Lately I\u2019ve been noticing a disturbing trend. And by lately, I mean in the last few years. Maybe it began right before or during the pandemic. I can\u2019t quite put my finger on it, but it feels like the once booming cupcake industry seems to have now gone bust. And I don\u2019t like it. No, I don\u2019t like it at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I must admit, I too have slacked off on my overpriced cupcake-eating ways, even as I\u2019ve considered myself to be a cupcake connoisseur for some years now. But there was a time when that wasn\u2019t the case. As a matter of fact, as a kid, I don\u2019t even remember having cupcakes unless it was those hostess ones that were either chocolate or yellow, came in a pack of two and had that sugary fake cream in the middle. They didn\u2019t serve cupcakes at the birthday parties that I went to. There was a whole cake and they sliced it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as I got older, when it came to desserts, cupcakes weren\u2019t really my thing. I was into ice cream. Cheesecake. Jelly Bellies. See\u2019s Candies. Cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon. Mrs. Fields cookies. Lots of stuff you\u2019d find in a mall.\u00a0 When I was in my mid-twenties, living in Atlanta, I took a liking to the mini key lime pies at Publix, which, by the way, are the best key lime pies<\/a> I\u2019ve ever tasted. It\u2019s been almost twenty years since I had one, so who knows what they taste like now, but back then they were bomb, the perfect mix of sweet and tart. Anyways, as I was saying, cupcakes just weren\u2019t my thing\u2026until they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I had to trace it back to something it would probably be Season 3 Episode 5 of \u201cSex in the City\u201d titled \u201cNo Ifs, Ands, or Butts.\u201d It\u2019s that one where Carrie and Miranda are sitting on a bench right outside of Magnolia Bakery<\/a>,<\/strong> eating those now famous vanilla cupcakes with the pink frosting. I don\u2019t know why seeing that sparked something in me, but it did. Maybe because these were two very adult women, doing very adult things in other aspects of their lives, but was taking a break to do something so simple, something that we associate with being more childlike\u2014having a cupcake, eating it with their hands, getting messy. Or maybe it was just because I saw something on a popular show that I liked and wanted to copy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That episode aired in July of 2000. I probably saw it for the first time around 2003. Then came 2006 and I had just moved to New York from Atlanta with no job and knowing no one. Fresh off the plane, in a rental car, before I even secured a place to live, I made my way over to Magnolia Bakery to have some cupcakes. Mind you this was before GPS was readily available in most cars and the iPhone had yet to be released. I know my priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I got there, I had to circle the block a few times before I found a parking spot a block or so away. I then walked over to the bakery where I had to get in a line that had already formed outside the small shop. For some reason I stood in line smizing in the cold like I was about to audition for America\u2019s Next Top Model, watching as they only let in a few people at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About 20 minutes or so later, it was my turn to go in. I walked in and looked over to the left where a bunch of their signature cupcakes were just sitting out in the open on the countertop, with a variety of pastel-colored frostings, there for the taking. For a moment I thought the pink one might be strawberry, but it wasn\u2019t long before a worker announced that they were all vanilla. The other desserts were all enclosed in casing, including this other cupcake I thought might be carrot but was told it was hummingbird<\/a>. I\u2019d never heard of hummingbird cake before and thought I\u2019d give it a try. The vanilla cupcake was $1.50 and the hummingbird, $1.75 \u2013 prices that were pretty expensive at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the car, I immediately tore into the vanilla one and was immediately disappointed. I took a couple bites out of it then put it back in the box. Though the frosting was scrumptious, the cake part tasted more like cornbread than vanilla. With the frosting being so sweet and also the star of the show, my guess is they pulled back on the flavor of the cake to balance it out. But yeah, it didn\u2019t work for me. Next I took a bite out of the hummingbird one and oh my God, it was so good I devoured it in no time flat. I gradually finished the vanilla one as I went traipsing through the city looking for a place to live. From that point on, it was like I was on a mission to find the best cupcakes I could get my hands on. And since cupcakes were all the rage at that time, there was a lot to choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My whole point of moving to New York was to break into the print magazine industry. I didn\u2019t know it at the time, but I was in the last throws of print magazines\u2019 reign before digital would take over. Coincidentally it was the same year that \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d<\/a> came out. \u00a0Although unlike Andy, I didn\u2019t break in