Cupcake news by the dozen: October 2023
A roundup of 12 news reports from the previous month, packaged into a newsletter published on or about the 12th of the month.
Cupcakes are patriotic: There were all-American cupcakes for a new group of Americans in Northern Virginia last month. Arlington County hosted a Citizenship Day party for the newly naturalized Americans it aided in recent years. At any such event, there will definitely be flags and almost certainly cupcakes with patriotic decorations. Cupcakes have a documented history almost as old as the republic itself. A 1796 cookbook includes a “light cake to bake in small cups” and the first known “cup cake” recipe appears in a 1828 cookbook.
The latter was authored by a Philadelphia woman. This led one observer to boast, “More Philly bragging rights: We basically invented the cupcake.” Continuing the legacy, Eater just published a map of the “ultimate cupcakes in Philly.”
That said, it’s New York that catalyzed 21st-century cupcake history. The Museum of the City of New York is observing its centennial Oct. 13-15 and the celebration includes cupcakes. Amy’s Bread, a 30-year-old Manhattan bakery with a location at the museum, is supplying free cupcakes on Oct. 14. (Restrictions apply). “We’re so happy to have a presence at the museum year-round and to be a part of their centennial weekend,” said Amy Scherber, bakery founder and president. “Our cupcakes are a bakery favorite – sweet, buttery, and delicious! They are a handheld treat that is simultaneously modern and nostalgic. What a perfect way to honor the museum, which focuses on the past, present, and future of the city. Happy birthday, MCNY!” In a sweet coincidence, Oct. 14 is National Dessert Day. Patriots are all but duty bound to consume a cupcake.
Google got the memo. When it marked its 25th anniversary in September, cupcakes made headline news. “Cupcakes, Googlers in town: Here’s how Google celebrated 25th birthday in style,” read one report. As CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on Instagram, “It’s not a birthday without a birthday party - and birthday cupcakes!”
The Sacramento Kings announced the first winner of the team’s “Capitalize: Food” competition for small businesses and the honors go to Sugar Coated Cupcakes. The cupcakery will have a booth at the team’s home stadium for the upcoming season. As posted on nba.com, the purpose of the competition is to “provide exceptionally skilled and creative food entrepreneurs from the region a unique opportunity to demonstrate their culinary expertise and bolster their brand equity and exposure.”
A Shreveport, Louisiana, bakery is conducting a “local cupcake campaign to support domestic violence survivors.” For the third year, Ashley’s Tiers of Love created a charitable cupcake to support Domestic Violence Awareness Month in partnership with the district attorney’s office.
A teenage girl won the blue ribbon at the Kentucky State Fair 4H cupcake competition in August. A baker since childhood, Leia Reynolds is training to be a pastry chef and aspires to open her own bakery. She was selected as teen of the week in the local press.
Savory cupcakes in the news: Garlic cupcakes were among the offerings at Queen Creek Olive Mill’s annual garlic festival in the Phoenix area in September. Down south, Klarissa’s Cakery of Alabama introduced pickle cupcakes in mid-October. New Englanders got a taste of same at Big E multistate fair in September, where the pickle cupcake was the bestseller at the LuAnn’s Bakery tent.
The Cupcake Collection began as a single bakery in Nashville in 2008. Its owner narrated a dramatic story of personal and business growth in her memoir Made from Scratch: Finding Success Without a Recipe, released this spring. The award-winning cupcakery added a New Orleans store in 2018 and is in the process of opening two more Tennessee stores “very soon.” Owner Mignon François has said she aspires to create the “largest Black-founded franchise in America.”
A Scottish baker made news for her intricate representations of fast food, which she terms “cupfakes.” Demand is reportedly sky high.
Down under, “Melbourne’s streets just got a little sweeter thanks to the city’s first-ever cupcake vending machines.”
Corporate cupcakery news: ABC viewers can learn “how to make Magnolia Bakery-inspired pumpkin pudding at home.” The bakery did a trio of city-specific promotions in recent weeks. It partnered with New York’s Katz Deli to create a national shipping package with banana pudding. Chicagoland is the exclusive domain of the bakery’s apple cider doughnut pudding and a companion Stan’s apple doughnut, available in the second half of October. The L.A. location offered free vanilla cupcakes for one day in September to promote the new season of The Masked Singer. With the opening of a new store in Dubai, Magnolia now numbers six locations in the UAE. 🧁 Referring to the Sprinkles founder, Today invited readers to “meet Candace Nelson, cupcake guru and newest ‘Shark Tank’ guest.”