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Let Them Eat Mini-Cake

The Bay Area Sweetens Up with Cupcakes

By Sammi Jo Jones

“Girls rule, boys drool,” goes the old elementary school taunt. But it could use another update. 

Three of the coolest shops riding the cupcake craze in this area are owned and operated by women. Let’s wipe the buttercream icing from our lips and change the chant to: “Girls rule, their cupcakes are cool—and everybody drools!”

Cupcakes have always been an add-on at local bakeries, an impulse item, a quick snack at lunch. A palm-sized mini-cake topped with a sugary pompadour swirl of creamy icing is irresistible—and you don’t need a fork or a plate. 

In New York, where crazes are always a little crazy, Magnolia Bakery, a cupcake shop in the Village, has attracted legions of foodie fans since its opening in 1996. It’s not uncommon to find a hundred 20-somethings waiting in line for the shop to open on Saturday morning. Carrie Bradshaw, the lead character from “Sex In The City” loved to mull life’s little problems (high heels or Mr. Big?) munching a Magnolia cupcake. Uptown, in Hell’s Kitchen, the Cupcake Café on Ninth Avenue has been astounding patrons since 1988 with its exquisite cupcakes lavished with hand-made buttercream flowers and other whimsies. Incredibly, they taste even better than they look.  

Between them, the two have spawned a dozen tasty offspring and imitators. Annapolis now has its own cupcake queens, at least three of them, each ruling a cupcake shop crowned with its own distinctive look and flavor. Here’s where to get these trendy, tasty, confections—just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Nostalgia Cupcakes

In the heart of downtown, Freeport, Long Island native Sharon White opened Nostalgia Cupcakes for business during last January’s blizzard—and promptly sold out. “Cupcakes are more personal than cakes,” White said as she dipped a cupcake into freshly-made ganache. “They bring more joy and a very instant gratification. People can taste a variety of flavors.” 

Her retro-looking shop, set inside a mini-mall, has a rotation of 40 flavors and sells about 14 flavors a day, from “standard” to “premium.” The most popular is the chocolate city cupcake—it’s like biting into a light chocolate truffle. For February, she’s whipped up velvet caramel kiss and chocolate razz cupcakes.

The Baltimore Cupcake Company

Across the street from the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Eastport, co-owner Tracy Rice opened another cupcake emporium, The Baltimore Cupcake Company. The original, founded in 2004, is located in a bright pink building on East Fort Avenue in Baltimore. 

Splashed with the company’s fun, punky, pink mermaid logo, at Baltimore Cupcakes kids eagerly reach for the bubblegum cupcake, flavored to taste just like the real deal. Adults are more inclined to favor the yummy toasted almond cupcake, a vanilla cake featuring chopped, toasted almonds and a dash of Amaretto and Kahlua liqueur flavoring. 

The cupcakes are baked in Baltimore before daybreak each morning and carefully transported to Eastport. Many can be topped with optional paper bows, fabric ribbons and whimsical signs.

Caroline’s Cakes

Near the Bay Bridge, in Jemal’s Bay 50 Mall, South Carolina native Caroline Ragsdale Reutter has been baking her famous 7-layer caramel cakes for several years. At Christmastime, over 50,000 cakes are shipped all over the states. 

Caroline’s cupcakes are a side business, a treat for local, drop-in customers who stop at Caroline’s Gourmet shop two doors down. The icing on her caramel chocolate cupcake is a baby-sized version of her Montana gold cake, a chocolate cake smothered with her trademark caramel icing. It has a rich, sophisticated and incredibly delicious taste. The chocolate lovers dream is a rush of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filing and a dollop of dark ganache icing.

They’re all hand-made and applied. “We just cannot resist the ladybugs, daisies, mums and pansies,” she said. “We just started adding little bees to some of them.”

Waistlines the world over are in danger: Caroline is working on a way to safely package and ship her cupcakes by mail. ~

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