![]() ![]() Cupcakes are pretty, and in a way thought of as traditionally female: neat and beautifully made-up. The ongoing mania for cupcakes fits into this idea very neatly. What is it about the cupcake and its ilk which is inextricably linked to women? And is this, ultimately, a good thing or not? ![]() The point about daintiness remains, however, and is still a factor in the popularity of cupcakes today, as is a link with femininity. The little queen cake and mince pie moulds from earlier decades indicate that small cakes had long been popular. We should probably not read too much into this theory, however, appealing though it may be. But cupcakes also catered for a new sort of femininity, one which put ever-increasing emphasis on appearance, dress, and physical beauty–including, from the 1840s, the desire to stay trimly corseted into an hourglass shape. Teatime was well bedded in as a social occasion by this time, and small treats, neatly encased in their own wrapper, were easy and tidy to eat. The presentation of little cakes in their own paper cases give us another idea as to why they were becoming popular: they were fashionable and well turned out. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the small and dainty cupcake became popular in Britain at the same time as mass production of the corset. ![]()
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