Why all the fuss about cupcakes?!

I just do not get it...what is the big deal with cupcakes? We have 3 stores downtown already and here is another one. Please tell me what I am missing?

http://www.fusscupcakes.com/

Do you like sweets?

Isn't a cupcake the same as an American muffin?

Isn't a cupcake the same as an American muffin?

No.

Although the way many places make muffins here in the States, they might as well be cupcakes, right down to the sugary adornments on top!

[Jenise]

Isn't a cupcake the same as an American muffin?

What Rahsaan said. Plus, muffins are typically a denser style dough and unfrosted. Cupcakes are made from cake batter and are ALWAYS frosted.

I'm not sure where it all started but I do remember reading about a couple of "cupcake only" places in Los Angeles that had become very trendy. This was maybe five or six years ago. About a year later, they started opening up here in Sacto. I would not have expected any of them to still be around at this point, but I would have been wrong on that. A couple have fallen by the wayside but at least one is still in business.

Cupcakes are all the rage in DC and I don't get it either, Bob. By 9:00 AM everyone has their $3.50 cupcake and their $3.00 Starbucks - and then there's lunch. What financial problems? I like cupcakes but for a week's worth, I'd rather have a bottle of wine on a Wednesday evening (not a evening I typically have any wine).

There's even one in Manchester, NH!!!!!

...I like cupcakes but for a week's worth, I'd rather have a bottle of wine on a Wednesday evening (not a evening I typically have any wine).

Well, you should start opening a bottle and then join us in Wednesday night Chat.

I don't "get" the excitement over cupcakes or the related trend for mini-cupcakes. And Jon is quite right about the cost of the precious little darlin's.

By 9:00 AM everyone has their $3.50 cupcake and their $3.00 Starbucks - and then there's lunch..

Aside from the fact that you're exaggerating about everyone, who in their right mind would eat a cupcake for breakfast! These are the type of sorting mechanisms we need to determine who is fit for the 21st century.

I just do not get it...what is the big deal with cupcakes? We have 3 stores downtown already and here is another one. Please tell me what I am missing?

http://www.fusscupcakes.com/

I am so behind you on this, Bob. Thank you.

The cupcake situation was discussed last year on the UK forum..it went to 5 pages!!! Enlightening thoughts indeed, read on. Seems you Americans are to blame for their popularity, grin wink.

http://www.wine-pages.com/cgi-bin2/ulti ... 618#000000

They even have them in Portugal for goodness sakes....>

http://westcoastcooking.wordpress.com/

By 9:00 AM everyone has their $3.50 cupcake and their $3.00 Starbucks - and then there's lunch..

Aside from the fact that you're exaggerating about everyone, who in their right mind would eat a cupcake for breakfast! These are the type of sorting mechanisms we need to determine who is fit for the 21st century.

Of course you are right Rahsaan: First, I did see a guy without a cupcake once. Second, the folks with cupcakes have them in little boxes so who knows when they actually eat them. But the line at the cupcake truck is always long, even when it's parked outside the cupcake store.

What Rahsaan said. Plus, muffins are typically a denser style dough and unfrosted. Cupcakes are made from cake batter and are ALWAYS frosted.

I have some family recipes that I got from my mom, one is a cupcake called Black Bottom Cups. It has cream cheese in the middle and made with lots of luscious chocolate...it is never frosted. It is a family favorite. I also make a pumpkin cupcake, again with cream cheese in the center....no frosting. Sometimes the cream cheese oozes out the top. I've also made a yogurt, lemon cupcake that is not frosted. There have been more, but these were our kids favorites.

[Jenise]

Karen, well yes...if I were to make cupcakes, I wouldn't frost them either because I don't care for it. But I know you know that's not typical. Traditionally, and commercially, a cupcake IS always frosted.

Karen, well yes...if I were to make cupcakes, I wouldn't frost them either because I don't care for it. But I know you know that's not typical. Traditionally, and commercially, a cupcake IS always frosted.

Like you, I do not like frosting either...however what I was trying to say is that there are some recipes of cupcakes that do not call for frosting, like the ones I mentioned. I guess that is why I've always been attacted to the frostless ones. In fact, I don't recall ever frosting a cupcake. Yes, the ones I do see commercially, are always frosted.