paid and his drink is on its way to being made. For the barista’s part, he just looks Mr. Norris in the face, confirms his identity and the transaction is complete.

Everyman, on East 13th Street, is an early adopter of Square, a mobile-based payment system developed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The company’s name derives from the little square card reader that connects to a merchant’s (or anyone’s, for that matter) iPhone or iPad, turning it into a payment device, an approach a number of other companies are also taking. In May, Square launched its new product, the card case, which stores regular customers’ details and allows for flesh payments like that made by Mr. Norris for his coffee.

Following in the footsteps of a reporter from Fast Company, I tried out Square at Everyman, opting for the more conventional method of swiping my card. It works pretty much as you might expect: run the card through the white plastic reader, which connects to the iPad’s headphone jack, and sign using the touch screen and a finger. That last part was a little awkward – the result was a childlike scrawl that only loosely approximated my signature, but it was apparently sufficient for my bank.
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C.C. Glenn Butter Lane Cupcakes, a small boutique bake shop on Seventh Street, offers classes in cupcake making.

Who says cupcakes must induce a sugar rush?

Not Pam Nelson, the co-owner with Linda Lea and Maria Baugh of Butter Lane Cupcakes, a small boutique bake shop on Seventh Street.

In a quest for a less sugary miniature cake Ms. Nelson and her partners tested dozens of recipes before opening in 2008. She recalls tasting the batter of one recipe after using only half the sugar called for, and thinking even that was too sweet for her taste. Soon the trio nailed down their recipe, and they’re not keeping it a secret – even in the competitive cupcake business.

The expert cupcake blog, Cupcakes Take The Cake, lists more than 50 cupcake and cake stores in New York, and that’s not including several branches of sugary mainstays like Crumbs and Magnolia Bakery. Nonetheless, Butter Lane seems to have found its niche. “I felt the East Village would get us,” Ms. Nelson said one crisp afternoon as she walked around the corner to drop off a few of her treats to a neighbor.
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