With cupcakes there are endless flavor possibilities.

With cupcakes there is a perfect frosting to cake ratio.

With cupcakes the cake stays moist and fresh longer.

There are no plates needed.

They are a fraction of the cost of a larger cake.

Portion control. How many feel guilty having a 2nd piece of cake? How guilty do you feel if you try another flavored cupcake... or 3? See? Not as bad, right?

They are FUN!

Google the word “cupcakes” and you will get over 7,000,000 results. That’s with safesearch on to weed out all the questionable results you may get surprised with. Within the last decade cupcakes have become a craze, fad and phenomenon that I don’t think anyone expected. Who would have thought those hand-held treats mom used to send with you to school for your birthday would have evolved into what they are today. We all have seen spectacular full-size cakes for every occasion. There are thousands of pastry chefs, turned artists, with amazing talent and abilities. Cakes can look like almost anything you can imagine. There are t.v shows dedicated to only cakes, and yes I watch most of them regularly. As long as there are weddings there will always be a demand for large, beautiful, yet expensive cakes. Brides have little problem with spending $7-$10 per slice for a cake that will be ooh’d and ahh’d at, photographed and then picked at. With the growth of bakeries producing these edible works of art it’s in my opinion that the appearance of the cake has grown of more importance than the taste. Pounds of sugary playdough called ‘fondant’ is used to transform a 4 tiered wedding cake into the Taj Mahal or a 1968 Mustang Fastback. After the “oohs” and “ahhhhs”, the flash and the ceremonial groom shoving the cake in the bride’s face, the cake is served in small slivers to the guests who then proceed to peel off all that overpriced sugary playdough to get to a dry, tasteless cake. $4.50 of the $9 the happy couple paid for the slice then lives unhappily ever after in the garbage. Pretty pictures though.

I do not want to dismiss the amazing talent there is among cake decorators out there. These creations truly are sculptures in my opinion, but I don’t know if they should be eaten. Maybe they should be sealed in a glass case to be admired. The cost I guess I shouldn’t say is overpriced. I think that these artists should be paid accordingly for the hours of time they put into the cakes. I certainly do not have the abilities, talent or attention span to create such beauty. But what happened to wanting the cake to taste good? I would rather hear a “mmmmmmm” over an “oooh” or “ahhhhh”, all three would be even better.

Which brings us back to the cupcake. What happened to give this little guy it’s big break? Being in the right place at the right time. It’s in who you know. That’s what. High scale bakeries devoting themselves to only cupcakes started popping up all over the country. The pink and brown layouts of 100’s of websites involving cupcakes plague the internet. You can’t escape the cupcake.

Normally being one to avoid fads and trends I was hesitant to give the cupcake yet another place to thrive, but I love them. They haven’t been done where we are and the pros of cupcakes still ring true whether there are 100’s of pink and brown websites promoting them or not.