Monday, January 10, 2011

NO, HOSTESS STOCK DOES NOT COUNT: For I believe the first time, if you really, really love cupcakes, you can invest in them, as NYC based cupcakery Crumbs is about to go public. I see two subject for discussion here. First, what's your preferred cupcake/cupcakery? I'm not terribly big on the trend, and find Crumbs in particular to be overiced, but your views are welcomed. Second, please provide suggested dialogue from Aaron Sorkin's The Cupcake Bakery--I'll start us off with "If you were the inventors of the Oreo cupcake, you'd have invented the Oreo cupcake!" and "You know what's cooler than a million calories? A billion calories!"

38 comments:

  1. Adam C.10:31 AM

    I'll go with the Matthew Weiner version:  "THAT'S WHAT THE CUPCAKES ARE FOR!!"

    (Our preferred cupcakery is the one we call our kitchen.  Chocolate, with whatever frosting suits our fancy.)

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  2. Maggie10:31 AM

    A Crumbs just opened a few blocks from my house - I do not love it.  I think their cupcakes look messy - like they were decorated by a five-year old kid.  And I'm not sure why, but it annoys me that they have two cupcakes named after Howard Stern cronies. 

    While I get that the trend is sort of played out, I do still love an occassional red velvet or peanut butter cupcake from Curbside Cupcakes - a DC-area food truck.

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  3. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  4. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  5. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  6. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  7. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  8. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  9. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  10. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  11. A guy who makes a nice cream cheese frosting does not owe money to everyone who has ever made cream cheese frosting.

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  12. I like Crumbs, but the cupcakes are too big for my taste.

    I've really been enjoying those little, bite-sized cupcakes by Baked By Melissa when I see them at events. I'm not big on the difficulty of getting a bite with equal cake/frosting ratio with the bigger cupcakes, so these are perfect. (I hear they're something like $1 per cupcake, which I find ridiculous, so I doubt I'd seek them out on my own.) 

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  13. "The cupcake got twenty-two hundred bites within two hours?"
    "Thousand."
    "I'm sorry?"
    "Twenty-two thousand."

    I've tried a number of the LA cupcake places. There's one in downtown that I really like called Big Man Bakes. They have a delicious lemon flavored cupcake, and during the holidays had a caramel apple cupcake that was fantastic.

    Sprinkles is overrated.

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  14. Happy to have cupcakes from your kitchen anytime!!!  :)

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  15. I don't like Crumbs- they're too big and I don't like their ganache.  I actually really like Magnolia but I try not to have them too often.  There's a hot new cupcake in Brooklyn- Robicelli's- so I'd like to try those.  They have "wacky" flavors, so I'll see.

    I'm with Adam- the homemade are the best.

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  16. Just an FYI for the Philly folks, Tasty Baking Company, which produces Tastykakes is indeed a public company (ticker: TSTY).

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  17. Heather K12:56 PM

    More in Chicago is my fave and they make bite sized More-sels including in cocktail flavors (cuba libre cupcake, gin and juice cupcake) with gooey liquer centers.  And they opened a Sprinkles a block away, and I still say More.  And seriously the BLT cupcake is super good.  No really.  Savory but good.  

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  18. InertiaGirl1:04 PM

    I have never been impressed with Sprinkles or any of the other gourmet cupcake places; however, I did get a dozen mini bundt cakes as a gift from this place called Nothing Bundt Cakes and they.were.amazing! Totally overpriced, but I swear they were dusted with crack or something. 

    http://www.nothingbundtcakes.com/

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  19. Christy in Philly1:34 PM

    My favorite cupcakes in Center City are from Grocery at 13th and Chestnut. They aren't strictly a cupcake bakery but I like theirs the best. My second favorite are from the Buttercream cupcake truck.

    My other Philly cupcake reviews:
    Naked Chocolate-- too dense, often taste stale
    Flying Monkey (Reading Terminal) and Flying Monkey Deuce (11th and Locust)- too sweet
    Philly Cupcake Company- cupcakes are good but I find the staff pushy

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  20. Dan Suitor1:43 PM

    "You know what's cooler than a dozen cupcakes?" "A bakers dozen."

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  21. Paul Tabachneck1:43 PM

    "In the early 21st century, Mayor Bloomberg used to comission the erection of a 2,000 lb Grasshopper cupcake in the reception area of City Hall, to encourage the common man to come, have a piece, and share his ideas. 

    ....Mostly rats came, but still..."

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  22. Benner1:53 PM

    If I learned anything from the Bonfire of the Vanities, it's that the underwriters will eat all of the crumbs of the, um, crumbs, as they pass around the cupcakes.

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  23. A friend of mine is a HUGE fan of Crumbs and she's not thrilled about them going public. Something about how this might impact the localization of the cupcakes. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Crumbs and I'm definitely not a fan of Magnolia. I find the Magnolia cupcakes too dry and the icing entirely too sweet.

