The Cupcake Craze

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Cupcakes are everywhere.  It seems that every time I blink, a new cupcake shop, cupcake cookbook, or cupcake blog appears.  A ton of cupcake shops have sprawled across Northern Virginia.

Websites and blogs such as CupcakeFetish are multiplying at a rapid pace.  People stand in line for hours at Georgetown Cupcake just to get a few bites of heaven.  Vegans have several options on buying or making a great cupcake.  Babycakes, the NY store that is known for it’s vegan sweets, has a cookbook for sale with pages and pages of vegan cupcake recipes.

Cupcakes are a very versatile treat.  They can be filled with chocolate ganache or cream cheese, and topped with candy or several inches of icing.  Cupcakes can easily be toted off to football games, picnics, and parties-no utensils needed.

Lately, people are getting very creative with their cupcakes and have taken the ordinary cupcake to a new level.

Here is an astonishing cheeseburger cupcake:

(Image: CakeCentral)

Call me crazy, but if I bite into that one, I am going to expect a freshly grilled taste.

And this one is pretty out there- the tv dinner cupcake platter:

(Image: MomLogic)

While this looks amazing artistically, I can’t help but wonder about the butter and gravy mashed potato cupcake.  It’s almost a guessing game.  Will it be sweet like syrup, or taste like chicken gravy?

There are hundreds of websites out there with advice on how to quit your day job and start your own home cupcake business.  Brides are even choosing to use cupcakes as a twist on the traditional wedding cake.

(Image: Cake List)

With new concoctions and ideas popping up, it looks like cupcakes are here to stay.

What do you think of the cupcake craze?  Cool, or just plain crazy?

-Liz Stevenson

Tags: Babycakes, cupcakes, Georgetown Cupcake, Gut Check, Liz Stevenson, Northern Virginia Magazine