We say: When were they not cool?
But Lydia Slater in The Times says that they are suddenly super popular in London. She starts off by talking about Pearl Lowe and Danny Goffey's wedding, and then:
Speaking as someone who had gorgeously glittery cupcakes at her own wedding, seven years ago, I like to imagine I launched this trend. A more obvious kick-starter (cited by several cupcake-makers I spoke to) was the scene in Sex and the City when Carrie and Miranda dissected their love lives outside New York’s Magnolia Bakery, while stuffing their faces with its gooey wares. It may have been even more implausible than many other story lines (as if they would ever eat carbs), but suddenly cupcakes were cool. They gave out the same positive messages as Carrie’s accessories (cool, quirky, fun), but at a zillionth of the cost — and unlike the accessories, cupcakes have stayed fashionable ever since...
So, as Woolies lies emptied of its very shelving, the bakery business continues to boom. Primrose Bakery has just opened a sister store in Covent Garden. This, in turn, is rubbing shoulders with Candy Cakes, which is also expanding to more sites; meanwhile The Hummingbird Bakery (patronised by Elle Macpherson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Minnie Driver) is hoping to open its third store this year. “We were worried that it might be quiet because of the credit crunch, but it’s been quite the opposite,” says Tarek Malouf, the owner of Hummingbird. “We’ve had our busiest quarter since we opened.” For those who can’t face the queues, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook is out in March.
So what, exactly, is a cupcake? A long debate in the pages of Waitrose Food Illustrated came to the conclusion that the key difference between a cupcake and a fairy cake is down to the top — cupcakes, apparently, being flat and fairy cakes domed. Bakers, on the other hand, say the difference between the two is really about size and topping: a classic cupcake, slathered in buttercream, is about twice the size of a fairy cake, with its modest coating of fondant.
But Lydia Slater in The Times says that they are suddenly super popular in London. She starts off by talking about Pearl Lowe and Danny Goffey's wedding, and then:
Speaking as someone who had gorgeously glittery cupcakes at her own wedding, seven years ago, I like to imagine I launched this trend. A more obvious kick-starter (cited by several cupcake-makers I spoke to) was the scene in Sex and the City when Carrie and Miranda dissected their love lives outside New York’s Magnolia Bakery, while stuffing their faces with its gooey wares. It may have been even more implausible than many other story lines (as if they would ever eat carbs), but suddenly cupcakes were cool. They gave out the same positive messages as Carrie’s accessories (cool, quirky, fun), but at a zillionth of the cost — and unlike the accessories, cupcakes have stayed fashionable ever since...
So, as Woolies lies emptied of its very shelving, the bakery business continues to boom. Primrose Bakery has just opened a sister store in Covent Garden. This, in turn, is rubbing shoulders with Candy Cakes, which is also expanding to more sites; meanwhile The Hummingbird Bakery (patronised by Elle Macpherson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Minnie Driver) is hoping to open its third store this year. “We were worried that it might be quiet because of the credit crunch, but it’s been quite the opposite,” says Tarek Malouf, the owner of Hummingbird. “We’ve had our busiest quarter since we opened.” For those who can’t face the queues, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook is out in March.
So what, exactly, is a cupcake? A long debate in the pages of Waitrose Food Illustrated came to the conclusion that the key difference between a cupcake and a fairy cake is down to the top — cupcakes, apparently, being flat and fairy cakes domed. Bakers, on the other hand, say the difference between the two is really about size and topping: a classic cupcake, slathered in buttercream, is about twice the size of a fairy cake, with its modest coating of fondant.
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