As the saying goes, everything that was old is new again, and that holds true especially for the uniquely American dessert — the cupcake.

 

Few things combine the nostalgia and just plain delicious goodness of a cupcake. Most adults have the childhood memory of peeling back the cupcake liner and taking a healthy bite of the miniature-sized cake topped with luscious buttercream icing.

Over the past five years or so, cupcakes have experienced a renaissance in the United States. It began with the Magnolia Bakery in New York, continued with famed cupcake seller Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, Calif., and continues in Baltimore with Charm City Cupcakes and The Baltimore Cupcake Company.