Cupcakes

I unleashed my argument on why cupcakes are perhaps the best celebratory dessert this week in our neighborhood pub. This proved to be quite an inappropriate place to really prove my point as Rihanna’s Rude Boy blared and the collective conscious was set on finding the nearest fried chicken place. Still committed to preaching the benefits of the cupcake; I shall place my argument here, with delicious pictures.

FYI, I got on this topic after our friend Cat’s mother had a bakery in Leeds deliver her a dozen glittery and colorful cupcakes for her 21st “birtday”. The cupcake I chose (chocolate with chocolate frosting) really provided me a great deal of inspiration…and a sugar high.

1. Cupcakes are delicious and make you feel GREAT. This may seem obvious but you can’t exactly say the same for banana cream pie.

2. The ratio of cake to frosting is truly perfect. How many times do you get a slice of cake with the slightest slip of icing between layers and a thin amount on top (which all ends up sticking to the plate since the cake is laid sideways)? Cupcakes give you an almost equal proportion of cake to frosting, giving diversity to texture and flavor.

3. Cupcakes are the perfect portion of dessert. With cake you receive a slice and know there is more to be had. Cupcakes provide you with a sense of entirety and finality.

4. There is a greater flavor range in cupcakes because of their small size. Strawberry with lime frosting, Chai with cream cheese frosting, Pumpkin with almond frosting, Hazelnut coffee with a chocolate mousse frosting. Some bakers wouldn’t risk creating entire cakes out of these specific flavor combinations.

5. They are easy and fun to decorate. Really, a food for all ages.




6. They last longer than normal cake. So little of the cake is actually exposed to the drying elements of outside air so it can stay fresher for longer!

7. There are so many ways to eat them! Daintily with a fork? Frosting first? Cake first? Two bites? One humungous bite? The possibilities are endless!!

8. Cupcakes are mentioned in the Bible at least 15 times.*
*This is not true. Had Jesus known the divinity of cupcakes I’m sure he would have asked for it at his last dinner.

While my argument doesn’t exactly have the logical finesse of say Locke or Rousseau I think it pretty well sums up why cupcakes are ideal for celebratory occasions. To be fair cupcakes do have some downsides:

a. Cupcakes are not cheesecake. Cheesecake rocks.
b. Cupcakes are trendy and therefore expensive.

Now go eat a cupcake!




See down below for some amazing cupcake recipes from some chick named Ming!