Manly cupcakes for manly men

February 18, 2010 11:38 AM

Our objective is simple. We're men. Men who like cupcakes. Not the frilly pink-frosted sprinkles-and-unicorns kind of cupcakes. We make manly cupcakes. For manly men.

For $16, you can get a dozen cupcakes like the B-52, the Beer Run, the Jackhammer, and Big Papi. Delivery of your manly cupcakes will run you $8.

posted by mudpuppie (114 comments total)

Jezebel readers respond, naturally.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:38 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Well, if you really want your cakes manly...
posted by mazola at 11:41 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Why do I get the impression that the people at this company wear a lot of leather?
posted by shmegegge at 11:41 AM on February 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

They sell a cupcake collection called "The Butch Box."

That is all.
posted by verb at 11:42 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

That is stupid.
posted by nanojath at 11:43 AM on February 18, 2010 [14 favorites]

#22: The B-52

Kahlua-soaked madagascar cake with Bailey's Bavarian Filling

Kahlua is manly? Really?
posted by Joe Beese at 11:43 AM on February 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

I made chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting and piped decorations for a Saints-themed Superbowl party.

I don't think those cupcakes were manly or girly. They were just delicious.
posted by muddgirl at 11:44 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

From the "About Us":

Formerly an asset backed securities attorney for a major Wall Street law firm, David's entrepreneurial spirit has taken him on a new path.

Ah. Laid off.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:45 AM on February 18, 2010 [24 favorites]

Are the folks at jezebel not familiar with a joke?
posted by xmutex at 11:46 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

I like cupcakes and any form that cupcake prevalence takes. Whatever people need to do to have cupcakes in their lives is fine by me.
posted by dog food sugar at 11:46 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

♪ Someone's overcompensating! ♫
posted by zarq at 11:46 AM on February 18, 2010 [15 favorites]

Wow, the vitriolic rejection of what is clearly a tongue-in-cheek genderfication of cupcake design is really speaking volumes.
posted by DU at 11:47 AM on February 18, 2010 [11 favorites]

What? No! Manly, unsissified cupcakes have no decoration! Frosting exists only for flavor. There are none of those weirdo candy designs on top, as they are not buttercream deliciousness. Manly cupcakes should be about moist, tasty cake topped by creamy, flavorful frosting! They should be built like a sports car; every piece working together to make it the ultimate cupcake experience!

These just look like they're trying to find a macho niche without actually being a utilitarian, heavy-duty cupcake business. If you're going to be borderline sexist, at least satisfy the connotations of the manly trope. Don't be lazy and uncreative, or else I'll be tempted to start selling "manly" CD-Rs that I colored with military-green sharpie.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:48 AM on February 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

Are the folks at jezebel not familiar with a joke?

Seems to me that the vast majority of the posters in the thread are joking. Well, mocking, but still...
posted by Karmakaze at 11:49 AM on February 18, 2010

those cupcakes are cute. it's like watching my 17 year old cousin learning to shave.
posted by bam at 11:49 AM on February 18, 2010

All I have to say is that those look tasty, and I want one.
posted by valkyryn at 11:49 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

The manliest cupcake I've ever had was from a place called Kick-Ass Cupcakes in Somerville. It was so tough and dry that you needed Trap-Jaw like mandibles to bite through the thing. That cupcake could have stopped a bullet or served as a hockey puck it was so damn manly.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:51 AM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Name that game cupcake quiz.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 11:52 AM on February 18, 2010

$2 a cupcake, better be the best damn cupcake ever created, manly or not.
posted by madajb at 11:52 AM on February 18, 2010

Here were a few cupcake flavors that were sadly rejected by focus groups:

• Loaded Handgun
• The Unfiltered Marlboro
• Budweiser
• Impotent Dispair
• The Constipated Grunt
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:53 AM on February 18, 2010 [13 favorites]

A better name for these would have been "Stud Muffins".
posted by DU at 11:54 AM on February 18, 2010 [49 favorites]

Are the folks at jezebel not familiar with a joke?

How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?

THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!!!!
posted by hippybear at 11:56 AM on February 18, 2010 [22 favorites]

I'm a proud owner and operator of a penis and a pair of testicles but you can have my frilly pink-frosted sprinkles-and-unicorns cupcake when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
posted by bondcliff at 11:56 AM on February 18, 2010 [12 favorites]

Maybe my male perspective on this is totally backwards or too heterocentric or something, but if I were to buy into the gendered food concept (hint: I don't) and wanted to put some in my mouth, I'd want it to be the feminine kind. Why would I want to wrap my lips around man-stuff?
posted by majick at 11:57 AM on February 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

Why are some men so utterly unsure of their own masculinity? Do you really need to be outrageously "manly" in every single aspect of your life? Do you have manly towels, manly lawn grass and manly allergy medication, too?
posted by oddman at 11:57 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I hope they do petits fours next! They could call 'em Petits Foreskins^TM.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:58 AM on February 18, 2010 [21 favorites]

