Sweet! 25 cupcakeries we love

​{ National Geographic Traveler :: February 2009 }

This Valentine’s Day, cupcakes are the new heart-shaped box of chocolates. Nothing against heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, we love them too, but cupcakes tell that special someone you’re a 21st-century, game-changing kind of sweetheart.

The gourmet cupcake trend really took off back in the late ’90s when HBO’s Sex and the City series name-checked New York’s Magnolia Bakery. And so far, the cupcake trend only seems to be spreading. Cupcake aficionados tend to be passionate sorts, arguing whether the icing should be a thin layer or piled high, the cake palm-sized or one-bite. But we say, what’s to fight about? Cupcake is love in flour and icing. Here’s a select list of top cupcakeries around the US.

Charleston
Cupcake [DownSouth]
Most unusual flavor: Cookies & Cream (dark chocolate cake with Oreo buttercream icing topped with an Oreo cookie). Price: $2.75

{ Read the rest on the National Geographic Traveler website }