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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be fed up to the back teeth with CUPCAKES

216 replies

HengshanRoad · 06/05/2011 06:45

Stupid, pathetic, too-sweet, overrated, overpriced fucking CUPCAKES.

They're everywhere. Apparently "whoopee pies" were supposed to overtake them, but that hasn't happened.

Why is a "cupcake business" the activity of choice for women these days? And why do said businesses always have such twee names?

Jenny Colgan's new book is even devoted to the blighters.

Probably been done to death already, but I needed to vent.

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 06/05/2011 19:29

My cousin makes fairy cakes and tries to pass them off as cupcakes. Twat.

spongefingerssavedmylife · 06/05/2011 19:34

DD (3) loves making cupcakes/fairy cakes. We do all sorts of flavours and only a bit of icing. Easier to cook than a big cake. Perfect size for tea and no faff with cutting . Also great for transporting to toddler groups etc - much easier to serve, no need for plates etc.

What's not to like?

5DollarShake · 06/05/2011 19:56

Sponge - your post sums it up, and what you describe sounds lovely. They're ideal for little ones, and I've made them with DS before and he loved it.

Which is why I do not understand grown women still wanting them on ludicrous tiers for their wedding cakes. They're for kids. Plus, cupcake-tiers-for-wedding-cakes are soooo 10 years ago, dahling....

mollymole · 06/05/2011 20:22

cakes are large and cut up for sharing - individuals ones are BUNS - we are NOT american so why call them cup cakes ?

Original poster
HengshanRoad · 06/05/2011 20:23

The "cupcake wedding cake"...

dies

OP posts:
Original poster
HengshanRoad · 06/05/2011 20:25

(Was meant to be dies - not some weird emphatic 'death to them all'...)

OP posts:
LisamumtoJake · 06/05/2011 20:33

YANBU i hate the buggers too, much prefer my fairy cakes, buns with a bit of icing sugar and water anyday, none of this crappy frosting or sugarpaste nonsense...rant over! Grin

MoChan · 06/05/2011 20:42

YANBU. I mean, there's room in life for any kind of cake, but this cupcake MANIA has been driving me nuts for YEARS.

It's all bound up with all that Bridgewater and Kidston stuff, and flowery wellies. REAL WOMEN hold down a career, have a beautiful house covered in obviously sourced prints, do all the gardening, do crafts and MAKE CUP CAKES.

AlmaSinger · 06/05/2011 20:44

YANBU, I have never eaten a cupcake and not been disapointed after eating it, the excessive icing to cake ratio makes them too sickly for me to enjoy, I always regret trying to eat one!

Having said that, they can look quite pretty if tastefully (not overly) decorated! Shame they don't always taste as good as they looK!

BsshBossh · 06/05/2011 20:48

I find cupcakes too gargantuan with too much icing on top. Much prefer homemade fairy cakes - smaller, light sponge, with buttercream topping, just like I used to eat as a child.

RobynLou · 06/05/2011 20:57

now I agree with the madness of overpriced cupcakes, but I did have them for our wedding, me and my mum made a couple of hundred using delias all in one recipe, iced them white and put a white rose on top of each one, and hired a cake stand
we did the whole wedding ourselves and although my mum could've managed a 'proper' cake it would've been much more work, much more expensive and on the day there wasn't anyone to cut it up, the fairy cakes made life much simpler, and looked rather lovely too.

HazeltheMcWitch · 06/05/2011 21:20

Goodynuff - it was me that commented on what the lady in the first DM link was wearing... But this is my pet hate about the Mail, not her. Ie ladies are always pictured in dresses, skirts, full makeup. On a similar vein, most of the criticism about that article was down to the shoddy reporting, not her herself.

StuckinTheMiddlewithYou · 06/05/2011 21:22

Cupcakes are just wierd.

They cause grown women to think that making a recipe previously seen as something for children to do, they have become master bakers/nigella lawson.

It is not really baking/cooking, we made them as seven year olds and it requires sod all skill.

Grow up. It's demeaning.

HazeltheMcWitch · 06/05/2011 21:24

NB I have not stated my case to the cupcake. I love them. I love ALL cakes. I don't think I'm Nigella, I don't care if they're easy to make or not, as long as the end result is good.

Yes, I am a bit bored of cupcake-related merchandise, but it sells so fair play to retailers. Similarly, I think some that you can buy out there are overpriced and style over substance - but mine are not. Mine are nice.

Have also have my curiosity piqued further up the thread by talk of JD/choc cakes... One I will try.

Suncottage · 06/05/2011 21:27

Bacon sarnie anyone? I make a really mean bacon sarnie. Seriously. When I have a houseful of hungover people I have never, ever heard one say;

"I could murder a cup cake"

Goodynuff · 06/05/2011 21:27

Thank you for making that clearer. Smile
The DM is pretty dumb. When I started reading newspapers on line, and found it, I was shocked by slanted it was.
Reading it feels like having a slightly bitchy visit with my MIL Grin

HazeltheMcWitch · 06/05/2011 21:29

(I know, right! Apols for hijack but I hate that about the Mail. The 'ladies'' clothing thing and the house price issue never fail to make me spew acid.)

BranchingOut · 06/05/2011 21:30

Not too keen on cupcakes. Tried one once at Peyton & Byrne because it looked so beautiful, but was very disappointed. Have never bothered since.

Now chocolate brownies on the other hand...:)

I agree with Animula about the coffee revolution. I grew up near an attractive, touristy town visited by thousands of people from all over the world each year, yet in 1992 the only places you could actually sit down and take refreshment without buying a meal were:

McDonalds or BK
Pubs
Possibly a cafe in the department store
x 1 awful cafe serving poor quality tea/coffee/pre-wrapped cakes

I went back there a few years ago and there are now loads of great places to go - the chains have made other places 'up their game' and independent places have sprung up offering a similar experience.

pallymama · 06/05/2011 21:44

StuckinTheMiddlewithYou - are you saying I need to grow up because I enjoy making cupcakes?

For the record, I do not think I am a master baker because I can bake cakes. :)

SugarSkyHigh · 06/05/2011 22:00

do people still make butterfly cakes? my mum used to make normal fairy cakes, slice the tops off and cut the sliced tops in half, then stick them on top of the fairy cake in a splodge of butter icing, like butterfly wings [nostalgia]

SoFluffyImGonnaDie · 06/05/2011 22:05

My ds brought a butterfly bun home from school on Wednesday so yes they do. Just to point out he is 6 and made a perfectly saleable attempt at a butterfly bun...maybe he should open a shop

TurkeyBurgerThing · 06/05/2011 22:07

I hate the twee fucking kitsch yuckiness that goes with "cupcakes"

I hate the word "cupcakes"

I hate how cupcakes are like totally like cute.

I hate how it's actually a fairycake

However I bloody love eating them because I love most cakes and will lick off the icing first. And quite honestly the bigger the better.

TheDailyWail · 06/05/2011 22:10

Tray Bakes will be next...

working9while5 · 06/05/2011 22:16

Suncottage, you have never met me hungover.. Grin

Suncottage · 06/05/2011 22:21

working9

I would cook you a bacon fairy cake. With brown sauce icing. I would also decorate it with mushroom and fried tomotoes.

Then garnish it with icing. Enjoy. Grin