I like to think that I am secure enough in my masculinity to eat a "frilly pink-frosted sprinkles-and-unicorns kind of cupcake" should the flavor be attractive to me. I just don't like those hard silver ball bearings. They make me frightened for my teeth.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:59 AM on February 18, 2010

The men I know would like these more if they served a purpose beyond tastiness. Let me know when they create a moist, delicious, perfectly frosted cupcake that will also charge your car battery before you eat it.
posted by routergirl at 12:01 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Would like to see a molecular-gastronomic cupcake.
posted by polymodus at 12:02 PM on February 18, 2010

Wow, the vitriolic rejection of what is clearly a tongue-in-cheek genderfication of cupcake design is really speaking volumes.

I don't know about that. I think the reaction (well, okay, my reaction) is droll, slow-clapping amusement.

It's actually pretty funny that their version of "masculine" is so over the top it's wearing a police uniform and an indian headdress.
posted by verb at 12:03 PM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

$2 a cupcake, better be the best damn cupcake ever created, manly or not.

It's pretty common for boutique cupcake places to charge $3 or more per cupcake. Though, from what I've heard, the cupcake bubble has burst. Might be why this guy decided he needed a gimmick.
posted by kmz at 12:04 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

I always thought cupcakes were about embracing your inner child. Femininity has nothing to do with it. Maybe they should make cupcakes with little frosted 1040EZ forms on top.
posted by naju at 12:05 PM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Cupcakes have a gender? Man, how inconvenient! Now when someone brings cupcakes to lab meeting they're going to have to make two separate kinds. I wouldn't be surprised if this had a chilling effect on the bringing of cupcakes as a whole.

Plus if I'm going out for an overpriced dessert in New York with my friends, now we'll have to split up into single-gender units. This place better be right the fuck next to Magnolia!
posted by en forme de poire at 12:06 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

man, i think these look great.

we have been having a lot "cupcake ladies" doing their stuff at the markets around here. some are really good, most are meh.

the ones that are really really good taste awesome and are SO worth the $2 or $4.

these have booze in them and that's pretty awesome. i wish i lived in NYC to try one.

plus it's just nice to see a different kind of cupcake decoration.

i think they're being silly and at least they're not foisting sub-prime mortgages on people.
[insert joke about health/cupcakes here]
posted by sio42 at 12:06 PM on February 18, 2010

Why do I get the impression that the people at this company wear a lot of leather?

This made me chuckle and what immediately came to mind was "fairy cakes."

Then I felt embarrassed by that reaction and disgusted with myself for making that association. These are unflattering stereotypes and something I should not encourage in myself - or anyone else.
posted by three blind mice at 12:07 PM on February 18, 2010

From the Jezebel comments:

Uh, is there anything cuter than...a super "masculine" cupcake? That is like...dressing...a baby up like Cobra Commander.

Why can't I see a picture of a baby dressed up like Cobra Commander? Why? It would be the most cute/awesome thing ever!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:09 PM on February 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

I think these cupcakes need to be square, with little chocolate chips embedded in their edges, like rivets. Here is your dessert unit, sir!
posted by furiousthought at 12:10 PM on February 18, 2010 [12 favorites]

Who is it with anger and humor issues now?

While you're whining about 'issues' and 'anger' and 'feelings', those cupcakes are out there field-stripping M-16s.

That's something that people do, right? To M-16s?
posted by gurple at 12:10 PM on February 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

99% of US death via diabetes by 2020?
posted by i_cola at 12:11 PM on February 18, 2010

Are the folks at jezebel not familiar with a joke?

IDK, I tend to think that Jezebel is where people go when they need to express a whole lot of outrage, and not somewhere that there's a lot of joking going on, really. I'd be totally happy to be wrong here, though.

Anyway, those cupcakes, like pretty much ALL CUPCAKES EVER, look pretty awesome, and I would certainly not let something like my non-dick-havingness keep me from enjoying one.
posted by elizardbits at 12:11 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, and I agree with a number of the other comments on this thread- these would go over great with the boys down at the Black Eagle.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:12 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

"99% of US death via diabetes by 2020?"

Right, because cake never existed prior to the US nor prior to the recent rise in diabletes, and as we all know eating a boutique dessert is a death sentence. Please, if you want to express concern about riding diabetes diagnoses, would you go chase down the corn lobby instead? You'll have a greater effect on the lives and well-being of people, and have the side benefit of not coming off like a joyless dick to everyone who might want a cupcake once in a while.
posted by majick at 12:17 PM on February 18, 2010 [8 favorites]

For $16, you can get a dozen cupcakes like the B-52, the Beer Run, the Jackhammer, and Big Papi

$16 only gets you 4, a full dozen is $48. Again, possibly reasonable considering the work that goes into them, but still - Damn that's a $4 cupcake.
posted by pupdog at 12:19 PM on February 18, 2010

Damn that's a $4 cupcake.