so quickly \u2013 really, not at all \u2013 so in the meantime, I became a temp. Sometimes I got a temp assignment for a day, sometimes a week, sometimes a few months. It just all depended. By then I had long since turned my rental car back in and had commenced to taking the subway, or the train as New Yorkers call it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting around to these temp jobs, mostly in Mid and Lower Manhattan, from Brooklyn where I lived, forced me to do some serious walking. I\u2019d also venture out on my lunch break or during those times when I was in between temp jobs. I would just explore Manhattan like a tourist\u2014guess I kinda was one. Those were the times that I stumbled upon bakeries with cupcakes in their windows, calling my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t patronize every shop that enticed me, but I gave a go at enough. I just wanted to find the perfect one. I was so picky. No matter the offerings, my M.O. was to always start with the plain vanilla cupcake. I mean I like other flavors, but there\u2019s just something about getting the plain vanilla right that is\u2026impressive. Believe it or not, it\u2019s hard to do. It\u2019s hard to give a plain vanilla cupcake flavor. In fact, most bakeries\u2019 vanilla tasted like crap. With a cupcake, so many things can go wrong: the frosting can be too sweet, or too grainy; the cake part can be dry and flavorless, or for some odd reason a lot of them tasted like cornbread to me. You can have a good cake and a bad frosting, a bad cake and a good frosting or they can both be bad. To get both the frosting and the cake part right is truly a recipe and baking feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think that\u2019s the reason I kept going back to Magnolia. Well, part of the reason was because I wanted to get that hummingbird cupcake again. I don\u2019t think they ever had them in stock again for any of my subsequent visits. I guess it was meant to be that the day I arrived in New York was the day they had them. It would be years later when I\u2019d have one again. But I kept going back to Magnolia because I really liked their frosting. Their frosting tastes so unique I\u2019m pretty sure I can pick it out in a blind taste test. Their good frosting made me overlook the shortcomings of the cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then one day I came across Billy\u2019s<\/a>. I think someone at a temp job I had near there told me about it. I tried them and it was all over from there. Billy\u2019s had gotten it right. They made what I thought to be the perfect plain vanilla cupcake. The cake part was moist and delicious \u2013 it actually tasted like vanilla cake, not cornbread. The frosting was the perfect consistency: not overly sweet, smooth, not grainy \u2013 good on its own and even better when combined with the cake.\u00a0 It was like, Eureka, I found it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vanilla may have been my tester cupcake, but I also ventured out into other flavors. I had a strawberries n cream one I got from a bakery in Harlem \u2013 Take the Cake, I believe it was called. A pistachio one \u2013 vanilla cake with pistachio frosting\u2014from a bakery on 23rd<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> in Chelsea \u2013 not too far from Billy\u2019s. I don\u2019t remember the name. It was right in front of my C train stop. I just looked it up on Google and it\u2019s no longer there, but Billy\u2019s is. And then there\u2019s the red velvet, which is interesting, because I\u2019m not a big chocolate cake fan, which red velvet essentially is, but I like red velvet, German chocolate too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2008 I was back in California. While at work, I started to see people carrying around a tiny shopping bag with the word Sprinkles<\/a> <\/strong>on it. I inquired about what that was and was told, only the best cupcakes ever.<\/em> Of course, I\u2019d have to be the judge of that. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Sprinkles place was not exactly around the corner. It took me a little drive to get there. The day I pulled up, there was a line that went outside the door. Everyone ordering seemed to be getting multiple cupcakes, like six or a dozen. I just wanted one \u2013 they were expensive. At that time they were going for around $3. But one thing about it, at least back then, they were a pretty good size. I think they\u2019ve gotten smaller over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With so much buzz surrounding Sprinkles cupcakes and the line formed outside the door to boot, I was so excited to taste what the fuss was all about. I bought the seasonal key lime one they had. I can\u2019t remember if the cake part also had lime or if it was just the frosting \u2013 the frosting had it for sure. I just remember that the frosting was good, but the cake part was dry and not that flavorful. I couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, however, didn\u2019t stop me from going back for more. Perhaps I had a bad batch<\/em>, I reasoned. I returned several times, trying to go through their entire menu. I tried strawberry, vanilla, pumpkin, red velvet and a ginger lemon coconut one, which was actually quite nice. It was a ginger cake \u2013 like a spice cake \u2013 with a lemon, coconut cream cheese