The Cupcake Craze

By Author: Ingrid Stenquist
Total Articles: 113
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A new trend that has set people purchasing baked goods is over-priced cupcake shops. I'm seriously not joking. There are people out here in this country that would pay over three dollars for a small confectionary cupcake. Celebrities aren't the only ones that have taken a small obsession to the cupcake fad. However, their interest in products and stores always drive in the public by the masses. Amy Sedaris highly underrated comedic icon and actress from 'Strangers with Candy', actually bakes and sells cupcakes at NYC's Gourmet Garage. She offers recipes and personal tips for making cupcakes with extra vanlla.

In Maryland, a place called MaggieMoo's became the first to create the ice cream cupcake. So why are cupcakes so popular? Well, they certainly make several appearances on TV shows, like 'Sex in the City'. Magnolia, in Greenwich Village, was one of the first cupcake shops to open in New York, making an actual appearance on 'Sex in the City' in 1999. Now, they're business is booming by both fans of the show and fans of cupcakes. Cupcakes are convenient, portion controlled, and basically the same as eating a ...
... small sized cake with unlimited amounts of creativity for decoration and flavors.

Instead of having your typical cake and bakery shop, now people are having pastry shops that are completely dedicated to selling only cupcakes. Three of the most popular cupcake shops in New York are: the Buttercup Bake Shop, Crumbs Bake Shop, and Cupcake Café. However, all three stores claim that they are completely different from each other. The Cupcake Café is most certainly the most artistic with hand-crafted incredibly rich butter-cream flowers that adorn their small cakes. The co-owner of the store, Ann Warren, has written a book 'The Cupcake Café Cookbook', so recipes are available to the public that can't reach the small shop. The Cupcake Café is near 9th Avenue and 39th Street.

The Buttercup Bake Shop sells cakes as well as cupcakes. However, they have over twenty different varieties of cupcakes and offer catering service for events. The prices for cupcakes at this shop are relatively cheap in comparison to other places. At $1.75, customers are really getting a deal. The store is located on 2nd Avenue between 51st and 52nd.

Finally Crumbs Bake shop tops the list out with probably the most over-priced cupcakes in the entire city. However, I actually just so happened to run into this cupcake factory phenomenon on my way to a movie, located on the Upper West side of Manhattan. There are other Crumbs stores located at 3rd Avenue and 78th Street, and Bryant Park and 42nd St. The thing about these cupcakes is that they are gigantic and abnormal cupcake sized. They also throw different candies onto their cakes, making each a unique and different commercial flavor with incredibly thick frosting. It's almost too much for prices that can go up to $4.00. Yes, they have $4 cupcakes. These cakes aren't only coated with a couple inches thick of a layer of frosting, but also are stuffed with additional frosting.

Even my hometown in Birmingham, Michigan picked up on the cupcake craze. There's now a little shop, right down the street from where most multi-millionaires get their coffee and also conveniently located next to where I used to work. The L.A. and New York trend is hitting the suburbs, or at least the upper-class suburbs. The Cupcake Station offers over 30 different kinds of cakes with a specific 8 varieties that change each week. They're priced at $2.75, not as bad as some big city prices, and are all creative and unique works of confectionary bliss. It really is a true fascination as to how this small business suddenly started booming across the nation.

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About the Author:

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Ingrid Stenquist is a staff writer for SuccessfulOffice.com,
which is a call center and answering service business
hub. They help small businesspeople with their image
by providing real office addresses, toll free numbers
and a full team of dedicated employees to impress
callers and clients. Their advanced call center
and virtual office operation can help any
business with it's image - http://www.successfuloffice.com