# Cupcake fad is crashing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736 "2014-07-10T01:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/41 "2014-07-10T11:40:58Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the firm is reorganizing. > > coming soon > > Muffins Muffin Tops! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/42 "2014-07-10T11:50:09Z")
Shouldn’t Crumbs have segued into the emergent artisanal toast market? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/43 "2014-07-10T11:56:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Shouldn’t Crumbs have segued into the emergent artisanal toast market? Toast? Bah. Gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the next big thing. And they don’t need to be served warm, like the locovore grilled cheese sandwichs did. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/44 "2014-07-10T12:07:22Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I do think the huge cupcakes were kind of missing the point. Bakeries already have a product that fills the “I want something like a cupcake, only bigger” niche… it’s called _cake_. Just how big are these supposed cupcakes? The name _cup - cake_ means a cake the size of a cup. I’d guess that the first ones were actually baked in cups. Anything bigger isn’t a cupcake. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/45 "2014-07-10T12:08:30Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the firm is reorganizing. > > coming soon > > Muffins > [@Fleetwood](#): > > Muffin Tops! And we can give the muffin stumps to homeless shelters…if they’ll take them. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/46 "2014-07-10T12:09:08Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Shouldn’t Crumbs have segued into the emergent artisanal toast market? Artisanal. There’s another word from which marketers have removed all meaning. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/47 "2014-07-10T12:10:12Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > What’s not to like? > > _ **Cupcakes are a stupid way to serve cake** _, that’s what’s not to like. The cake is attached to a piece of paper that you have to pull off, (causing half of the thing to fall apart onto the ground), so it gets all over your hands anyway, and makes the whole thing pointless. You were better off using a plate and fork all along. > > For this reason, _ **cupcakes are one of the most annoying things mankind has ever invented** _.\* > > \*Muffins would achieve the same annoyance, but they are structurally somewhat more sound, (and they don’t have bad frosting to cause a mess). Maybe you just have bad cupcakes. I never have any trouble peeling the paper of the ones I get at the store, and eating them with a minimum of fuzz. Besides, then you cake a cupcake all to yourself instead of a hacked of slice of a cake someone else has eaten half of, and is probably going stale on the inside since it’s been sitting in a display cake for half a day. Cupcakes don’t have that problem. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/48 "2014-07-10T12:45:27Z")
DOWN with the cupcakes! I am not sure if they are going away, but these faddish cupcake bakeries do seem to be fading. While you may get a wide variety of flavors at these places, they just don’t seem THAT much better than grocery store-bought cupcakes, and certainly not worth the premium price. And certainly not better than what can be made at home. Having had these “gourmet” cupcakes at company functions, I can say that once the frosting (which is usually the same size as the cake part) is mostly scraped-off (who needs that much frosting?), you are left with a pretty regular tasting cupcake. IMHO, The next fad to start retracting will be the huge amount of burger joints that are expanding around the nation. Perhaps a few of the new chains will survive, but I expect a big shakeout in the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/49 "2014-07-10T12:54:51Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Well [here’s a listed company](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-09/sheer-insanity-no-revenue-company-rises-over-1-billion-today-57k-shares-traded)with no revenue, no assets and a market cap of $3 billion for your consideration. > > At least Crumbs had a real business for a while. > > Bah, ninjaed, my post was a response to **Greg Charles**. I’m probably making some stupid blunder here but help me out. > **[A 'Social Networking' Stock Has Exploded 25,000% In A Few Days, And It's Not...](https://www.businessinsider.com/cynk-technology-2014-7)** > > This is so bizarre. That says it has undergone a 25000 percent increase. But if it went from ten cents to fourteen dollars and seventy one cents, isn’t that a 14600 percent increase? ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/50 "2014-07-10T14:57:33Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Just how big are these supposed cupcakes? > > The name _cup - cake_ means a cake the size of a cup. I’d guess that the first ones were actually baked in cups. Anything bigger isn’t a cupcake. [This article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/08/crumbs-the-cupcakery-that-couldnt-goes-broke/) says four times the size of the ones sold at Georgetown Cupcakes (the bakery from the “DC Cupcakes” show on TLC). Georgetown Cupcakes serves what I would characterize as normal size cupcakes, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/51 "2014-07-10T15:28:18Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Maybe you just have bad cupcakes. I never have any trouble peeling the paper of the ones I get at the store, and eating them with a minimum of fuzz. > > Besides, then you \*\*cake \*\*a cupcake all to yourself instead of a hacked of slice of a cake someone else has eaten half of, and is probably going stale on the inside since it’s been sitting in a display **cake** for half a day. Cupcakes don’t have that problem. Your subliminal preference for cake is showing… ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/52 "2014-07-10T15:38:05Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Your subliminal preference for cake is showing… What the cake are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/53 "2014-07-10T15:38:35Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Oh. Blow _dry_ bar. > > Well, _that_ was a major disappointment. You might want to have a word with **Siam Sam**. See, there are these places in Bangkok… > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > And we can give the muffin stumps to homeless shelters…if they’ll take them. Top o’ the muffin to ya! ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/54 "2014-07-10T15:50:56Z")
I don’t understand cupcakes but I don’t understand cake either. Why can’t we get a pie store instead? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/55 "2014-07-10T15:58:19Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Why can’t we get a pie store instead? “When come back…” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/56 "2014-07-10T16:07:21Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > I first saw them in DC, where I live now. I thought they were some sort of thing that could only exist in a place like DC which has a lot of people with a lot of money to a)spend on something wacky and b) afford the startup cost for a business selling something wacky. Then I went back to visit Philadelphia, where I’m from, and I saw one _there_! After that I accepted the fact that I’m just not meant to understand certain things. The only cupcake shop I know of is [Cakelove](http://cakelove.com/) and that’s just because they have a location around the corner from where I used to work. They also have full size cakes and baking classes. Don’t know if they can help anyone with their runny green icing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/57 "2014-07-10T16:08:41Z")
Cupcake fad? Never heard of it. Must have by-passed my little backwater of a world. And I’m okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/58 "2014-07-10T16:15:01Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Cupcake fad? Never heard of it. Must have by-passed my little backwater of a world. > > And I’m okay with that. Yeah, it’s been going on a few years now, maybe 5-10. The cupcake places around here seem to be doing well. I’m not much for sweets, but I’ve tried the Chicago outpost of Molly’s, and was quite happy with it. I’m not much of a cake person, but I like the convenience of cupcakes: you don’t need a knife and fork to eat them. That said, there are plenty of cakes that only really work in cake form. There was also talk about four years ago of macarons becoming the next fad [see here for a 2010 NPR story](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123566536), but I haven’t noticed that take hold around here. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/59 "2014-07-10T16:22:41Z")
The Crumbs cupcakes were really too big, too expensive, and not good enough. The places that do really good (or at least above-average) cupcakes for $3 or less still have a place, I think, especially if it’s a well managed business. We have a pretty good place locally, but honestly, I miss the cupcake truck from when I worked in Hartford, CT. Simple, good cupcakes for $2, the idea was more “here’s a fun, yummy after lunch snack” and less “here’s an artistic gourmet dessert”. In possibly related news, that cupcake truck has been the guy’s full time business for several years now, and by all appearances he’s doing well for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736/60 "2014-07-10T16:33:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You might want to have a word with **Siam Sam**. See, there are these places in Bangkok… “I plead the fifth, Your Honor,” Tom said, caught with his pants down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cupcake-fad-is-crashing/692736.md?page=4)