The Cupcake Craze

Helen Baron delves into the colourful world of cupcakes and finds out how Primrose Hill Cakery ‘Sweet Things’ came to be...

Cupcakes are all the rage. En vogue for the last few years, cute as anything, kitsch but still chic, they combine all the most fun parts of femininity – a touch of Marie Antoinette here, a dash of Alice in Wonderland there – into one bright, bitesized package. No doubt sparked by the starring role played by New York’s Magnolia’s Bakery in Sex and the City, cupcakes quickly became as cool as Carrie Bradshaw’s couture.


But the end of the show itself did not slow the ascent of the mighty cupcake, and in Britain what was once a simple, rather plain teatime treat has become a national obsession – and a surprisingly steadfast seller even during the recession. Cupcake businesses, often run by mums turning their expertise into acumen, are doing a roaring trade, and we the masses seem unable to stop ourselves partaking. Why should we? At a couple of pounds a pop, the confections are a cheaper luxury than new shoes or a designer handbag (and elicit just as many coos of delight when given as a gift). Cupcake cafes have cashed in on our desire for elevenses, afternoon tea and the occasional coffee pit-stop, while adding a healthy dose of whimsy and nostalgia to the mix. Cupcakes make us think back to halcyon childhoods, cosy afternoons spent baking with mum – and they are the perfect way to interest our own little ones in cookery. In 1950s America, a tray of cupcakes was often taken into school on a child’s birthday; a tradition slowly being revived in pockets of the UK today – not least in Primrose Hill.

Boasting customers such as Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson and Sophie Dahl, Sweet Things has become a neighbourhood favourite in Primrose Hill.

Natalie Allen, who started the company, moved to London from Cheshire 15 years ago and – frankly – was disappointed with the capital’s cakes. She missed home baking, goodies the way grandma used to make them: “Even now, I can’t eat Starbucks or Costa cake or anything like that. Back then I just thought, where is there to go for a cup of tea and a decent cake that’s not mass produced?”

Allen always knew she’d be involved with food somehow, having grown up in a family of keen bakers. A project manager in the city, she would spend her spare time making cakes and desserts for friends’ parties, and the success of her efforts quickly turned her thoughts to the idea of making her hobby into something more permanent. Fortunately, her husband advised her to chase her dream; she never looked back.

After completing a cookery course at the Cordon Bleu, Allen began to bake from home and sell her wares at luxury food markets, as well as baking for private customers and taking samples to small, independent shops and delis. The response was enthusiastic, and her business began to grow and grow. Soon she was stocking The Bread Stall on Clapham’s Northcote Road – prime cupcake territory, with almost more Bugaboos than people. The bakery was soon ordering up to a thousand cupcakes a week. But it was the renowned West End department store Selfridges that was Allen’s ultimate customer. She had her heart set on supplying them, pursuing the store’s food hall buyer doggedly. She knew that the amount of pitches Selfridges received daily from similar companies must number in the hundreds, but an initial rejection didn’t faze her. She knew the problem must lie with the sheer number of applications the shop faced, rather than with the taste of her cakes, so she sent samples to the buyer and to the food hall’s counter staff. Her persistence paid off – less than a day later the call came, with Selfridges requesting a supply of her cupcakes to the store’s London, Birmingham and Manchester branches. From that moment, everything changed. Bigger and suitably equipped premises beckoned, and Allen moved her business to Primrose Hill. A little later, she was approached by Fortnum and Mason too. “It’s a real achievement because there, we’ve beaten a lot of other companies to be one of maybe five similar products on the shelf – Fortnum and Mason is all about high quality food.”
But what, I ask her, accounts for the cupcake craze of recent years?
“I think the answer is two-fold. People are attracted to the variety of flavours and colours, and I think they don’t quite feel like they’re eating a whole slice of cake!” And was Allen, like so many others, inspired by Sex and the City’s very own Magnolia Bakery?  She laughs: “Totally – I visited it again recently on a trip to New York and the queues went around the corner.” She confesses though that the cakes were not up to scratch. “A lot of unnecessary decoration but lacking in substance.” How does she feel, I wonder, about the upsurge in competition? “If you’re good, you’ll stand out,” she replies, with complete confidence. “We have a 95% repeat custom rate so people are easily converted. There are some people who will always buy their cake from, say, Marks and Spencer, but if you’re after the best ingredients, if you want the most out of your cake, then you’ll probably want to come to us.”

To further illustrate her point, she tells me a story from last year. During a spell when London had all but shutdown due to extreme winter weather, the business had cakes waiting to go out to clients – including one who was getting married that day. Faced with delays caused by stranded delivery vans, another Sweet Things regular who happened to be in the shop at the time offered to drive the wedding cake to its destination, helping to avoid a wedding day disaster. A touching anecdote and one that shows the kind of devotion Sweet Things customers feel not just to the shop itself, but to their fellow cake-fans!


Now, of course, business is booming, though Allen believes she has benefited from her timing – it would be harder, she says, to set up in today’s tumultuous economy. “The cost of ingredients is now so high… it’s actually quadrupled. If you are a large company you can negotiate fixed rates, and we now have some leverage, but smaller companies are priced out.” Allen must feel relieved that she capitalised on her idea when she did. But there’s little time for wondering how different things might have been, and as I leave she is about to don a hair net and oversee the development of a new product for Easter – a time of year for which her enthusiasm and excitement are obvious. “Last year we made cupcakes that looked like Easter Eggs!” she coos. Sweet Things indeed.

Cupcake Facts
Vogue magazine claimed that owning a cupcake bakery is the career fantasy of our times.
Google has pronounced the cupcake the fastest-rising recipe search in the UK
One cupcake fan page on Facebook has more than 250,000 members