Have your cake
The most popular accessory of the season is a buttercream- topped mini-sponge. Kirstin Innes investigates the rise and rise of the cupcake
s anyone with embarrassing Millenium- era photographs of themselves wearing an ugly corsage the si/e ol' their head
will testil‘y. Sat and the (fly launched a lot ol‘
strange trends. None. however. is as persistent as the cupcake. The scene in which (‘arrie and Miranda munch on pink buttercream-topped mini cakes outside Manhattan's Magnolia Bakery lasted maybe 30 seconds and yet somehow created an international food lad. (‘upcakes are big business. The Magnolia Bakery is a stop on the SATC location tour. the news that Marks and Spencer was launching a new line merited an article in the Guardian. and dedicated bakeries. ol'ten selling nothing but
Michael 21, Graphic Design Student
My friend shaves my halr up the sides with his shavers and then I cut the top bit myself.
‘. e .. - w PR5 This chaln was a present from my old girifriend. She got it off the internet somewhere. It’s a little clock - it doesn't work
any more, but I still like to wear it.
This Jumper was a bit of a find - it’s from the Salvation Army branch down on Dumbarton Road. My bracelet is from Mexico, it’s got little bits of Christian iconography on it. The belt’a from Thailand. It was my old flatmate’s, and I stole it from her!
14 THE LIST 30 Apr—14 May 2009
‘THERE'S AN INSTANT
APPEAL TO WATCHNG
SOMEONE CUPCAKE'
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My Jeane are Levis; I just picked them up this summer, and I got the boots off the internet a year ago - they’re classic Reeboks.
I like mlxlng It up: wearing chavvy boots with skinny jeans, mixing up second hand with new stuff. I like putting weird things together that you wouldn’t normally think of. The charity shops on Dumbarton Road in Glasgow are excellent, and I also really like Watermelon; they've got great stuff.
cupcakes. haye sprung tip all oyer l,ondon. Scottish bakers are also getting in on the act.
‘()h. people just live by that show. don't they I" says lshbel Neat. who has just opened ('upcakc. a chic. beautil'ully decorated bakery in (ilasgow's Merchant ('ity. ‘l'd been liying in London l‘or a few years. and l was well aware ol’ the interest in cupcake shops that had come oyer l‘rom New York. A lot til it is Sn and Illt' (in; people like to emulate the lil'estyles ol' those characters. There‘s an instant appeal to watching someone eat a cupcake. It looks all sugary sweet and candy pink. and the way the buttercream swirls around as you bite into it is enticing.‘
Neat also thinks the appeal lies in a nostalgic return to childhood. ‘lt's a girly thing. (ietting a sugar rtish with your l'riends. The same sort ol feel as you‘d get from buying a bag ol' penny sweets. I worked hard on getting the design ol' the shop right. because a cake shop should look really special: a place where people can come in and feel uplil'ted. excited and childlike again.‘
'We didn‘t grow up with cupcakes in the l'K.' says Juliet 'I‘weedie. who recently celebrated the lirst birthday of her home-run. lidinburgh-based cupcake business liver So Sweet. and whose commissions include 800 cupcakes l‘or the launch party ol' lidinburgh‘s new 'l‘opshop flagship store. 'The British equivalent is l‘airy cakes. which always seemed a bit sensible to me. I wanted to create cakes in mad colours. which I could experiment with. and these American cakes were becoming increasingly popular on the baking sites I visited.'
Despite the proliferation ol’ pastel hues and glitter on top of their produce. both Neal and 'l‘weedie insist that cupcakes aren't just popular with grown-up little girls. Neat insists that her line ol‘ lilmo and (‘ookie Monster-iced cakes has local businessmen sighing. and Tweedie recently created computer game cupcakes for an all-male party. 'They told me the cakes had to be manly.' she says. ‘I thought. "How on earth do you make cupcakes look masculine?" So I covered them in dinosaur-shaped sprinkles.‘
Cupcake, 70 Bell Street, Glasgow, 0141 552 2195; Ever So Sweet: www.eversosweet.co.uk