Monday, April 26, 2010

One order of Beefcakes. To go.

Gentlemen, no one is going to call you MaryLou and hand you a tutu for eating a cupcake, but just in case you felt too prissy with your vanilla cupcake with sprinkles, here is some good news. In one of my favorite cities, NYC,  Butch Bakery has turned bonne bouche with pretty pink sugar crystals into something meatier.

Literally. Butch Bakery is now doing a rotation of manly confections like The Rum & Coke, The Jackhammer and The Beer Run.  And each is topped with a chocolately ensemble of manly colors.

Including ingredients like bacon and beer, Butch Bakery is simply responding to what they think are too dolled up desserts.

Because if you thought gender labels were only for kids toys, wrong again.

“I found myself asking why cupcakes are always pink with sprinkles, with cutesy names like Happiness and Sugar Smiles. And why, if you want a masculine cupcake, it has to be Bob the Builder or a golf tee or a football design," says David Arrick, the bakery's founder. "There's got to be a happy medium."

Butch Bakery, an internet-only shop, is clearly not feeling a recession. Sales have grown a reported 600 per cent in the last two months. And maybe they will open a storefront to display their manly fare. Another mancake master, Genevieve Griffin, said, "It has been a great way of getting guys interested in cupcakes."

Here is my thought on a means to get a man interested in cupcakes: Disrobe and place a cupcake in your outstretched palm.

But if that measure is too extreme, maybe he can simply drink a beer or a Rum & Coke to satisfy the need for the flavor of beer or Rum & Coke. And if you wanted something that tasted like bacon, could you just cook some bacon?

If that seems too easy, please give the mancakes a try. Maybe they are delicious even without the pink sprinkles. And the next time I am in NYC, we might pop by to see if they also have beefcakes on the menu. I kid. I really dig the chocolate with sprinkles as well as Happiness and Sugar Smiles.

68 comments:

Lou said...

Love it when someone spies a gap in the market! This might suit my rugby-playing husband...

Liz Mays said...

I never thought about it before, but I guess cupcakes are slightly feminine in nature. But honestly...this?

citymouse said...

I truly believe if you disrobed and held any food item out in your hand, most men would take a keen interest!

Having said that, I know these would be right up my son's alley, especially the bacon one.

I recently did a cupcake post too. It tickles me that they've become so popular.

Brian Miller said...

most definitley sounds like a place to try. pretty cool actually...

Slamdunk said...

I am thinking guys should just carry bacon bits in their pockets. It should be as essential as a wallet.

Unknown said...

I'm with Slamdunk.

Also I can't for the life of me think any man is worried about the female appearance of cupcakes...?

TKW said...

Ha! I think most men would prefer your method of generating cupcake interest!

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

There are so many creative thinkers in this world! What a great idea for a little something different.

The Source is still not going to eat cupcakes though....

:)

Shop Girl* said...

Mancakes? Bacon and beer? I think I just threw up a little.

Thankfully my hubs is secure enough in his masculinity that he doesn't mind, say, a VANILLA cupcake with white icing. Who ever decided white was feminine? I think it's quite funny that there's even a market for this.

Seriously boys. Grow a pair and eat your dang cupcakes in their current glory.

mo.stoneskin said...

I like beer in deserts. Or in mains. Or in a glass, can or bottle. But bacon? I'm not sure if I can stomach bacon ice-cream.

Christina Lee said...

HA,love it-- very creative!

Will Burke said...

As far as 'tragedy' is concerned, a man's dis-interest in foo-foo deserts is really, really low on the scale!

vanilla said...

--"if you wanted something that tasted like bacon--"

People will say of an exotic or unusual food, "Tastes like chicken." The correct response is, "So why don't you just eat chicken?"

I am a man. I like vanilla white-iced cupcakes. With or without sprinkles. Beer or bacon? Not in my cupcakes.

Simply Suthern said...

I have never even thought of the cupcake being unmanly. I guess some folk do. I am not into finished cakes. The wife likes to bake. Just give me the top layer she slices off to make the cake flat. You can have the rest with the icing.

As for the cupcake in the palm. Forget the cupcake. Just add a bit of icing. No, not in the palm.

Have a nice day, Cupcake.

Jules AF said...

