I admit, unicorns are fantastically photogenic. Even so, there has been quite a bit of earthly cupcake news in the past six months.
The most dramatic was the May 5 news of Magnolia Bakery’s stunning expansion, a seismic shift in the cupcake world order.
Preceding events contextualize this pivotal news, telling a story of ongoing consumer demand. For celebrities and civilians alike, cupcakes remain a popular and attractive means to make a statement and/or feed emotional desire.
To wit:
Last December, actress Emma Roberts professed her love of Sprinkles Cupcakes on the cover of Shape magazine. Repeat: it’s December 2017 and the cover girl is emphatic about cupcakes.
Also: everyday people are eating them up.
Georgetown Cupcake marked its 10th anniversary in February.
Around the same time, this milestone happened.
In late March, more than two dozen people went on a cupcake walking tour of Georgetown.
Look at the eager faces as guest approached the Georgetown Cupcake table at the America the Great Cookbook event in March.
Actress Blake Lively, who created a s’more cupcake for the Sprinkles Baking Book, got 1.2 million likes on a photo of her lustily eyeing a box of Sprinkles. Actress Katie Holmes also publicized herself with Sprinkles.
The major chains are (mostly) growing. Magnolia opened in Boston on March 29 to great fanfare. From a Boston Globe reporter:
https://twitter.com/steveannear/status/979360330580156416
The first Wicked Good Cupcakes franchise began operations in Ft. Wayne, Ind.
Baked by Melissa opened a new store in uptown New York City and Smallcakes is opening in the D.C. suburb of Arlington, Va. Magnolia is also opening in D.C. In other news, Sprinkles closed its Nashville, Tenn., store.
The scorecard shows openings in Boston, New York and D.C., influential cities where new trends emerge seemingly every week. Repeat: profitable corporations are opening new stores right now in the major cities and elsewhere. This is obviously based on market research that signals demand. The most sophisticated consumers in the most trend-conscious markets are asking for more cupcakes.
Meanwhile, I traveled off the coasts to bring my Cupcakes and Blue Sky listening tour to Texas and Minnesota in April.
Just today, the Richmond, Va., cupcakery where I launched the Cupcakes and Blue Sky tour announced that it is opening a second store. The demand is real, friends.
Looking ahead to June, I’m watching for veteran cupcake experts Alan Richardson and Karen Tack to announce the tour for their new Make It Easy, Cupcake! book. And I’m scheduling a Cupcakes and Blue Sky tour stop for New York City when I’m there for the Fancy Food Show in late June.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 