Cupcakes are better than pies
Watching the professional basketball industry is sometimes like watching the food industry. A few weeks ago NYTimes wrote about how it's time for the pie! Move over cupcake, y'all is done! I can't tell you how often you hear that in sports. Are Kobe's knees too old? Are the Celtics too decrepit to be serious contenders again this year? Is Kevin Durant the best player in the NBA? The answers to those questions in order are: not yet, almost too decrepit, and KD is top 5 for sure. But prognostication means that you gotta be the first to talk about something, and that's how you start a trend. If indeed pies do overtake cupcakes, at some point someone would be like, "NYTimes was right all along!" And if you're the first guy to say Kevin Durant is awesome and can lead his team to a championship, then when the Thunder go deep in the playoffs, you're a genius. But hey, pies are not going to sustain this long enough to be a take-over, and KD ain't the best player in the NBA yet.
Look, I love pies and all. They're neat. They come in circles or semi-triangles depending on whether you get a whole pie or a slice. But they're expensive compared to cupcakes. Even if you get a cupcake that's in the upper echelon of the price scale at Butter Lane, $3, it's still cheaper than any pie you're gonna get in New York City. See it's just like the basketball analogy. Kevin Durant might be really really awesome, but guess what, Lebron James is still more awesome.
I find Butter Lane's cake to be soft, spongy, and dry. They are a little better than the cupcake from Little Cupcake Bakeshop. I can't comment on the sweetness because it was fine to me. I also happen to like sweetness in my cupcakes more than just about anyone in the world. I still have yet to have a cupcake that is cloying. Seriously. For example I've had Magnolia's on many different occasions. On some they were free because of some office party and on others I had to pay. They were always tastier when they were free. Sorry, just works that way. I also wonder what some people do when they're eating M&M's. Is it like, oh one or two and it's fine and dandy but at like five, it's fucking cloying. Ah, stop the cloyingness! It's killing me!!! I'm not sure. Cupcakes in general are not too sweet for me.
So I guess the point of this post is to say that pies are not overtaking the city. They never will overtake the city until it becomes easier to construct and make pies, thus reducing the overhead costs of pie production. Because the cheapest pies in the city are at least five dollars. While the expensive cupcakes are only three dollars. Gotta do the math here. Pies can never win. This is unlike the sports analogy though, because at some point KD will be the greatest player in his generation. It's only a matter of time. I would like to say the same for pies, but no way jose.
Butter Lane
123 East 7th Street.
New York, NY 10009
212-677-2880
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I actually see them serve different occasion. I don't have a sweet tooth, but on a sweet treat scale, I would rank these as such (from daily to occasionally consumption)
candies - cookies - ice-cream - cupcake/brownie/donuts/cake-form sweets - slice of cake - pie - a whole cake (like birthday or other celebratory events) *of course there are other desserts, but I'm running out of room. :)
We can never get rid of the cupcake craze because it's easy to handle (one hand only) whereas a pie, you need to sit down and savor the taste.
kim
November 29, 2010 5:35 pm
Them's fightin' words.
1. KD is the best player in the NBA imo. You gotta consider his intangibles. He's just OOOOZING intangibles (and despite what Lebron would love the masses to believe, ego shouldn't be counted towards intangibles)
2. pie.volume/mass() >>>> cupcake.volume/mass()
quantity is important. You're referring to purchasing power with regards to cupcakes or pies, but if you're baking from scratch, the effort for either is virtually identical.
Nicholas
November 29, 2010 10:59 pm
@kim,
wow, you rate it all from candy to pie! that makes sense to me. the cupcake does have an edge over pie in ease of consumption for sure.
@Nicholas,
intangibles is one thing, it's another to have Russell Westbrook as your sidekick. Seriously, there's zero comparison between Mo Williams at his best during the Lebron years versus what Westbook was last year and is this year.
as for the volume and mass comparison, you're right about single serving of pie's density versus a single serving of cupcake density. i blame this on pie makers. seriously, if they're going to overtake cupcakes, they need to make either cheaper pies or cut thinner slices that don't make customers think they're cheap with portions. I think complexity of baking is definitely up to the beholder though. Making crust and then filling is not the same as making batter and then frosting. I don't cook though so what do I know. haha
Danny
November 29, 2010 11:14 pm
I see you had my favorite--the sea salted chocolate. Looking at this picture makes me crave one. I suppose their cake is a little on the dry side, but I guess I like that about it. It tastes more homemade and not like it's full of carageenan or something.
JJR
November 30, 2010 6:26 pm
@JJR,
Yea maybe the dryness is reminiscent of homemade. The thing is, homemade doesn't cost $3 a piece!
Danny
December 1, 2010 10:20 am
I bet the practical result here won't be displacement of good cupcake places -- just a shift of fad-based, mediocre cupcakes to fad-based, mediocre pies. Frankly, both of them are a pain to me. But neither are as bad as a god awful croissant.
Instead of looking for the next sugary baking fad, can't people just get the basics right?
James
December 2, 2010 8:35 pm
I was thinking that perhaps the cupcake was dry since it looks like they trimmed the edges of the cupcake. Usually, in order to preserve the moisture of the cupcake, the edges are kept.
Joce
December 5, 2010 6:53 pm
@James,
People ought to get the basics right, or if they don't, sell it for cheaper. haha. But in NY, that's hard to do I guess.
@Joce,
Maybe they do trim it... I have no idea, but the paper liner is adhered to the cupcake, so I'm not sure what they could be trimming...
Danny
December 7, 2010 11:24 am