I NEED A CUPCAKE NOW.

ellen abbott said...

Everybody's gotta have a gimmick but bacon cup cakes? Seriously?

Geez, guys, get over yourselves.

Writing Without Periods! said...

I wonder if they have newspaper and baseball favor. Husband would be there, for sure.
Actually quite the niffty idea.
Mary

Johana Hill said...

Those beefcakes sound delish! But I'd still pick a cupcake over a mancake! ;p

Little Ms J said...

Bacon and beer-flavored cupcakes? I feel like we've taken a few steps back. Last time I checked my husbands knuckles were off the floor.

Allyson & Jere said...

Wow! That is fascinating and a touch disturbing all at the same time. Good for them for seeing a "niche" market, but eww on some of those flavors. I checked out the website, seems like a LOT of alcohol. What if said man does't drink? That said, there were a couple of flavors that sounded really good, as long as bacon was NOT involved. Because really? Bacon and cake? Not so much.


Oh, thanks so much for your e-mail. I went and fixed mine, so now you should be able to e-mail back from my name.

Intense Guy said...

Nothing ruins a slightly warm can of beer more than a pink cupcake...

Belch... ahh... *goes and scratches his ------ while continuing to watch 'the game' on TV*

Sole Matters said...

Mancakes – very cool and unique concept!!

Real Housewives of Oklahoma said...

I have to admit that I'm completely unconcerned about the Doc liking cupcakes. I'll skip the sprinkles and will just take the frosting thanks.
Those are pretty manly, though.
~Mrs. Priss/Baloney

Aunt Juicebox said...

I've heard chocolate covered bacon tastes great, but I've never been one to mix my sweet and savory flavors. Not sure I'd care too much for a bacon OR a beer flavored cupcake. I do have a recipe for Guinness cheesecake though. Been working up the nerve to make it.

Unknown said...

Forget the dudes! Those cupcakes sound good to me! I'd love to try that Jackhammer...which I can only hope they named the way they did because it's made with Jack Daniels. Oh yeah.

Unknown said...

Forget the dudes! Those cupcakes sound good to me! I'd love to try that Jackhammer...which I can only hope they named the way they did because it's made with Jack Daniels. Oh yeah.

Herding Cats said...

On the flip side, why are THESE cupcakes considered manly? I like bacon and booze - so can't these cupcakes appeal to me too? And I'm pretty sure my bf would eat a pink sprinkled cupcake without thinking twice.....I mean, it's food!

Linda @ A La Carte said...

What a very cool idea! Good for them. Me I will eat a cupcake any ole way!

Ed said...

That sounds and looks awesome.

I am gonna have to check that place out.

Maybe after I get off this healthfood kick though.

Kristina P. said...

My husband gets pedicures. He'll eat a girly one in a heartbeat.

HalfAsstic.com said...

Well, they look scrumptious. But bacon... in a cupcake? Eww

Eyeglasses & Endzones said...

Oh man...again another great idea that I DID NOT think of...BUMMER...now if only someone could get to work on edible crayons, my life would be a dream!!!

Eric said...

I don't know if you have a 'Sprinkles' cupcake place around where you are, but I suspect they put some sort of mind altering delicious ingredient in thier vanilla ones which makes me want to buy more and more. It doesn't even have to be shaped like a football.

Emily said...

That is a wild idea...I kind of want to try one just to see.

Unknown said...

Anything that has cupcakes involved, has my seal of approval.

brokenteepee said...

The male person around here prefers the batter to the cooked anything....

Unknown said...

My hubs has no problem whatsoever partaking in pink confections. I kinda dig the camo one myself, though...

Anonymous said...

My mancake has a first name...it's Hubby. ;)

shortmama said...

Funny because I never noticed my cupcakes having vaginas so I never thought of them as a feminine food.

Krëg said...

"Mancakes"? That sounds like a bar with the male:female ratio set at 1:0.

MommyLisa said...

Hmmm. Father's Day???

One Photo said...

Cupcakes are still relatively unknown in England - over there we have little iced sponge cakes known as "fairy cakes" - which I doubt many men would be willing to ask for in a bakery!! :-)

The Gman said...

cupcakes for guys? hmmm...I do love me the pork fat, but in my confection...not sure.


bacon, the new cocaine.

