Cupcakes Rule!! Blogs Drool!

How will this blog function in the future? Well, fact of the matter is, it won’t. I will probably delete this blog as soon as this class is over. Blogging just isn’t for me. I don’t like that anyone on the internet has access to my thoughts. People can quote from blogs and twist the meaning behind blog posts. Thankfully, cupcakes is a pretty light topic and I’m not too worried about the meaning behind this blog being misconstrued. I think people post their thoughts on the internet because it is such an easy outlet for expression, however, they don’t realize the consequences behind their posts.

So in just a few short weeks this blog and all of these beautiful cupcakes will say goodbye to the world wide web. Enjoy it while you can!!!

Yet, Cupcake, I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow….

Dear little cupcake, I have learned just so much about you over these last few weeks, and oh woe is me how sad to be ending our relationship in the near future. Now I know what you’re thinking…but Mandy! You are already a cupcake expert what could you have possibly learned whilst writing this blog?!

Well, darling reader, I would have never in a million years guess that there was a cupcake backlash! There are actual people out there calling for the closing of cupcake bakeries! Of course, we also have those pessimists, like Mr. Wildolf of Vanity Fair, who will never be won over by the cute. However, I’m talking normal everyday citizens, just walking around hating on the cupcake. Its awful, I know, but before we get too negative, I have also learned about so many great little cupcake bakeries. I can’t wait to get back to New York and find Butter Cup Bake Shop and compare it to Magonolia Bakery (don’t worry I’m sure there is just no comparison). I also learned so much more about my all time FAVORITE cupcake chain, Sprinkles. Who knew how much went into the most popular cupcake in America!

Drowning in Cute?

In the new December issue of Vanity Fair Jim Windolf wrote an article that borders on a rant turning on our nation’s admiration of cute. If you really want to read this attack on cute click HERE, but sugar let me warn you there is nothing nice about it!

Here is Mr. Windolf’s rant specifically on cupcakes and they’re cuteness:

“Cuteness has also insinuated its way into our lives by way of our taste buds and stomachs. The nationwide hunger for what may be the cutest food item in culinary history, the cupcake, seems to have kicked in around 2005. A studied childishness is a big part of the cute movement, and the cupcake’s surge in popularity is a reversion to the gustatory pleasures of that time in our lives when sweet plus soft plus damp equaled yummy.Gourmet-cupcake boutiques have recently opened in Dallas, Detroit, Birmingham, Cambridge, Indianapolis, Georgetown, Brooklyn, and Tacoma. And Martha Stewart held a “cutest cupcake” photo contest.”

Why Mr. Windolf? Why? Cupcakes didn’t do anything to you! Cupcakes can’t help how inherently cute they are! Why are you so mad? Oh, I know! You’re jealous! Mr. Windolf we are so not in highschool anymore. Bringing cupcakes down just because they are cute and populat doesn’t make you a better person!

Sorry Jim, you will just never be as cute as the cupcake.

Cupcakes get REAL

TV is the next entity jumping on the cupcake band wagon. To be specific, reality TV. Recently several reality TV shows have delved into the cupcake craze. Just a few are, The Apprentice, Biggest Loser, Ace of Cakes, and the Kardashians, all of which are extremely popular. Is it any surprise that cupcakes have shown up on more than just the Food Channel? No way! The Biggest Loser, used cupcakes in a temptation challenge where contestants were tempted to break their perfect diet and steal a couple bites of cupcake. Click HERE to view the video of the contestants attempt to resist the all powerful cupcake! When the producers were thinking about the perfect temptation its no surprise that cupcakes came to mind first, with their conviente size and variety of decorations and toppings (the show used a large varaitey such as M&Ms and Oreo cookie crumbles) not only do they look adorable on TV they also seem just small enough to cause a contestant slip-up. The next show showing its sweet side with cupcakes was The Apprentice. The contestants first challenge was to bake and then sell their own cupcakes on the streets of New York. Not surprising considering New York is the cupcake capitol of the US. Just look below at all the shows supporting the most popular sweet handful around.

Joan Rivers selling cupcakes on the street of the Celebrity Apprentice

cupcakes on Regis and Kelly!

Cupcakes on the Girls Next Door!

I Love Cupcakes, but Not as Much as I love Diamonds

Dear future husband,

Since we’ve probably been dating more than a few weeks (unless you are super wealthy or Stephen Colbert) you must know my love of cupcakes. Now I know what you’re thinking, well gee I sure do love Mandy and she’s pretty into cupcakes so maybe I will propose to her with cupcakes. Husband, DO NOT DO THIS! Seriously, if you propose to me with cupcakes every time I eat a cupcake your wonderful proposal will pop into my head, and who knows we might not work out, just kidding! (Kind of.) Lately bakeries like Carlos Bakery (in NJ), Sprinkles Cupcakes (various locations), Charm City Bakeries (Baltimore), Magnolia Street Cupcakes (NY,NY) and many more are being flooded with orders for proposal cupcakes. This is shocking to me because while cupcakes are great, they are not a very good symbol of marriage. Lets think why, well, they are cheap, usually purchased in mass amounts, they come and go pretty quick, they are small, and last they are very easy to come across and common. Husband dearest our marriage will be NONE OF THESE THINGS, got it?