NYC prices.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:20 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Maybe they're cupcakes the size of a regular cake? That'd be worth $4.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:20 PM on February 18, 2010

I'm a man. I do not need camo cupcakes to broadcast my virility and suitability to mate to all and sundry females of the species. My maleness is not decreased by eating a pink frosted cupcake. My manhood is such that I will wear articles of clothing less masculine types may consider effeminate. Pink is the new orange. That said, there's not a single man on earth macho enough to pull off Johnny Weirs short program outfit in Vancouver Tuesday night. He may need a few dozen macho cupcakes to help balance his gender issues.
posted by Keith Talent at 12:21 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Maybe they're cupcakes the size of a regular cake?

Like this? Warning: noisy.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:22 PM on February 18, 2010

it says right there that $16 gets you a dozen cupcakes
posted by bam at 12:23 PM on February 18, 2010

Apparently angina is very manly.
posted by mcstayinskool at 12:23 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh nvm
posted by bam at 12:24 PM on February 18, 2010

I can't believe I'm in a thread about manly cupcakes and people are actually fighting about stuff.
posted by bondcliff at 12:24 PM on February 18, 2010 [11 favorites]

I don't think I'm the intended audience, but I am a butch dyke and these are INSANELY AWESOME.
posted by serazin at 12:25 PM on February 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

I bought this shirt a while back. How many manly cupcakes and/or steaks do I need to eat a day to pull that tee off?
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:25 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't believe I'm in a thread about manly cupcakes and people are actually fighting about stuff.

It's the testosterone icing. Wash it down with some preposterone!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:26 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I dunno, folks. Though I must admit to never thinking of gendered cupcakes, or food, for that matter... but, for those who live up near my neck of the woods, there's here, or here

There was this one time, though, where a guy was all 'Real men don't eat quiche!' So I defenestrated him out of the 3rd floor. As he was falling to the ground, I said 'I hope that exit was quiche enough for you.' I walked back to my table, where my friend, who had finished eating the quiche, said 'quiche doesn't sound anything like quick.'

I didn't know what to say, so I ordered cupcakes for afters.
posted by LD Feral at 12:27 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Damn that's a $4 cupcake.

NYC prices.



Well aware, and yes, I have paid it. More than once. Every time about halfway through my delicious cupcake I have this same thought, and wonder what my grandparents, raised in Appalachia, children of the Great Depression would think.

Usually that leads to a few pints at NYC prices, and then a $12 pastrami sandwich at an all night diner. Shame spirals can be so damn expensive...
posted by pupdog at 12:28 PM on February 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

I bought this shirt a while back. How many manly cupcakes and/or steaks do I need to eat a day to pull that tee off?

Eat enough, and you won't be able to pull it off! <rimshot>
posted by gurple at 12:30 PM on February 18, 2010

Also, this is the most homosexual product I've ever seen.
posted by serazin at 12:30 PM on February 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Also, this is the most homosexual product I've ever seen.

OMG, seriously.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:32 PM on February 18, 2010

You and your deficiently gender languages.

In Mexico all cupcakes are manly, they are Panqués, El Panqué, and so is cake, El Pastel.
posted by dirty lies at 12:36 PM on February 18, 2010

In Mexico all cupcakes are manly, and so are pastels.
posted by gurple at 12:37 PM on February 18, 2010

Cupcake dysphoria will be included in the upcoming DSM revision.
posted by Babblesort at 12:39 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't care what aesthetic form it takes, when you combine flour butter and sugar, I will take it, frills, tanks or what have you.
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:43 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, also: posting in this thread is kind of weird because I keep getting bothered by how people who I assume to be straight are commenting about how gay this is, yet I too think this is gay. So in conclusion, I guess how something sounds (to my ears at least) depends a lot on who is saying it.
posted by serazin at 12:56 PM on February 18, 2010

I can't believe I'm in a thread about manly cupcakes and people are actually fighting about stuff.

People get passionate about cupcakes.
posted by JoanArkham at 12:57 PM on February 18, 2010

That is stupid.

