Life became a lot sweeter for a mother and daughter after a vacation to New York in 2005.

Trista Millette, co-owner of Cupcake Chic in Springville, a cupcake com-pany she started with her mother, visited the well-known Magnolia Bak-ery while in New York and has been hooked on the cupcake trend ever since.

“We went there for cupcakes, and we got so excited,” Millette said. “We came back home to Utah and we couldn’t find cupcakes anywhere so we just started playing with recipes.”

Many people’s first introduction to this latest dessert craze occurred at the Magnolia Bakery in New York or Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills.

“For right now, it seems like especially in New York and Los Angeles, there are a lot of places like that,” said Ra-chel Kramer Bussel, founder of Cup-cakes Take the Cake, a popular blog. “People look to the big cities as a start-ing industry.”

The cupcake craze is making its way to Utah with cupcakeries (bakeries that sell cupcakes only) dotting the state from St. George to Salt Lake City.

“Cupcakes are so cute and fun, and it makes people happy,” said Bussel, who has been following the trend for a little more than four years now. “It’s constantly interesting. People are taking a traditional dessert and mak-ing it modern.”

In addition to cupcakeries, many en-trepreneurs have started home-based businesses. Cupcake Chic is one such company that also makes their cup-cakes available at the Coffee Pod in Provo, Art City Coffee in Springville and Jaxies in Spanish Fork.

“The cupcake trend is spreading,” said Elise Wallace, blogger of The Cupcake Activist. “Stores that didn’t used to sell cupcakes are now jumping on the bandwagon. I’m happy to see the expansion of the availability of cup-cakes everywhere.”

Individuals in a hurry can get their cupcakes at Coffee Pod’s drive-thru window, according to utahlovescup-cakes.com.

Most people view cupcakes as a mini portion of cake or cake batter put in a cup. Why then are cupcakes so popu-lar when it is simply cake?

“With cake, you are limited to one flavor to share between many different people,” Wallace said. “With cup-cakes, I can get red velvet, my husband can get lemon and a friend can get plain vanilla.”

Leslie Fiet, owner of Mini’s, the first cupcakery to open in Utah, said that is what she likes about cupcakes.

“If I am in a mood for a sweet treat, I like frosting,” she said. “But I do not want to eat or buy a whole cake, and if I want coconut and red velvet, I only need to buy two cupcakes rather than two cakes.”

The second reason most people point out is the fact that it is a relatively small indulgence in terms of pricing and calories.

“With the economy being bad, we’ve noticed that people are still buying and in fact, we’ve gotten busier,” said Cupcake Chic co-owner Millette. “The reason I love them is because it’s kind of a guilt-free portion of cake.”

She said she and her mother found that one cupcake equals half the size of a piece of cake and therefore is easy to justify eating.

Besides being a popular treat for per-sonal consumption, some people are also ordering cupcakes for special occasions such as a birthday party or wedding reception.

“Our biggest order was just over 2,000 cupcakes, and this was for one event,” Fiet said. “We have done over 1,000 per event for art shows, gallery open-ings and private parties.”

Additionally, some people are starting to buy cupcakes as gifts. Cupcake business owners Millette and Fiet said there was an increase in sales on Val-entine’s Day.

It doesn’t matter what type of cupcake you’re looking for because cupcakeries all offer something different.

“One of the best things is that almost all cupcake shops have their own twist on our visual of the traditional cup-cakes,” Fiet said. “It might be the way they look or the flavors they sell. The cupcake can be as unique as the store selling them.”



Copyright Brigham Young University 11 Mar 2009