There’s plenty of room in the world of cupcakes to become a famous maker, or baker.
And there’s nothing stopping you, short of a muffin pan, an oven, a grain, a fat, a sweetener. I say that factiously.
Magnolia Bakery in New York was the first place I noticed the advent of the celebrity cupcake, evidenced by lines down Bleeker Street. Now, the company is a cupcake juggernaut.
Mani Niall of Sweetbar in Oakland is an old friend who used to be Michael Jackson’s personal chef – I’ve seen photos and videos of Mani with Mr. Bad. In any case, Mani later invented the fauxnut at his place on Fairfax in LA, to cater to the needs to that short actor, what’s his name? Oh, yes Danny DeVito. Now Mani is famous yet again in Oakland, for his cupcakes, cookies and such. So, it’s not about the cupcake, per se, it’s the attitude. I helped him make his kickstarter video, but it was really his interesting character that made it all possible.
Even with the character it takes to be famous, being out there and known to the public is a lifestyle choice. You can decide to be famous, or low key. Last night, I was out for a drink at Serpentine with friends and colleagues, and I started randomly talking with Patricia Kline and her husband Scott. She created the iPie a while back, for Individual Pie. Not a smart pie. In any case, she made the Wall Street Journal and Oprah Magazine. She even had a potential book deal, but couldn’t reconcile the desire to write a memoir vs the cookbook the publisher wanted.
Did she really want to run a pie business? In other words, do you want to work at fame? You actually do have to come up with recipes, experiment with them, the repeat the baking process over and over. It’s a lot of work. Mani has to manage a business, and fame is part of his marketing practice. He probably wouldn’t even call it fame, even though he’s been reviewed by all the foodie media. He actually was in Details back in the day about the time I published my Allen Ginsberg interview.
The cupcake batter of fame may be in you, but the question is whether or not you want to bake it.
