PrintHating on Cupcakes
In her latest blog post, food writer Carolynn Carreno (co-author of Kenny Shopsin's memoir and cookbook, Eat Me) has a bone to pick with the over saturation of cupcake-centric bakeries in New York City. In her overview of the cupcake craze, she focuses on the uber-popular Magnolia Bakery, calling them "the worst in town." When the most popular cupcakes in the city are far from the best, she sees a problem:
The fact that housewives from Middle America now form a line that wraps around the block waiting for a cupcake whose very existence is to imitate those that we New Yorkers imagine these women made for their children, a cupcake so cloying your teeth ache when you bite into it, a cupcake whose iconic status, really, is based on its mediocrity—that’s where I think that we as a people may be in trouble, or that we might at least want to look at what it is we are looking for in these cupcakes.
As I am a fan of cupcakes, I'd like to put in my two cents. When I get a cupcake craving it's because I want something sweet, quickly and cheaply, involving cake and frosting, but in a single serving size. Regularly cupcakes fulfill this craving quite well; oversized cupcakes are pointless. The cake should be moist and light and the frosting shouldn't make me gag from sugar overload (hello, Magnolia and Billy's Bakery). Any place I have to wait in line for (hello again, Magnolia) isn't worth it, although bakeries with cozy, accommodating interiors are a plus.
My favorite cupcake bakery that fulfills "cheap, quick, and cozy" is Sugar Sweet Sunshine in the Lower East Side, although my pick for favorite overall cupcake might have to go to Nine Cakes. I disagree when Carolynn says, "cupcakes by definition are not good," but it may be hard to find the good ones.
Related
Butter Lane, Great Cupcakes in the East Village
Sugar Rush: Baba Booey Cupcake at Crumbs
Dessert Club ChikaLicious, From All Pudding to All Yummy
Sugar Rush: Great Red Velvet Cupcake Roundup
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
11 Comments:
Our city has been plagued by the Sex and the City cultural effect for the last 10 years.
simon at 3:27PM on 01/05/09
ah, haters.
foodinmouth at 4:08PM on 01/05/09
I had never had a Magnolia cupcake before Saturday evening. A friend was staying in the NY Hilton and had picked up two cupcakes fur us to share from the UWS Magnolia.
First, they really are immense. They're like bodega muffins--bigger than a slice of cake in volume.
Then, we tried to share them but the frosting was so rigid that we couldn't easily split them (we didn't have a knife). So we went in from below, splitting the cake and letting the frosting take care of itself. This was just odd to me.
Finally, the frosting was just WAAAY too sweet and plentiful. The cake-frosting ratio would probably please a 6-year-old, but it was overwhelming to me. I agree that the sweetness was overwhelmingly cloying. We had a chocolate/chocolate and a vanilla/pink, and the chocolate was almost inedible. The other wasn't much better.
I vastly prefer the cupcakes at Dessert Club--tasty and manageable!
klg19 at 5:06PM on 01/05/09
Cupcakes are also very mobile and easy to eat on the run!
kathryn at 6:12PM on 01/05/09
I don't think SSS's are any better than Magnolia. I never understood all of the hipster douche suck ups when it came to that place.
I'll also add Crumbs to the list of "crumby" cupcakes in NY. These were even more of a disappointment on my second try. I won't be going there again.
Next time I'll head to Dessert Club. I've heard some good things.
CornflakeGirl at 8:20PM on 01/05/09
I second dessert club, especially their double chocolate cupcakes! Small but keeps you wanting for more. Not too sweet, which is the way I like it. Butter Lane is pretty good as well and gives you a choice of french or American icing. I love sex in the city, but Magnolias is really over-rated and way too sweet!
eve101 at 10:26PM on 01/05/09
I have eaten many NY cupcakes throughout the past few years without having to wait line. That said, however, some people like the idea of standing in line for a sweet treat, a cupcake (or two). It's about the experience and making it a good time. What's worse, caring too much about a cupcake and standing in line for one or caring too much about the person standing in the line waiting for the cupcake? Let them be. The sad part is that i am from Midwest and the best cupcakes (and sweets, in general) were made by my neighbors and parents of friends! So I would tell those people from Middle America not to wait in lines for cupcakes they would otherwise crush, Throwdown style. :)
sirbakesalot at 11:01PM on 01/05/09
Umm, they're just cupcakes. Worry about other, more deserving things.
sirbakesalot at 11:02PM on 01/05/09
"Umm, they're just cupcakes. Worry about other, more deserving things."
Like what? Pizza? :P
CornflakeGirl at 7:25AM on 01/06/09
I'm completely honored NineCakes gets a vote for best overall cupcake!! Now I know why I can't stop eating them...
NineCakes at 9:01PM on 01/06/09
I don't know how Carreno would even know about New York bakeries anyway since she is NOT a New Yorker or even has lived here for years. She has a bone to pick with Magnolia and is bitter.
Pizzelle at 2:11PM on 05/28/09