Manhattan: The Allure of the Magnolia Bakery Cupcake
Joe on January 22nd, 2010 | Filed under Travel
When I visited my friend Robert in New York, he took me around to all of his favorite places. One day we ended up in the West Village, as he had a surprise for me, a scrumptious surprise he said. We turned the corner and there it was, the Magnolia Bakery. I had seen an episode of “Sex in the City”, and Carrie was walking through the park eating a cupcake. I thought, what a strange thing to be walking around eating in the middle of the day, but at that time I was not aware of the bakery and its place in popular culture, much as the Soup Nazi became from the TV show “Seinfeld“.
When we approached I saw that the line to get in wrapped around the corner. Robert told me that this was always a popular spot, and on the weekends there is a line to get in as late as midnight. Their cupcakes are so popular the bakery limits the purchase of them to twelve per customer as the shop is so small, they just would not have been able to keep up with the demand. Now, cupcakes have always been a staple at kids birthday parties or celebrations, but in the 1990′s this little bakery started a cupcake craze with the adults, it almost became fashionable to be seen walking through the city of New York with a Magnolia Bakery cupcake in your hand.
Like many popular trends, the cupcake that made the bakery so popular was an idea that was born out of necessity. When the owner decided to make smaller coconut cakes, they realized that they always had batter left over, not enough to make an entire cake, so she told the baker to make cupcakes so that there would be no waste. That was in the fall of 1996. The baking was done at night when the bakery was closed, but groups of people walking by would knock on the door and beg her for a cupcake.
And thus, just a few weeks after the cupcake was born, the business of the bakery exploded and they had to extend their hours late into the evenings. So many of the restaurants of the city have similar stories, and the best of the best, whether it’s cupcakes, or pizza, or donuts, or falafel, or hot dogs. To find a list of the best in the city, look here. We finally made to the counter, and as I took my first bite, I understood the craze and the allure of the Magnolia Bakery Cupcake. Simply divine.
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