Is pie the next cupcake?

Whether pies rise to cupcake status remains to be seen. Take a look at the treats that have been jockeying for position ever since cupcakes peaked.


"Pie to Cupcake: Time's Up," read the title of a New York Times story last week. Ever since announcements about the downfall of cupcakes, the food community has been dying to name the new it dessert. It's true that pie shops are opening in evermore conspicuous locations. Simplethings, a pie and sandwich shop, is about to open along the same chic stretch of Los Angeles as the new location of Magnolia Bakery, birthplace of the modern cupcake. Pies are even creeping into other desserts, such as cake and shakes. Just recently, Bon Appetit magazine did its first round-up of 10 of the Best Places for Pie in the U.S. This is compelling evidence that a trend is afoot, but here's why pie cannot be the next cupcake:

1. Pies are more cumbersome than cupcakes. The no-knife-necessary format of cupcakes surely helped at least as much as Sex and the City to usher in their rise to popularity. Only a single-portion dessert has the potential to be as ubiquitous as the cupcake has been. Doughnuts, cake balls, even a chocolate croissant would have a better shot.

2. If you're thinking "mini pies" right now, I have this to say: There is no mix at the supermarket for mini pies. Even with a pre-made crust, it's a daunting endeavor for harried birthday-planning moms, or even time-rich hip young adults.

3. Kids don't like pie, and kids are a key demographic in the sweets market. This rule has many exceptions. A writer on Yahoo! Shine just told me that her 4-year-old asked for an apple pie the other day, so precocious taste buds are there to disprove my point. But when I was a kid, I didn't want to see a pie unless there was chocolate pudding in it, which is not a pie so much as a Trojan horse for pudding. Plus, kids are drawn to color. The humble pie crust is black and white in comparison to the Technicolor of cupcake frosting and decoration.

4. Pies are awkward at birthday parties, and birthday parties can make or break a dessert. Cupcakes had already spent years daintily gaining ground at these recurring celebrations. Pies, however, have put in hardly any time. Certainly, some people will invite pies to their birthday parties, for the novelty of it or the sincere loyalty to crust and fruit. The New York Times article mentions that Four and Twenty Blackbirds, a pie shop in Brooklyn, made a wedding pie, which the author writes, "is an increasingly common alternative to wedding cake." Increasingly common where? In a half-block of Park Slope?

The New York Times probably meant to say that pies have become popular, and then threw "cupcake" in the title to get us all abuzz. Well, if that is the case, they won, and if I have to eat my words, they will be delicious.