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As the sugary phenomenon arrives in the Middle East, Charmaine Mok asks why it should be that dinky little iced cakes should prove so globally popular
For Starbucks, blame/thank Friends. Well, maybe not quite, but with its Central Perk setting, the hit US TV comedy show has been credited by some with paving the way for the global spread of the American coffee shop in the 1990s. This decade, another US TV show – Sex And The City – has given a similar boost to the spread of the cupcake store.
It all started with Magnolia in New York’s West Village, where the bakery’s cakes – vanilla with lilac or rose icing, mint green on chocolate, all dusted with hundreds and thousands – were nibbled upon by Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in an episode of the TV show and immediately ended up on the pages of every style magazine, from Vogue to Nylon . Since then, Magnolia has spawned countless spin-offs and me-too cupcake shops, not just in New York but across the US and over the Atlantic in the UK and Europe.
And the biggest leap? Magnolia’s manager, Steve Abrams, recently announced that the company will be opening its first branch in the Middle East – Bloomingdales in Dubai will be the home of the new outpost. Except he’s been beaten to it: Jordanian Fadi Jaber opened Sugar Daddy’s in Amman after tasting one of Magnolia’s cakes in New York five years ago (see Sugar Daddy, left). His success has seen him open branches in Dubai and Beirut.
Tarek Malouf is the son of celebrated Lebanese author Hanan Al-Shaykh. He started out as a journalist but after a stint in New York, and encouraged by his Manhattan-based sister, he returned to London with the idea of opening up a cupcake shop. “I thought there was a gap in the market in London for an American-style bakery serving good-quality, home-baked cakes,” he says.
The first Hummingbird Bakery opened in west London’s buzzing Portobello Road in 2004, employing just five people and targeting the local demographic of affluent residents, many with young children. Its success spawned a second site two years later in another coveted location in west London. Queues often snake out of the doors on busy weekends, and the shop’s offerings have been extended to a cookbook and a line of cupcake-inspired stationery. A third branch is due to open in London’s Soho this month.
Somewhere along the line, cupcakes transformed from a frivolous, celebrity-endorsed luxury item to an accessible commodity. In these credit-crunched times, cupcakes have come to represent the last bastion of self-indulgence, available to anyone: they’re cheap but also very individual, coming in a myriad of flavours and colours, whether it’s stars, stripes, sugar roses or an explosion of glitter. They are also small, so there’s no pressure to share – a guilty pleasure, then, but only a little one.
“During the recession, people have had to go without and cut back in many aspects of their lives,” says Malouf. “But we’ve seen that sales have increased across both bakeries during the current economic climate.”
And he’s not surprised at the cake’s global spread. “Sweet treats are a universal delight, no matter where you are in the world,” he states. He leaves open the possibility that Hummingbird – like Magnolia – may migrate to the Middle East. Malouf, like Abrams, has attracted plenty of enquiries on whether he would consider doing so. “I think people are very open to the idea,” he says.
For the time being, the popularity of cupcakes sees no sign of waning – they are still the big thing in the States, while in the UK “cupcake” was the fastest-growing recipe search on the internet in 2008. But will the enthusiasm for these frosted treats fizzle out eventually as the world comes down from its sugar high? Malouf doesn’t seem to think so: “Cupcakes are here to stay.”
SUGAR DADDY
Owner of Amman’s Sugar Daddy’s bakery, Fadi Jaber (far right) is the Middle East’s king of cupcakes. He opened his first shop in December 2008 in the well-to-do neighbourhood of Abdoun, and followed up with branches in Beirut and Dubai
Why cupcakes?
I have a sweet tooth! I grew up in a compound in Saudi Arabia and all the kids’ mums made cupcakes except mine – I was jealous, so I decided to make them myself. Cupcakes are so versatile, you can even propose with one – I have iced WILL-YOU-MARRY-ME on four different cupcakes.
Where did you get the idea?
My friend took me to the Magnolia Bakery in New York in 2004 and I just loved it. I quit my job and went and studied bakery, pastry-making and business management, and by July 2007 I had opened my first store in Amman.
Have you had to adapt the cupcake concept for the Middle East?
We had to reduce the sugar content – our customers were overwhelmed by the sweetness! We also introduced some of the flavours that are popular in the Middle East, such as dates and orange blossoms. We have a cupcake called The Blind Date, which is made from dates and cinnamon with cream cheese frosting, and I created a Ramadan Special with pistachios and orange blossom.
What’s your most popular cake?
The 24 Carrot, a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting, and the Pink Cadillac, a vanilla cupcake with fresh strawberry frosting. The only cake that customers haven’t gone for was the Red Velvet Cake, a red-coloured chocolate cake with a unique velvety texture – it’s a traditional cake from Alabama in the US, but I think people here thought it was a bit too weird.
What next?
We’ve already opened franchises in Beirut and Dubai, but I want to expand around the Gulf, and open in Cairo and Damascus. My dream is to open four shops a year. Lara Dunston & Terence Carter www.sugardaddysbakery.com
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