How Do They Get Away With It?

Okay, so last night my mom saved me part of the paper so that I could read an article about the Retro Bakery, a new establishment trying to give The Cupcakery a run for it's money.

Now I tried The Cupcakery when it opened its location on Lake Mead and Rock Springs. It's close to my house. So I was a little disappointed that it wasn't cuter inside. But I bought six cupcakes to bring home and try. And while they weren't awful, they weren't very good either. And they were $2.50 a piece! (A check of the website now shows them to be $2.75 a piece) The 'Strawberry Shortcake" was so overly artificially sweetened and artificially colored that I couldn't eat the frosting (and I am a HUGE frosting fanatic!) All of their cupcakes were dry and their icings were mostly just piped on. What a racket I thought, selling cupcakes made gosh knows when, frozen, then defrosted when needed with huge heavy icings on top. (Again, I am a fan of the huge heavy icing, if it's good.) At $30 bucks a dozen I figure they are making a ginormous profit.

So I decided to check out the website for Retro Bakery. Their cupcakes retail for $2.50 a piece. Their flavors were more plain that The Cupcakery (if that's possible). The only ones that intrigued me were the "Hop Scotch" (their best seller, a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream that is then dipped in butterscotch ganache) and the "Chocolate Covered Banana" (chocolate cake with banana buttercream dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with nuts). Again, I found the price outrageous, but not as outrageous as their offer to turn any flavor into a full sized cake for only $45.00. What?!? You already have the batter laying around! At most, even in the overpriced world you are living in, it should be about the same as a dozen cupcakes. Now to be fair, I haven't eaten at Retro Bakery. They may be much better cupcakes (one would hope). They may be the best cupcakes you have ever eaten. And for $2.50 a piece, they should be. They should be such good cupcakes that you orgasm immediately following ingestion. They should send you into rapture. (Instead of just a diabetic coma).

Right after I read the article in the paper I read a bit in the latest issue of Bon Appetit about the cupcake craze in the L.A. area with descriptions of some of it's cupcakeries. The prices in L.A. are the same or a bit higher. Their bakeries were a bit more upscale both in curb appeal and ingredients, using the 'best' chocolate, etc. So I'm not blaming Retro Bakery or The Cupcakery for trying to keep up their high prices, but let me say this...I can make a much better cupcake for a much lower price. And that's as a home baker. I don't even get the benefit of their bulk purchases of ingredients, etc. And I can invent some outrageous flavors too! Tiramisu cupcakes anyone? How about Mojito cupcakes? Tres leche? I could do it for $1.25 a cupcake, with delivery! I swear, I'm going to open my own bakery one day and sell the most delicious cupcakes and brownies ever, and they will be worth the reasonable price I would charge! Okay, let's add that to my list of dreams. In the meantime, I'll be experimenting with flavors - let me know if you have a flavor you think I should try to make. If it works, I'll name it after you!