How Duff Goldman Really Feels About The Cupcake Trend
Although food critics, pastry chefs, restaurateurs, and other prognosticators (including, no doubt, more than one cupcake-fatigued classroom parent or two) have repeatedly pronounced the cupcake trend dead and buried, others, including a once-cupcake-averse Duff Goldman, say there will probably always be room for these cute little individual, hand-held servings of cake and icing.
For those who don't remember a time before there was a cupcake shop on every corner, here's a refresher on how the basic kid's birthday party staple became elevated to gourmet status. According to The Week, in 2015 the cupcake usurped the Krispy Kreme donut in America's string of dessert "serial fixations." The watershed moment came when one of the most popular shows of 2000, "Sex and the City," featured New York City's Magnolia Bakery and its big, beautiful, indulgent cupcakes. A string of copycats followed, not just in New York but across the country. Sprinkles Cupcakes, Georgetown Cupcake, and Crumbs were some early businesses that capitalized on the dessert trend sanctioned by Carrie and Miranda. While lots of cupcake-only bakeries and chains have gone out of business (per Business Insider), celebrity baker Duff Goldman admits we'll always need cupcakes.
And is that a bad thing? We say no! Even Duff, who, let's face it, does everything big, was once staunchly anti-cupcake, but eventually came around to the diminutive desserts. The veteran baker of extreme and hyper-realistic cakes and host of "Ace of Cakes" and "Kids Baking Championship" spoke with Parade Magazine on the topic of cupcakes and had interesting things to say.
He makes cupcakes the Duff way
What does Duff really think of cupcakes? "They've surpassed trend status," Goldman told Parade in 2012. "It's gone from a trend to a staple." Goldman once looked forward to the day cupcakes would be "over," but said that eventually he "had to learn how to make cupcakes." Why the cupcake disdain from the famously nice star? "Cupcakes just offended me because they're so easy," he explained. "They're just this little thing. But I've had to learn how to make and decorate cupcakes." He also confessed that the innocent-looking desserts "kick[ed] my a**! I didn't realize it would be so difficult. It's not that the skills are difficult," he explained. "It's coming up with a good cupcake style that's all my own."
He certainly seems to have worked it out and gives his cupcakes the Duff Goldman treatment. Last Christmas, Duff appeared on "The Talk" to share his a delightful and whimsical Cupcake Christmas Trees (via YouTube). The Food Network adapted and posted his recipe for (perhaps too realistic) "Brain Cupcakes," from his book "Duff Bakes: Think and Bake Like a Pro at Home." These might be great for Halloween parties next month.
Further evidence of Duff's cupcake conversion? His line of baking mixes includes a "Unicorn Cupcake" kit. The colorful cakes get sprinkled with "magical sanding sugar" and topped with a tall dollop of frosting for some Duff Goldman drama.
While they're not as challenging or jaw dropping as some of his "Ace of Cakes" creations, Duff seems to have made peace with cupcakes.