Jen said...

Ok, they LOOK good, but why do they have to add all the odd ingredients? Why can't it just taste like a cupcake??

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

The sugar monsters at my house dont care what shape it is...if its cake its gone!
<><

Science Teacher Mommy said...

I once dated a guy my husband refers to as Beefcake. Or just Beefy, if he is acting especially snarky.

I think he's jealous. Beefy, in his post-STM days, became an Olympian. Discus. Yeah, Beefy all right.

Dawn said...

I am always amazed with what people come up with. I'm a little jealous too. Why can't I think of something new that sells?

Who would have thought cupcakes geared toward men would be a money maker?

Mrs. M said...

Get the camouflage ones and then hide them around the house and make the man find them! :)

Helene said...

I honestly hadn't given it much thought but when I asked my husband just now about it, he said that yeah cupcakes seem more of a feminine type food.

I asked him if he'd turn down a cupcake in that situation you proposed (naked with one in hand) and he said, the cupcake could be rainbow colored with little sprinkle hearts on it, wouldn't matter. It's something he wouldn't turn down!

Bettie K. said...

I once knew a gentleman that referred to having sex as "waxing cakes"---hell I'd wax multiple cakes if I knew there was bacon in the batter :)

J.J. in L.A. said...

Is it wrong that I lol'ed at the bakery's name???

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I didn’t realize I was gender biased when it comes to cupcakes, but I don’t want the smell or flavor of bacon coming anywhere near a cupcake I plan to eat.

I think your idea, “…disrobe and place a cupcake in your outstretched palm,” is the most practical and easiest way to make a man appreciate a cupcake.

Joann Mannix said...

I guess a cupcake is sort of discriminating. It's petite and sugary sweet and it's always fancy filled with pink and flowers and swirly things.

Let's have the girls keep the cupcakes. We'll give the men brats. Since they're so obsessed with anything that looks like a penis, they can have their meat and eat it, too.

I wouldn't bother with making the cupcakes look manly. Just serve it to the dudes by someone with large breasts and with a side of bacon. They'll wolf it down. Pink be damned.

Caty said...

Learn something new with every new post...Manly cupcakes...what next??

secret agent woman said...

Oh for God's sake. Ar their really men who are so fearful about their masculinity that they need bacon and beer flavored cupcakes?

Melissa B. said...

One of my male students is interested in cooking, and he occasionally does columns for the school newspaper that include recipes, including chocolate chip cookies with BACON. Perhaps he should get in touch with these folks?

The Urban Cowboy said...

I like the idea of cupcakes in a birthday suit wearing gals outstretched arms.

Carma Sez said...

I swear it is genius what some people come up with!!! Darn that I never have a lucrative idea ;-)

Those butch cakes are probably much tastier than the dessert I just botched - fer sure :D

Jaime said...

i'm sure that beer could make a nice ingredient in some cupcakes... but BACON? most things are better with a little slice of bacon - but BACON CUPCAKES????

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

I think you nekked version would work much better.

mo.stoneskin said...

Hold on...

"Hon, I've a great idea, why don't you disrobe and place a cupcake in your outstretched palm?"

*wapish!*

Unknown said...

Ingenious...altho I have to say I like your idea of creating a bit of cupcake interest. Love Simply Suthern's idea too ;)

Tiffany said...

What a great idea! Although my Man is definitely manly enough to enjoy a pink one with sprinkles!

Vivienne @ the V Spot said...

The very word "cupcake" has effeminate connotations. You can not testoteronize a cupcake anymore than you could Butch up Tinkerbell. Silliness.
But I'm a new Bacon-Combo Believer. The culinary world is flat no longer....

Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip said...

Mmmmmm...mancakes. That just has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Hannah said...

Years ago on Aprils 1st, I put cotton balls inside some cupcakes I made -- and it looked like marsmallow cream or cool whip. April Fools !!!

www.FunnyPhotosContest.com. Submit CUTE or FUNNY photos and tell friends to vote. $2,000 in prizes. No entry fee.

Working Mommy said...

Um... a Rum & Coke cupcake??? YES PLEASE!!!!

Sales jobs said...

It looks so good. yummy!