    Best cupcakes I've had (other than homemade) are from Cappellinos in Charlottesville, Va. If you find yourself in the area they're worth trying. http://www.cappellinoscrazycakes.com/

    (My apologies if this comment posts multiple times. I swear I'm only hitting "Post" once, but the multiple posting thing seems to happen with my work computer.)

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  24. A friend of mine is a HUGE fan of Crumbs and she's not thrilled about them going public. Something about how this might impact the localization of the cupcakes. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Crumbs and I'm definitely not a fan of Magnolia. I find the Magnolia cupcakes too dry and the icing entirely too sweet.

    Best cupcakes I've had (other than homemade) are from Cappellinos in Charlottesville, Va. If you find yourself in the area they're worth trying. http://www.cappellinoscrazycakes.com/

    (My apologies if this comment posts multiple times. I swear I'm only hitting "Post" once, but the multiple posting thing seems to happen with my work computer.)

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  25. A friend of mine is a HUGE fan of Crumbs and she's not thrilled about them going public. Something about how this might impact the localization of the cupcakes. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Crumbs and I'm definitely not a fan of Magnolia. I find the Magnolia cupcakes too dry and the icing entirely too sweet.

    Best cupcakes I've had (other than homemade) are from Cappellinos in Charlottesville, Va. If you find yourself in the area they're worth trying. http://www.cappellinoscrazycakes.com/

    (My apologies if this comment posts multiple times. I swear I'm only hitting "Post" once, but the multiple posting thing seems to happen with my work computer.)

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  26. isaac_spaceman2:56 PM

    Can somebody please explain to me why someone would buy stock in a company that does nothing but sell cupcakes?  Saturated market, late to the trend, consumer preference for localized goods, no economies of scale, high dependence on skill level of labor (nobody buys cupcakes that don't look perfect), located in two industries with low margins and low barriers to entry (retail and food service). 

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  27. Dan Suitor2:59 PM

    <p>This is the ultimate example of "First World Problems".
    </p>

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  28. Adam C.3:17 PM

    We're usually in stock -- when you have a kid with a nut allergy, you need to provide options for the birthday party circuit.

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  29. calliekl4:39 PM

    Kickass Cupcakes in Somerville, MA. Try it. I recommend the Friday special, S'mores. Just amazing, and all-natural to boot. They even carry some gluten-free flavors, which are also not too bad. I may have to go tomorrow after work, just because.

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  30. The Pathetic Earthling5:12 PM

    Because the underwriters and their cronies can buy it before the general public has a chance, and then they can flip the stock for a quick 8% profit?

    Oh, you mean why someone would buy the stock after 9:30:15 am.  I don't know.

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  31. Emily5:19 PM

    I prefer homemade cupcakes; I make a mean devil's food with mint buttercream and a very good pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting. As a person with gluten issues, I'm a big fan of Tu-Lu's Bakery in the East Village. I like Babycakes, too, but Tu-Lu's is better, in my opinion.

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  32. calliekl7:51 PM

    I should also plug Clara's Cupcakes in York, ME. They did our wedding cupcakes, and they were fabulous. Yes, I was one of those trendy losers who had cupcakes, but you know what? I would do it again in a heartbeat. Made it so easy to give out the extras as leftovers, and made it simpler for the people serving to put a bunch of them on each table so people could try the different flavors.

    (Was that defensive? Felt defensive.)

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  33. kenedy jane10:40 PM

    Best cupcakes ever?  A little place in north Austin called Ann's Kitchen.  The vanilla cupcake with bavarian creme filling is to die for. My friends and I spent one Saturday on a 'tour de gluttony' and tried many local cupcake stops (Sugar Mama's, Be My Cupcake, Hey Cupcake) but none held a candle to good ol' Ann's.  Off the beaten path for the touristy part of Austin but well worth the detour.

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  34. Marsha11:22 PM

    I honestly don't think I've been to a cupcake shop in Chicago, but I patronize a few of the cupcake food trucks. (By "patronize" I mean "obsessively follow their twitter feeds and beg them to come down to my neighborhood.") I mostly like the food truck concept, and the two in my area (@webakecupcakes and @sweetrideChi) make nice cupcakes, but cupcakes aren't something I crave, really. They usually spend way too much effort on the icing and not enough making really good cake.

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  35. My sister had to go gluten free due recently and I know she misses baked goods. I'm going to swing by Tu-Lu's next time I'm in the area. Do you recommend anything specific?

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  36. Anonymous4:16 PM

    Robicelli's are awesome! I'm normally a vanilla-cupcake-with-vanilla-frosting person, but their flavors are the best.

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  37. Anonymous5:05 PM

    Flirty cupcakes just delivered to our office today and they are very, very good!  Definitely better than sprinkles (not the same as more but less devoted to buttercream and instead devoted to a killer cream cheese frosting).  Also Sweet Mandy B's in chicago delivers serious sugary icing on its cupcakes that taste more like home then like fancy and they are giant.

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  38. Heather K5:09 PM

    That guest was me (new office computer)

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