I read this Times article on cupcakes today. It’s basically about how some schools are cracking down on bringing in cupcakes to celebrate birthdays.
Thoughts? I can’t imagine that a cupcake, on occasion, could really contribute to obesity. I and my little cohorts ate them in elementary school whenever there was a birthday, and there weren’t very many fat kids in my school.
Today, I only eat a cupcake once in a while. I’ve probably only had two this year. (This is about to change, as I’ve discovered the world’s best cupcake store)
World’s best, eh? I’ll have to do a taste comparison with Yummy Cupcakes. East Coast/West Coast, yo!
Cupcakes are a godsend to me: I can get a quick fix and be done with it. I like cake, but no one else around here does, much. So if I want buttercream frosting, I pretty much have to go to YC. I’d need a full pound of butter to make enough buttercream for my own cake, and then I’d be stuck eating the whole thing. YC also has features like ganache filling and cupcakes rolled in cookie crumbs or sprinkles or drizzled with chocolate: huge PITA to make myself, and again, too many calories for me to take on if I made a whole cake.
Granted, I’m an adult, with an adult’s metabolism and tolerance for sugar. But I still don’t see how cupcakes are contributing to obesity. It’s not sugar that makes you fat, not over the long run. If schools want to tackle the obesity problem, they should reexamine the lunches the kids are getting every day, not the birthday treats they get once or twice a month.
I am completely on the side of occasional indulgence for enjoyment’s sake. This is true of all parts of life–sometimes it’s just nice to drive to work instead of biking, or to sleep in rather than volunteering on a Saturday. As long as it isn’t a life pattern, such little pleasures can really improve one’s quality of life. At least, they improve mine.
In one study, conducted at Penn State’s Center for Childhood Obesity Research, researchers looked for symptoms of heart disease and diabetes in 154 white non-Hispanic adolescent girls. This research is particularly interesting because diabetes and heart disease have traditionally been adult diseases and studied in adult populations. Now symptoms like insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure — a cluster of symptoms known as “Metabolic Syndrome” — are showing up more frequently among adolescents. Metabolic Syndrome is often a prelude to full-blown diabetes, and significantly increases the risk for heart disease.
The researchers looked at 13 year-olds with symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome and then worked backward to see what factors stood out in their histories during ages 5-11. A key finding: the girls at higher risk for Metabolic Syndrome consumed significantly more servings of sugary drinks between the ages of 5-9.
I think cupcakes are one of the better choices, if you really want a sugary dessert. I often make mini cupcakes for potlucks and they’re always really popular because you can have one - bitesized - and be satisfied. My favorites are Blackbottom Cupcakes - chocolate cake with a cream cheese and mini chocolate chip filling, topped with chocolate ganache. You really only need one bite of those to feel like you indulged.
About three nights ago, I had the first cupcake I’ve had in probably three years. It was nice. I’m with C3 that one of the virtues of the cupcake is its built-in portion control. Now, if you have four of them…
By the way (and I hope this isn’t a hijack, but the OP had the open-ended question, “Thoughts?”), am I the only one who eats cupcakes with a fork? On the rare occasion that we have them in my family, I break out the cutlery. This makes everyone around me look at me like I’m a freak. Hey, icing and facial hair don’t mix.
A cupcake is just that: a little cake. If someone wants to get rid of cupcakes, they should get rid of cakes in general–including birthday cakes, wedding cakes, etc.
I think cracking down on cupcakes at school is completely ridiculous. Assuming a class size of 30 kids and every single one bringing cupcakes, that’s one cupcake per student every week and a half or so. Clearly it isn’t rampant school-based cupcake consumption that is making American children obese, so I see little reason to suck even more fun out of the experience of going to school.
Not much of a fan of the little darlings, myself. (Cupcakes, I mean.) I prefer a big soft chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Oh, I don’t think it’s too much of a hijack. I don’t think eating a cupcake with a fork is too common, but it’s not so bizarre. Now, when you start eating a Snickers bar with a fork and knife or scooping up your M&Ms with a spoon, then it’ll be time to worry.
The cupcake fad has been great at our office, because everyone is very picky about what kind of cake they like to eat. We can accommodate just about everyone with an assortment of cupcakes - it helps that our local bakery also does things like carrot cake cupcakes and angel food cupcakes so we can really get a variety. It’s become kind of a thing at the office to get cupcakes to celebrate birthdays, so we have them about once a month.
My husband is currently working his way through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so the answer is that we indulge in them more often than is strictly wise. They’re so darn good though. I like to pretend that the carrot cake ones are at least marginally healthy.
If the schools are so worried about childhood obesity, they should stop banning kids from running around playing tag and dodgeball. A solid twenty minutes running around at recess will burn off a l’il ole cupcake in a hurry.
I feel so sorry for kids these days.
And I agree that the emotional value far outwieghs the potential harm. We used to really look forward to the one or two birthdays a month that occurred in elementary school…darn those summer babies! It made for a nice break. And not every parent sent cupcakes (until schools started regulating THAT). Sometimes we’d get rolls of Lifesavers, or cookies. But cake was more common because of the symbolism…birthday=cake. And sometimes parents whose kids shared a birthday, or were a day or two apart, would get together and send in a treat together so that the class wasn’t overwhelmed by sweets.
And then, of course, there was the time-honored tradition of presenting a book for the classroom library, complete with a special bookplate with your name on it…almost as much fun as cupcakes!
The main question is what does one consider “a” cupcake. When I was a kid, a perfectly reasonable cupcake was a couple of bites worth of cake and maybe a tablespoon of frosting. But go to any bakery and your average cupcake is a pound of Confection Death™.
I don’t have kids, but when I worked in cubicle-land I got pretty damn sick of interrupting work every week to inhale sugary treats for various co-worker birthdays. I hate to see innocent kids lured into this horrific ritual as well. It would be nice if schools (and workplaces, for that matter) could manage to develop a way to interact socially that doesn’t revolve around cramming your maw with crap.
But, given reasonable portions, I suppose there are worse things.
Damn. I live a few blocks away from the East Side one. I like to think that the journey there and back is enough to burn off a buttercup golden with chocolate icing.
Get well, get well soon…we wish you to get well?
Anyway. I have noticed that some cupcakes are bigger than others. Some are enormous, like the size of two. The ones that they sell at Buttercup Bakery, that I’m familiar with, are small, regular sized cupcakes. Small, but filling!
The woman who runs that place started as one of the founders of Magnolia, in the West Village on Bleecker.
About the only time i eat cupcakes is when we visit New York. We usually stay in Chelsea, and Magnolia is only about a 10-15 minute walk away. Sometimes we pack some up and bring them home with us, but they’re just not as good after they’ve been in the fridge or freezer. they really need to be eaten fresh.
. They’re hard to pick up with your fingers! And, and, they leave little oily spices on your skin. Really.