Another Post For The Cupcake Lovers

If you Googled cupcakes, and like so many before you, ended up here by mistake, here's a little treat. A video of late night comedy king David Letterman taking a reckless spin in a giant motorized cupcake. Complete cupcake madness. Enjoy.

Welcome, Cupcake Seekers

Some of you found your way to this blog by entering the search words CUPCAKE ROYALE, CUPCAKES IN ASIA, CUPCAKES WITH A STAR ON TOP, and yes, even PENIS CUPCAKES.

If you have read this far, you are still hopeful that this is just a long, and slightly off-topic lead up to a detailed history of cupcakes and the many adorable and/or lewd ways to decorate them. Sorry.

Back in August I wrote a little story called The Audacity of Cupcakes in which I posited that the growing cupcake trend was tangible evidence of a burgeoning hope in the face of very dark times.

The recent, and significant, uptick in cupcake searches landing people at my site tells me I was on to something. It started a few days before the election as anticipation of a great change began to build. Following the election, the cupcake fancy became a frenzy. My cupcake traffic went through the roof. It was coming from towns big and small, from nations rich and poor, places where I didn’t think people even had computers, much less an interest in tiny cakes. People everywhere seem to be yearning for every tasty cupcake morsel they can scrounge up on the internet. Or, should I say, every delicious ounce of hope?

The only item on my site that has drawn anywhere near as much interest in recent days is a fluffy little piece about my devotion, I mean, admiration for Tina Fey (Tina Fey, Will You Be My New BFF), buzz about Tina Fey having spiked due to her Palin impressions, "30 Rock," and general awesomeness.

So I had a thought. What if I were to combine the two things that people around the world are hottest for right now? Cupcakes and Tina Fey.

Sadly, a quick internet search revealed I was not the first to hit upon this winning formula (though we had slightly different reasons for conjuring up these stalker cakes). So, with thanks to Sarah Disgrace, here they are Tina Fey cupcakes. I’d make my own, but why reinvent the wheel? Plus, I’m quite sure I could not do any better.

To the person who stumbled across my site searching for Tina Fey tits, maybe these will be some consolation.

Addendum: Watching last week's "30 Rock" episode on DVR this weekend, I was shocked when there was not one, but two cupcake references in the show. Seriously, I am way tapped into the universal subconscious. But how to make it pay off?

The Audacity of Cupcakes

The recent proliferation of cupcakeries in the U.S. gives me hope for this country. A people that, in the face of a the worst economy since the great depression, a war on terror, environmental chaos, pop-star drama, and the horrors of a reality show programming, can embrace the innocent, frosted promise of the cupcake must be optimists at the core. And that bodes well for our future. Even the most hardened cynic must be silenced by the plucky verve of ginger lemon.

Once the staple of bargain bakery shelves, their Crisco frosting in all manner of unnatural colors smashed against their sad little plastic shell cases, the sweet little cupcake has muscled its way to the top of the confectionary heap with gourmet and organic ingredients, artisan production, and exotic flavors like Chai Latte, Raspberry Dazzle and Red Velvet. Specialty cupcake stores like Sprinkles (which will soon have 22 locations around the country), Kara’s Cupcakes in the bay area, Chicago’s Cupcakes, and Seattle’s Cupcake Royale are battling it out for the lucrative cupcake coin.

There are glossy full-color books about cupcakes, cupcake crafts, and websites devoted to the topic (cupcakestakethecake, 52cupcakes). I haven’t seen such passion about a food item since the meteoric rise of Krispy Kreme. (I’m still mourning the “Hot Now” beacon that has ceased to flash in my neighborhood). I believe the cupcake craze will have a longer shelf life than its deep-fried and glazed cousin. The donut was like the Vin Diesel of bakery treats, while the cupcake is more like the Holly Golightly. A cute little thing with a slightly questionable past that has grown into a fascinating confectionary creature. Full of charm and wit, with the ability to be reinvented a thousand different ways, the cupcake never gets old.