Cupcake Craze.
Well another Ibiza week comes to a close, this week though was a little different for me as I didn’t have orders to be sent out the door on time!! I did a little baking but not too much, I even had time to go shopping, (no, not real girly shopping I will have to wait until next week for that as I am off to the UK in the next couple of days) I only went to a few local supermarkets, but having some time meant browsing around a little and what did come to my attention is the fact that everywhere now seems to be selling gadget type items for cake and cupcake making, which includes: the cases, mixes, (not sure about those!) cutters, pans, sprinkles, flavourings, colours etc . This is an enormous leap from a little over a year ago when it was almost impossible to buy any items relating to decent cake making, Ibiza is catching up, unfortunately like most things here the market will now be flooded, there are even countless cupcake shops appearing all over the Island. This I seem to remember happened first in America, New York particularly, followed by the UK, of course this was over five years ago, so I am not quite sure if Ibiza now thinks they have something new, or are they just hoping they can make the cupcake revival! Of course cupcakes we have always made in one form or another, they are great little treats for the children’s packed lunches, afternoon tea, etc Long may they remain on our baking list.
The difference that came about when the ‘cupcake’ craze began is that it made its way into being present for special occasions such as weddings, they are ornately decorated, each cake being a little work of art, then put together with a larger cake for ‘cutting’, the cakes being presented on tiered stands or displayed on antique trays or glass bowls etc, anything and everything became possible with the humble little cupcake. It was a trend and still has that status with many weddings, the lovely thing about a cupcake is that each guest receives their own unique complete cake, whereas a tiered wedding cake looks fantastic on the display stand, but once cut the decoration is destroyed and is ‘just a slice of cake’.
So even if you are not about to make a wedding cupcake tower, but do want to impress some friends and family, make a batch of cupcakes add piped butter-cream or even flat fondant icing and then some decoration, there is so much to choose from most of it is so easy to use and the finished cupcake looks very impressive. Give it a try you could even make ‘Christmas cupcakes’.
Till Next week, Ibiza’s Queen of cakes. xx