NYC cupcakes: Bakeries, cafes, a hotel and a truck

NEW YORK — This city is crazy for cupcakes. There are cupcake classes and cupcake tours, lines down the block at cupcake bakeries, a cupcake tea at a five-star hotel, and a cupcake truck with 6,000 followers on Twitter.

Some date the cupcake craze to a "Sex and the City" episode in which Sarah Jessica Parker bit into a pink-frosted cupcake outside Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker Street. Nine years later, tourists still flock to the place. Current owner Steve Abrams has opened two more Magnolia shops in the past year, with a third to open soon in Grand Central.

"I love 'Sex and the City' and I want to eat cupcakes," said Rika Hashizume as she bought a box of cupcakes at the flagship Magnolia in Greenwich Village with Hanika Nishida, a friend visiting from Kyoto, Japan.

"I don't know how long it takes for a trend to end and become mainstream, but apparently we've established an industry," said Jennifer Appel, who was one of Magnolia's original owners and now owns Buttercup Bake Shop on Second Avenue near 51st Street.

"You'd think it would reach its peak but it hasn't — people are still into cupcakes, and I don't see it slowing down," said chef Melanie Underwood. Her cupcake classes at Manhattan's Institute of Culinary Education always sell out, with long waiting lists.

Not only is the cupcake's small-size portion appealing, but "it's almost like a comfort food for many people," Underwood said.

"They bring a smile to people's faces," said chef Stephanie Grajales, who created the menu for a $25 cupcake tea at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. "It takes you back to elementary school cupcakes on your birthday when you were 5."

Underwood leads cupcake walking tours to various bakeries, and she's noticed that participants have sharply different opinions on which cupcakes are their favorites. "People have such different palates," she said.

Fortunately, the city has so many cupcake outlets that there's a cupcake for everyone, from vegans to sugar addicts to gourmets. Here are 11 places around Manhattan to get the cupcake of your dreams.

BABYCAKES NYC: 248 Broome St., between Orchard and Ludlow streets, Lower East Side, www.babycakesnyc.com. When you order, be ready to answer: "Gluten-free or spelt?" BabyCakes cupcakes are vegan: dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, and most are sweetened with agave nectar. Customers with wheat allergies take the gluten-free ($3.95 each); the spelt are made from a high-protein grain often used as an alternative to regular wheat ($3.25).