L.A.'s Cupcake Culture

With the impending arrival of NYC's famous Magnolia Bakery on WeHo's Third Street in May, the competition among the cupcake purveyors in town gets even steeper.  Currently there are three major players on the cupcake front: Sprinkles, Crumbs, and now Famous Cupcakes, backed by the Kardashian clan. Yes, this means anytime you purchase Famous' cupcakes, you get to see those famous asses of the sisters Kardashian right on the box.  Oh wait... is this the reason for their massive butts?  The cupcakes?! It makes so much sense now. I never understood why a reality TV family would be made the face of trendy treats.

And trendy they are.  These days you can't go to a single function - birthday party, office meeting, baby shower, graduation celebration, sample sale - without the requisite cupcake tower or box. Indeed we are in the midst of a cupcake revolution; they've never had the kind of presence they do now in the dessert and snack world. It's as if they've snatched the spotlight from both doughnuts and brownies. And now with Magnolia on the way, cupcake culture grows even more.

It will be interesting to see how L.A.'s cupcake landscape (and the size of the average Angeleno ass) transforms once Magnolia is open for business. I'm sensing a cupcake-to-cupcake competition will be in order to determine whose reign supreme.  But for now, of all the cupcake shops people wait in lines out the door for, Sprinkles, L.A.'s original cupcake haven, is still my favorite.

[Photo via Sprinkles]