Cupcakes by definition are not good...

Utter CODSWALLOP!!!!

Serious Eats NY drew my attention to a blog that got rather less excited by the cuteness of the Daily Candy NY email about Baked by Melissa than I did and I had to comment.

In her latest blog post, food writer Carolynn Carreno has a bone to pick with the over saturation of cupcake-centric bakeries in New York City.

Carolynn really doesn't seem to like cupcakes - especially Magnolia

Magnolia has the cache for reasons having to do with consumer stupidity and the power of television (e.g. Sex and the City) their cupcakes are probably the worst in town....a cupcake so cloying your teeth ache when you bite into it, a cupcake whose iconic status, really, is based on its mediocrity

My first thought is that cupcakes by definition are not good. As far as sweets go, I I would rather have a good cookie, ice cream, fruit desserts, dark chocolate, milk chocolate: basically anything else but a cupcake.

I have to strongly disagree with Carolynn (obviously!) - I can't really comment on Magnolia cupcakes (but come back in a couple of months and I'll be able to), but saying cupcakes by definition are not good - seriously....piffle!!!

Each to their own and everything but if you don't like cupcakes why get so upset by them, delete the email and move on - you obviously don't like them so why have a rant about them? I don't get it. I'm with Serious Eats and will have put in my two cents...I don't really care that some skinny celeb "ate" a cupcake in Sex and the City, or that Posh Spice supposedly scoffs loads (but seriously I don't think a cupcake has ever passed her trout pout) - I like cupcakes because they're small, cute and most importantly, if you're lucky taste GREAT! I've had a few duffs in my time, but not many, and the odd bad cupcakes never put me off trying another!

I love everything cupcake - not just eating them but surrounding myself with cupcake cuteness and it this means I'm trying to hark back to a bite of nostalgia from a childhood we only wished we had then what harm am I doing? Maybe I do wish we still lived in a time where kids got excited because their mum/dad/aunt baked for them, as I'm sure most kids these days have never smelt a home baked cake in their kitchen and that does kinda make me sad. I had that nostalgic childhood, in a way - my mum, my aunts and my nans were all fantastic home bakers (complete with matronly bosoms and pinny's!) and spending lots of time learning to bake with them made me a happier, well rounded (and just plain round!) child. I still remember icing fairy cakes (we didn't have cupcakes in my day really, just fairy and butterfly cakes!) and getting excited as I was allowed to do the pink icing with loads of sprinkles - I sound about 100 but things were much nicer in the old days :)

If scoffing a cupcake, or buying something with a cute cupcake pattern on it lets people remember a happier time without kids raping each other at school and where people didn't behave like feral animals then bring on the cupcakes!