Cupcake Gentrification. Interesting. My favorite bit:
Meanwhile, who is to say that cupcake gentrification might not function as cause, as well as effect? Could urban planners “seed†depressed areas with gourmet delis and boutique coffeeshops, in order to lure in a gentrifying vanguard of artists and hipsters? Forget former NYPD chief Bill Bratton’s “Fixing Broken Windows†theory; in this view, what would really turn around certain neighbourhoods is a state-funded injection of artisan bakeries.
It’s not a joke. Apparently Magic Johnson has a foundation that puts up money to start Starbucks in poor neighbourhoods. I did not know that.
But yeah, I’m kinda over the whole cupcake thing. Not that I was ever really big into it in the first place, but there you go. Bring on the whoopie pies!
LynS
April 7, 2010 — 5:23 pm
Having never heard of ‘whoopie pies’ I followed the link in the article. I think the moment might have come to hunt out my mother’s recipe for ‘melting moments’…a much more appetising description than ‘whoopie pie’.
Kris
April 7, 2010 — 6:13 pm
I’ve had melting moments before, and I think they’re smaller. You can’t tell from the photos, but a whoopie pie is much bigger, more like the size of a hamburger bun. The sides are softer, definitely more of a cake than a biscuit, and the filling is quite soft as well (like a buttercream). My impression of melting moments is that they’re more biscuit-like, whereas a whoopie pie is more like a cake.
The Wikipedia article on Whoopie Pies has a much better description than the original article. They were pretty common where I grew up in Amish country, but only the chocolate and pumpkin varieties. I made them for one of our Halloween parties once (photo) with the filling dyed grey. 🙂