Great Grandmother's Kitchen

Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake from our local spot, The Cocoa Bean.

They're super, super trendy right now.  Even my little town has bakery that only does cupcakes, and sells them for insane prices(although they're fantastic...I have to admit). 


The concept of little, individual baked cakes has been around for a very long time, and so I personally don't buy the concept of cupcakes as an American invention.  Alton Brown argues that the name came from using cups to bake them(a possibility he takes advantage of in his Chiffon Cupcake recipe), however other sources  also suggest that the cupcake arrived on the scene right when people were switching from measuring by weight to using unit measurement.  For example, a pound cake traditionally had one pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, etc, however, traditional cupcakes called for a set list of one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs.

Apple Cider Cupcakes with Spiced Rum Buttercream from Raspberry Eggplant

The real beauty of the cupcake, to me at least, is that each batch leaves one with 12-18 little blank canvases, ready for whatever one would like to put on them! So without further ado, here are some wonderful sites to take a look at.  I can assure you that you will go from awe, to overwhelmed, to so hungry you are driven to action!

Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Crazy about Cupcakes. 

All Things Cupcake.