How big can cup cakes get?

It’s over 50 years since Hostess started selling cup cakes but now they are appearing in lots of guises.

Premium retail outlets are opening with recipes that sound more like cocktails than cakes. Anyone for a Long Island Lemon, a Buttercream Blossom or a Black Ty Affair? All available at New York Cupcakes.

Bookshops are featuring cup cake recipe books, Amazon currently lists 91 titles, and cookery stores are loaded with pans and decorating kits.

What’s driving the growth?

- a reaction against the ubiquitous muffin?
- a chance for a small treat rather than a glutinous slice of gateaux?
- the discovery of afternoon as an additional consumption occasion?

Of course the front cover of Martha Stewart Living magazine hasn’t hurt either.

Will cup cakes go mass? Can they go mass premium?

Any one for tea and cake instead of coffee and muffin?