The Anthony Bourdain thread

people need to stop frontin, cupcakes are delicious. And you can eat them without a fork, which is v. difficult to do with other cake products i.e. regular cake.

just wanted to point out that the current gourmet cupcake craze has almost made eating them without a fork impossible unless you are totes okay with having frosting smeared all over your face like a neanderthal

That cupcake drying thing is crazy nonsense.

yeah there's this new cupcake place near our house and they smear so much damn frosting on the things that I can barely eat one without unhinging my jaw. i love cupcakes and they are delicious, but it seems like overkill

xxp only if they're proportioned wrong or are going insane with frosting towers or something. but i would not eat a cupcake that had those problems.

too much frosting is a mortal sin imo

haha wait didn't you just namecheck Kick-Ass Cupcakes??????

xp I like that it keeps the top of the cupcake moist but I peel off frosting before eating.

lol yeah i just brought cupcakes from there to my parents house when they had us for dinner! i thought they were well-proportioned.

ftr CAD is saying that this is not too much frosting on a cupcake:

http://www.thehightea.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Cupcakes-Kickass-Cupcakes.JPG

now don't get me wrong, I totally fuck with these, but never would it cross my mind to hold these things up as an example of how one should really frost a cupcake

shocking that these two very well balanced and reasonable dudes are so negative about something frivolous, nostalgic, girly, baby-stroller-y, goop-dot-commy etc

hahahahahhah i can't believe you are just busting out photo evidence like that!

you almost have to smush it or lick it off with a finger--cupcakes should be a little more. . . elegant

i remember thinking it was good at the time but am willing to be overruled by dan instantly producing photos of kickass cupcakes.

Those are beautiful! But also perfect evidence of the boutique approach to baked goods when really I just want a piece of chocolate cake.

yeah i mean cake is pretty undeniable

though i think pie > > cake

looooooooooooooooool I thought Que said "you almost have to smash it" at first and I was all "o_O I have never had the desire to smash a cupcake"

And yes the are gorgeous and they also taste great but there is something to be said for simplicity, right? I mean, these should be an occasional treat, not the norm.

pie is way better than cake

Those cupcakes Dan pictured looked pretty proportional to me.

CUPCAKES should be an occasional treat and not the norm is we're getting technical

*if

the top one on the left and the second one from the top, underneath it look pretty crazy

! So frosting that is as high as the cupcake is an expected, normal proportion to you???????

also want to point out that the only thing visible on the top right one is frosting

If I can see cake around the frosting then there is not too much frosting is my general rule.

i'm kind of over cupcakes too, at least as being this "thing" people "front" about

woah, so that's like ganache ON TOP of frosting? wow.

I could tell what was going on in the top right one. If that's all frosting and you can actuall pull it out of the holder then yes that's too much frosting.

can't actually

See what I don't like about those is that I want a well-distributed amount of frosting with cake in every bite -- that frosting technique guarantees that at some point there will be a mouthful of frosting or else you'll have to pull it apart and re-aportion the bites out, which negates the forkless aspect completely.

it's like people with no baking skills but who want to open a bakery of some sort instead decide to open a cupcake shop and omg toss a few dozen red velvet cupcakes into the display case and suddenly there's a line out the door. yeah it's tasty, sure, but i dunno it's a little boring maybe.

People with no baking skills are baking tasty cupcakes?

it's a funny world we live in

tbf the cupcakes in the photo that i am repping actually use really nice flavor combinations that are kind of cool and unique without being gimmicky.

i dunno, i'm not impressed by the guy who makes nothing but cupcakes. even if they're really good ones.

iirc the one with the dark green frosting is a "green monster" cupcake that uses sam adams in the batter--i was not convinced at first but it totally works and is really tasty.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oiDpkcsnL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

imo do one thing, and do it well

Yeah as long as the one thing you do totally rocks, it's cool.

tbf the cupcakes in the photo that i am repping actually use really nice flavor combinations that are kind of cool and unique without being gimmicky.

oh I totally agree with you on that, I just have minor issues with their frosting methodology because it seems like half the bakeries around here are copying them and that causes hell on dudes like me who like cupcakes and have facial hair

"i dunno, i'm not impressed by the guy who makes nothing but cupcakes. even if they're really good ones."

I'm impressed by anyone who makes anything tasty.

"and that causes hell on dudes like me who like cupcakes and have facial hair"

Shave or carry wet naps.

Cupcakes are for children's birthday parties and moments when whimsy matters more than taste or texture, because they're basically all exterior from a baking standpoint and are nearly impossible to keep from drying out.

This is the most OTM thing ever said about cupcakes. They're kind of ok, maybe sometimes, but as far as sweet delicious baked goods go, they're somewhere in the bottom third. I don't "fucking hate" cupcakes -- I don't wish they were never born, or blame them for all my problems, or anything like that. But at their very very best, they are efficient frosting-delivery vehicles, and nothing more.

too many of these cupcakes i'm having lately are pretty weak too. i had some the other night from a place in long beach that were purportedly EPIC but they tasted like something you'd pick up for $3.99 for a half dozen at ralph's instead of $5 apiece.

i have had all kinds of fancy-ass OTT cupcakes around chicago but these are still my favorites:

http://www.chicagomag.com/images/2005/12%20December%202005/0512Arena_Cupcake9.jpg

Shave or carry wet naps.

fuck that noise, imo

wet naps are for babies and gurls and I am neither, I am a MAN

a MAN who eats CUPCAKES

http://www.southportgrocery.com/imgs/photogallery/Cupcakes-on-White.jpg

Some of you anti-cupcakists are clearly having inferior cupcakes.

there are way too many fucking cupcakes in seattle.

i like cupcake from time to time but gosh ppl, make something more interesting once in a while!