Sugar
While we’re at it …
What’s with the muffin craze? At least some are less unhealthy than cupcakes. (BTW I am a great believer in unhealthy food that is good for the soul - in moderation , like a proper beignet and no, I don’t mean donut)
And … (assuming Americans are similar to Canadians) why is fruit cake deemed ‘seasonal’. And why overloaded with glacé fruit and sugar. A nice Dundee cake is good any time of the year.
Raymond Reddington’s “enjoy your muffin” with handgun in guy’s crotch is as anti muffin as I get.
I believe that is a historical association. It used to be the main way of having a sweet dessert (during Medieval times), as sugar was so scarce, no refrigeration, etc. So it was a special treat for holiday times and got associated with those celebrations.
It’s weird to walk into a restaurant, order a box of 6–12 donuts (or cupcakes), sit down at a table, and scarf them down like it’s a meal, but enough people must do it for those places to stay in business. I went to Krispy Kreme once after they opened to see what the hype was about. They handed everyone in line a free hot donut straight off the conveyor belt, and I remember thinking, “Okay, that’s what I came for, one Krispy Kreme donut” and leaving.
I’d add that Oprah had a huge influence on the cupcake hype in the early 00s.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone do that. Most of the time when people buy an entire box of 12 donuts they bring it to work and put it in the break room, in my experience.
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This, or group hangouts, game nights, etc…
Red velvet cupcakes. Yumm.
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or red velvet.
Eric’s and my post crossed.
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And least they are better than dry-ass scones. How can people eat those things?
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They were raised eating oak cakes as dessert.
Most cupcake shops have gone out of business or scaled back.
For kids parties though, they are easier than slicing up a sheet cake.
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Krispy Kreme’s, even the hot off conveyer, are the worst examples of sugary nastiness. The hot ones are just hot fluffy sugar, and why the heck do they pre glaze the other flavors?
FWIW, cake donuts 10x better than raised donuts anyway. Pike place market has a mini cake donut stand and those ones, hot, are the only donuts worth it.
My local bakery makes long-raised (24+ hours, cold) sourdough doughnuts, fried to order, $4 each ($3 each if you buy a dozen). Be prepared to wait, but it’s totally worth it. A freshly made, hot doughnut rolled in cinnamon sugar or glazed with dark chocolate with chile is an occasional treat for me.
That’s the way to do it!
When I lived in North Carolina, there was a man at the farmer’s market frying sweet potato donuts, which could then be topped with cinnamon sugar or rotating glazes. These were well worth eating, they would dissolve on the tongue with such delicious lightness. But again, only for eating immediately!
(Although those with less particular tastes would take them home)
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This is a funny rant, Adam! I will say that, when we buy cupcakes, we (a family of four) buy four different flavors and divide them into quarters. That way, we each get a bite of two of four different flavors. We only buy them from one of the fancy shops because the garbage at local grocery chains are just awful. For me/us, it’s all about the size and variety. My daughter recently made my wife a full-size cake for mother’s day and there’s still some in the refrigerator.
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At the hipper-than-you-will-ever-be local coffee shop in the I-look-like-I-slept-at-the-bus-stop-but-I’m-actually-an-artist-because-my-dad-has-a-trust-fund-set-up-for-me-and-I-don’t-really-need-to-work-for-a-living part of town, they have what’s called a ‘Cruller’. Some sort of bastard mix of a churro and a caramel donut. It’s good enough that I’ve ordered it 3 days in a row, so there’s a sucker born every minute! You can always get a gullible winemaker to bite (def better than a cupcake, tho)!
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I don’t know about your local bakery’s version, but crullers aren’t really new or hip, they’ve been around in both the US and Europe for ages.
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I suspect the reason most people like them is the reason I don’t. The cake:icing (frosting) ratio.
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