Cupcakology = cupcakes + psychology
Cupcakology is the study of how and why cupcakes surged to popularity from 2000 to present.
Cupcakes are single-serving, portable desserts, as are cookies, brownies, candy bars, and so on. Yet it’s cupcakes that persistently inspire people to queue up.
Cupcakes are American icons with a 200-year legacy, evocative little engines that can.
When Magnolia Bakery cupcakes appeared on Sex and the City in 2000, it triggered a big bang that reverberates a quarter century later. Pop culture turned a childhood treat into an aspirational luxury, altering the psycho-social fabric and neighborhood character of Greenwich Village and beyond. The 25th anniversary of the catalytic cupcake scene is July 9, 2025.
About the author
Andrea Adleman is a print journalist writing about news, politics, features, lifestyle, and food for the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, AARP Magazine, Oprah Magazine, and other publications.
She began to study cupcakes in Southern California in the late 2000s. After five years of bicoastal field research, she reported her initial findings in “The psychology of cupcakes,” a Washington Post story that won the 2013 Association of Food Journalists award for Best Newspaper Food Feature.
The author also publishes The Cupcakologist Chronicles, a monthly newsletter. Please subscribe and/or donate to support the author’s self-funded research.
This blog is the first draft of the author’s forthcoming Cupcake Nation book. She is writing books under the pen name Rose Leman.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 