Chope: What's The Deal With Cupcakes?

It seems a little bitter to dislike something that’s clearly all the rage among many Klang Valley bakeries and restaurants: cupcakes. After all, they’re so pretty looking they’re virtually edible art. They’re great conversation pieces, and as in the case of a party I recently attended—where guest could decorate their own—cupcakes can be a fun social activity too.

I remember when the guys from art collective Wondermilk first started selling their Cuppacakes. It was as if they found a new medium to express their creativity. Instead of using a computer mouse or a Lomo camera, they used food colouring, butter and all sorts of sprinkles. They looked great, and our office would get all excited whenever we get a box to share. Yes, some of us get excited over anything edible, but the gorgeous cupcakes were really hard to resist. Eating one seemed to brighten up your day a little. Or maybe it was just the sugar high.

Sadly, the novelty has worn off, at least for me. Which is unfortunate, because the craze is just about the hit the big time here. From The Apartment to D’Lish, Bisou to your local flea market, elaborately decorated cupcakes are the new pirated DVDs. OK, I exaggerate.

I know disliking something so colourful and attractive is a bit like not finding babies or teddy bears cute—which is also true for me, but that’s another story. Nevertheless, I’m starting to find that, for the most part, cupcakes represent the victory of aesthetics over flavour. Frankly speaking, people don’t get excited over the taste of cupcakes, because they are generally rather boring in that respect. Cupcakes are, well, sweet. Buttery. Colourful? Sure, except colour doesn’t taste like anything.

There’s no mystery to what the blue one with tastes like. Or the green one, or the pink one. They all taste like butter cake with vanilla cream on top. Or chocolate. The one that looks like such a pretty flower? The one with glittering sprinkles? Same. And even if they could decorate a cupcake with a Malaysian flag (do not try that at home, as it is not allowed by our government) it would taste nothing like satay or nasi lemak. It would taste ... yes, you guessed it: the same. It’s enough to make Rotiboy seem like a Lafite creation.

Those who can taste colour are probably the same people who can hear cheese. And I don’t mean fans of that Umbrella ella ella song. So what we end up with most of the time is a glorified butter cake with a disproportionate amount of frosting. Or if we’re lucky, we get orange-flavoured cake. Ooh.

Where’s the creativity in it? All gone to decorating the top. Look, if I wanted something that came in five thousand colours and little flowers here and there, I would have bought wallpaper or visited a florist. Of course, this isn’t to say that one cannot be creative in the culinary aspect of cupcakes. In fact, I found a recipe for chempedak cupcakes with tangy cream cheese frosting and mango puree drizzle. That sounds interesting. Almost any cake can be made in a baking cup, after all.

But the fact is, the reason why people are crazy about cupcakes right now is not because they taste great. Bakers might argue otherwise, but a plain-old butter cupcake that looks like it was decorated by Pixar will appeal more than an Oreo yoghurt cupcake that looks like crap, as interesting as the latter sounds. So for now, cupcakes are 90% about looks, and 10percent taste. And this is why some of them are so elaborately decorated that it feels disrespectful to bite into it before taking some photos for your blog.

I don’t claim to be above eating cupcakes myself, of course. They’re as inoffensive as say, chicken sausages and far more appealing than beef bacon. And as much as I love to have some complexity in flavour, texture and aroma in my food, I’ll eat white bread with Planta if I’m hungry. But cupcakes is one food craze I thnk I’ll pass on.

TEXT Brian Yap