Lots of Love (I hope),

Your fantastic wife

Well Let Me Propose, Cupcakes+Fashion=Quite the Ad

This is an ad for Glamour Magazine, a high end fashion magazine with an audience made of mostly 17-40 year old women. Well what is the chicest dessert on the street? Well cupcakes of course! What is the chicest magazine on the street? Well, Glamour is hoping to propose that they are! What a strategy too, combining a happy image of a cupcake with the typically rather dark and snotty world of fashion creates for a great ad campaign! Glamour is appealing to “All American Girls” here, where as normal fashion ads ussually appeal to only the skinny fashion obsessed upper class, however, cupcakes appeal to everyone even the girl in the back of the class who could care less about what she is wearing. Cupcakes also appeal to a slightly younger crowd which expands Glamours dynamic and could promote a high sales total. This visual is proposing that their is more to Glamour than just skinny girls, and even skinnier jeans. By using this visual as an ad instead of thier normal:

This ad appeals to far fewer women then cupcakes. Also the pink in the previous ad is much more cheerful than the black and white. This coloring propses a lighter hearted magazing instead of just popular fashion set up.

Did this ad tickle your sweet tooth? Well baby cakes, just click here for more.

Cupcakes So Sweet I Want It….on me?

Cupcake tattoos are the new thing. No you read it right, the favorite for of expression for ‘rockers’ and ‘punks’ everywhere just got that much sweeter. Tattoo artists everywhere are being confronted with sketches of these perfect desserts and now some are even adding the cupcake to their generic tattoo library! Ironic? Or is it expected? As cupcakes rise in popularity who wouldn’t want a permanent reminder of their perfect dessert status, well maybe a lot of people wouldn’t but is it really a surprise that some would? What makes a cupcake any more ironic then a butterfly tattoo? Butterflies have been in generic tattoo libraries forever, so maybe its cupcakes turn to enter the domain. Will cupcake tattoos ever be as common place as a butterfly or a heart? One can only hope no but it remains to be seen. If I had to choose between a skull and cross bones or a cupcake I know which way I would go! This new tattoo phase just goes to shows cupcakes wide spread popularity and iconic status, who knew a handful of dessert could change so much?! Here is just a few of the creative tattoos that people are making part of themselves! Cupcakes for life!!

Law School, or Cupcakes? Sounds Like an Easy Choice

Oh the Cupcake Stop. A favorite treat of New Yorkers as well as New York tourists. This sweet little truck flies down the streets of New York delivering perfectly delectible cupcakes as good as any bakerey in New York, and guess what? Its all mobile! The founder Lev Ekster is not loved by quite so many. Considering just 5 months before the cupcake truck started its New York tour he was a full time law student. When Ekster realized the cutrrent reccesion might put a spot at a law firm in jepordy he turned to, well what else, the latest New York craze, Cupcakes! Ekster is surley looked down upon by almost all cupcake insiders, it is said he stole reciepes, has no true love for baking, and is making a ‘show’ out of what should be an art. But the people on the streets of New York? They couldn’t be happier about this sweet surprise rolling up and down the streets of Manhattan. Lev Ekster’s infulence has now spread to Twitter where tourists can check for the trucks most current location. So if you want to put Lev Ekster hop on Twitter and find him, then you can decide for yourself, should this lawyer turned baker head back to the court room? Or does he belong on the street spreading cupcake love to New Yorkers?

Want to read more on the Cupcake stop? Click here Sweetie!

iCupcake

Nick and Danielle Bilton are taking the kitchen to a new high tech level, who knew how well sugar meshed with global communication? Well this couple did; creating an all new cupcake craze, the iphone cupcake series!

With endless varieties of application cupcakes (and a never ending flavors list) build your own iphone with these sugary treats. Who knew what a master piece these little tech wonders would be. Danielle Bilton is quoted as saying, “I’m a visual person, so whatever I make must look as good as it tastes.” (cupcakestakethecake.com) So what makes these cupcakes so much more interesting than your everyday sweet delight? Its combining to chic crazes that no one would have ever thought would work! People can be seen all over New York with an iPhone in one hand and a cupcake in the other, why not combine the ideas? These simple sugary sweet snacks actually show how much our pop culture is melding together, when deserts replicate phones, whats next?! Another great thing about these mini-cakes, they bring techies into the bake shoppe instead of women and young children men in broklyn can actually be seen eating a box of these new age desserts. This couple describes the cupcake as the iPhone of desserts, it was only a matter of time before the trends collided.

Hey sweet thing, want to read an interview with these pop-culture pastry makers?

Just click here!

A Sooner makes a good baker because…?

Watch the above video first sweetheart!

When first viewing this video a person may not see any arguments just a sweet-treat fluff story to fill time on a sports station. However, if one was to search for an argument, especially an ‘evaluation argument’, suddenly SURPRISE!  There are abundant arguments hidden in this video. For example, there is a quote saying “His Sooner taste for sweets helped shape his vision” (1:16) The audience of the video assumes that this is a valid statement with out knowing much about the Sooners or cupcakes. However the broadcaster decided (evaluated) to include this quote in order to make a connection with the audience. The story again mentions Oklahoma when he says, “Oklahoma definitely has a culture of eating.” (1:32) Including this argument really has nothing to do with why his business is successful especially because it is located in Hollywood and not Oklahoma. In the text, Everything’s an Argument, it mentions that arguments of evaluation are ‘…written to clarify or support other decisions in our lives.” In this video the broadcaster is being sure to clarify the reasons this story relates to the football game. The last clear reference was at 2:17 when the broadcaster mentions the Sooner and Longhorn cupcake fundraiser.

Below are just some of the fun ‘cupcake topers’ you can order at Sprinkles, to order just click here sugar pie!