frosting. I\u2019m not a fan of spice cake, but a yummy frosting does make a world of difference. They got rid of that cupcake years ago, but the strawberry one was also pretty good and it\u2019s still there. Oh, and the red velvet. I wasn\u2019t mad at the red velvet either. But the rest \u2013 meh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a trip trying to sample all the flavors that I wanted, especially since back then they only sold certain flavors on certain days. But I tried enough to know that these were not the best cupcakes cupcakedom had to offer. And just like that, my search for the best cupcakes, which started in New York, gained new life in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And to think the founder of Sprinkles, Candace Nelson<\/a>, had the nerve to be so cruel when she was a judge on Food Network\u2019s \u201cCupcake Wars.\u201d<\/a><\/strong> It\u2019s like, ma\u2019am, have you tasted your own cupcakes? Interestingly enough, I actually went to an event last year where she was a guest speaker and she couldn\u2019t have been nicer. So maybe that was just an act she put on for the show. Who knows. Won\u2019t the real Candace Nelson please stand up, please stand, please stand up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Sprinkles missing the mark, my search took me to local mom-and-pop bakeries. Some had cupcakes that tasted like they were popping boxes of Pilsbury in the back. Others were on the same level as Sprinkles \u2013 you could tell it didn\u2019t come from a box, but their recipes weren\u2019t hitting either. And then I came upon a local bakery who just got it right. The icing on the cake? They had such unique flavors: kumquat cupcake anyone? Yes, please. I\u2019m that anyone. But alas, they didn\u2019t have good service. After five too many times of them being rude, I vowed never to go there again. Haven\u2019t been back since. Ultimately, I think their rudeness worked in my favor. Most of these cupcake places require a bit of a drive. This place was really close. Not only did they have good cupcakes but they had fantastic lemon bars as well. Great service would have just had me in there way more than my waist or wallet could bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The search went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the way, something wonderful happened. Around 2013, I discovered that there was now a Magnolia Bakery in L.A. It had already been there a few years when I found out about it. I think I might have been reminiscing about My New York Magnolia runs when I decided to visit their website one day and to my surprise, there was also a local address. I made my way over there and was finally able to get my coveted hummingbird cupcake again, along with a pistachio one. The hummingbird cupcake was just as good as I remembered. The pistachio one was delectable as well. It was pistachio cake with a vanilla meringue frosting. By that time, they were like $3.50 or $4 each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A few years after that, I discovered that Georgetown Cupcake<\/a> also had a shop in L.A. I tried to buy Georgetown Cupcakes in Georgetown, Washington D.C. once, but it didn\u2019t work out. It was raining, the line was long, and I couldn\u2019t find a parking space. I had no such trouble in L.A. I made it there three times. Each time, I only bought one cupcake, and two out of the three times they gave me an extra one for free \u2013 their flavor of the month, or maybe of the day, anyway, it was free. Unfortunately, they didn\u2019t survive the pandemic. They were about three miles from the church I go to\u2026when I go to church. I stopped by one Sunday afternoon after church and they were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not sure when my quest for the best cupcake stopped. All I know is there came a time when I wasn\u2019t looking anymore. It is, after all, an expensive endeavor and an unhealthy one at that. But if I had to take a guess, perhaps it had something to do with my love for ice cream. I know, also expensive and unhealthy. I started seeing these interesting ice cream flavors on social media and commenced to trying all that I could. And then cookies became a thing. I think cookies are the thing now\u2026and other pastries. I\u2019m seeing a lot of visits to French bakeries on social media, where people are getting confections like croissants, Danishes and tarts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got so into cookies that I began baking them myself during the pandemic. I was using all organic ingredients too, except the nuts. I perfected a recipe for a mean chocolate chip pecan cookie though I\u2019ve since lost that recipe, but I can create it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think I didn\u2019t have not one cupcake during the pandemic \u2013 maybe some store-bought ones, but definitely not the gourmet ones. They had fallen off my radar. Then in March of 2023, on the way home from seeing the Lion King at the Pantages theatre, I made a detour to Magnolia Bakery. I got a classic vanilla cupcake. It was better than I remembered. Almost a year later in January of 2024, I got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting from Sprinkles while at The Grove. Same as it ever was \u2013 dry, lacking flavor, disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n