'Cupcake Wars' & 'DC Cupcakes': What Is It About a Cupcake?

Today's cuppa: Lime-flavored iced fizzy mineral water (it's HOT today in L.A.!)

Earlier this summer, I interviewed Sprinkles Cupcake founder Candace Nelson (left) for a story connected to the episode of Food Network's Tuesday-night reality-competition series "Cupcake Wars" that featured "Ace of Cakes" baker Duff Goldman as a guest judge.

Click here for what Nelson had to say about defending her little cakes against big-cake proponent Goldman.

Nelson was kind enough to invite me to drop by the Beverly Hills location of Sprinkles Cupcakes -- described by the Los Angeles Times as "the progenitor of the haute cupcake craze" -- to sample the wares.

Last week, I stopped in and, while waiting for Nelson to arrive, tucked into a carrot cupcake (below, right) that, I must say, was moist and yummy (carrot cake is my favorite, so I'm pretty fussy about the cake part).

This was an ordinary Wednesday in July, in the middle of the afternoon, and the line was pretty long when I got there and even longer when I left (and no, it wasn't all women).

So the question is, what the heck is it about cupcakes?

Now, I'm no confection novice, having spent time behind the scenes of TLC's "Ultimate Cake Off," interviewed the host, George Duran, and judges, and then decorated a cake of my own with the Cake Divas of Culver City, Calif.

Also, during a visit to New York City in April, I sampled the oversized wares of the Crumbs Bake Shop (below, left) in the open air of Bryant Park in Manhattan (where Sprinkles will soon open a bakery).

But it wasn't until I did the research for "Cupcake Wars" that I realized the extent of the cupcake craze. I knew about Sprinkles, of course, having tasted them on set at the allegedly last episode of "Scrubs" (it was the last NBC episode, that much was true) and then at a "Flipping Out" birthday party (pictured at bottom).

But it's now certain that the cupcake-TV trend, like the cupcake-eating trend, is on the upswing.

Tonight, Friday, July 16, TLC debuts "DC Cupcakes," a new series about business partners and sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis (below, right) of Georgetown Cupcake, a small bakery that has become a thriving business.

Although Georgetown Cupcake is rather pinker and more overtly feminine than the simpler, more muted Sprinkles aesthetic, LaMontagne, just like Nelson, gave up a career in finance to make cupcakes (her sister did PR for Gucci).

Talking in a coffeeshop across the street from her crowded South Santa Monica Boulevard shop -- where we were interrupted by the unsettling rolling of a reasonably sized earthquake, leading me to wonder whether the Earthquake Cupcake will ever be on the menu of a California cupcakery, and what flavor it would be -- Nelson says she has no regrets.

"Sometimes we're thinking, 'Hmmmm,'" she says. "But we're doing what we love to do, and we're very fortunate to be able to make a living doing it. There are no complaints."

Asked about the appeal of the diminutive confections, Nelson says, "My favorite thing is the universal appeal of the cupcake, and the fact that everyone can participate in it. They're very democratic in that way.

"Who hasn't had one? Who doesn't have an opinion? Even the anti-cupcake sentiment -- great, so you hate a cupcake.

"Everyone's talking about it, because everyone can. I can get in a cab and have a very intelligent conversation about what I do. Everyone has an opinion and wants to jump into the debate. I love that."

One argument against cupcakes may stem from their association with the chick-TV hit "Sex and the City," meaning that they're thought to be too precious and cutesy and girly. But according to Nelson, dudes eat cupcakes too. And, the best seller to men is?

"Peanut butter," she says. "And they like it better with peanut-butter frosting than chocolate."

Nelson sent me home with a box of cupcakes, including peanut butter (with chocolate frosting). I texted a male pal to see if Nelson's assertion was true. He sampled the red velvet, the Key lime pie and another flavor I can't remember (but I think it was chocolate of some sort), but his face lit up when he hit the peanut butter.

And, true to Nelson's observation, he said he'd prefer it with peanut-butter frosting.

Of course, the food police will always complain that the cupcake is inherently fattening -- even though it's more portion-controlled than trying to figure out a right-sized slice of cake or pie -- but hey, you can always eat one for lunch and nothing else.

Says the svelte Nelson, "I have done cupcakes as meal replacements in the past. It can be done. I won't say it will get you through the day, but it will get you through a couple of hours."