Correction, this is so stupid
posted by The Whelk at 1:00 PM on February 18, 2010

Is the owner too concerned with showing how masculine he is or is he poking fun at that phenomenon? Tough to say.
posted by mlis at 1:01 PM on February 18, 2010

Looks like they're using the US Army's secret recipe for the X-700 Tactical Assault Cupcake.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 1:02 PM on February 18, 2010

So who was it that had the theory that this kinda crap is just gonna escalate and all these financial sector aggro douchetards stay unemployed? Cause I really want that not to be true.
posted by The Whelk at 1:06 PM on February 18, 2010

Finally: a bakery for ironic hipsters and well-intentioned by misguided girlfriends!
posted by jefficator at 1:08 PM on February 18, 2010

If they're for "manly men", then would I, not a man manly or otherwise, be prohibited from ordering from them? 'Cause I totally want those cupcakes. What can be better than booze and bacon and chocolate and cake?
posted by zorrine at 1:08 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

There was this one time, though, where a guy was all 'Real men don't eat quiche!' So I defenestrated him

True story: I was planning a picnic with a friend and asked him if I should bring apples. He said, and he was completely fucking serious, not to bring apples because:

"Men don't eat fruit."

And it still makes me laugh, eight years later!
posted by prefpara at 1:14 PM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Whenever I think about cupcakes and New York City, I think about Lazy Sunday. Silly Andy Sandberg, eating food for GIRLS.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 1:16 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm going to assume this is an ironic take on the word "butch." Or, these guys really don't have a clue. Both are funny.
posted by clvrmnky at 1:25 PM on February 18, 2010

Okay is it just me or is the word "Butch" mainly associated with gay people? The things I hear most often associated with being "Butch" are lesbians or gay men.

So I wonder if there's some camp involved here. I also don't think these cupcakes are "manly", they look a little silly.

With the Jezebel link:

Personally, I was not aware that cupcakes were an inherently feminine snack food

Really? I enjoy cupcakes, but especially those "designer" cupcakes out there, they are definitely girly. And secondly, while I can understand why feminists don't like advertisements that trade on misogyny, like the Dockers ads that have been out there recently, I don't really see why it's a problem to simply target men for products. Women get products targeted towards them (either explicitly or implicitly all the time)
posted by delmoi at 1:28 PM on February 18, 2010

This whole reclamation-of-masculinity vibe that's going around (again) these days makes me want to move to the moon.
posted by hermitosis at 1:34 PM on February 18, 2010

The Fractal Nature of the Gender Binary.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:38 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I like to think that I am secure enough in my masculinity to eat a "frilly pink-frosted sprinkles-and-unicorns kind of cupcake" should the flavor be attractive to me. I just don't like those hard silver ball bearings. They make me frightened for my teeth.

You are supposed to spit out the silver dragées, projecting them with all the force of bullets. Did I just win at the macho cupcake-eating game?
posted by Elsa at 1:38 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Real men. Hors d'oeuvres.
posted by ODiV at 1:40 PM on February 18, 2010

I'd eat that.

but I'd be sniggering at my decorative chocolate disc.
posted by Zed at 1:43 PM on February 18, 2010

Wait a minute. I think the real kerfluffle here is that a New York cupcake company has a product named after one of the most famous Boston Red Sox players.
posted by missmary6 at 1:50 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

wrote Why are some men so utterly unsure of their own masculinity? Do you really need to be outrageously "manly" in every single aspect of your life? Do you have manly towels, manly lawn grass and manly allergy medication, too?

Because masculinity, as defined by the patriarchy, is deliberately brittle. Losing your patriarchy approved manhood is incredibly easy, so if you give a damn about that sort of thing I'm sure it's a constant, nagging, worry.

As for the cupcakes, I think $4 for a cupcake, joke or not, is evidence of insanity. You can make two dozen cupcakes for that price, and they'll be better than any nasty, stale ass, mail order cupcake you can find.

I also think Poe's law applies here. I honestly can't figure out if the person doing this is mocking brittle patriarchy approved manhood, or embracing it.
posted by sotonohito at 1:51 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I honestly can't figure out if the person doing this is mocking brittle patriarchy approved manhood, or embracing it.

I don't think they give a rat's ass whether their customers are legitimately or ironically concerned about their manhood, or both, or neither. They're selling cupcakes.

Similarly.
posted by gurple at 2:03 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

'99% of US death via diabetes by 2020?'

Right, because cake never existed prior to the US nor prior to the recent rise in diabletes, and as we all know eating a boutique dessert is a death sentence. Please, if you want to express concern about riding diabetes diagnoses, would you go chase down the corn lobby instead? You'll have a greater effect on the lives and well-being of people, and have the side benefit of not coming off like a joyless dick to everyone who might want a cupcake once in a while.

As opposed to coming off like a joyless dick when someone makes a joke in a thread about manly cupcakes? Or are you just sugar-crashing?*

* Just in case: this, too, is a joke. And this.
posted by i_cola at 2:12 PM on February 18, 2010

Okay is it just me or is the word "Butch" mainly associated with gay people?

I think this may be true. I've gotten some interesting looks (and caught some interesting aside glances to each other) when I've been in a blue-collar crowd and describe my Danners as "big butch black boots."
posted by hippybear at 2:13 PM on February 18, 2010

But, see, pink denotes strawberry, or raspberry, or some other fruit flavor. Pink frosting means it tastes like tasty berries! I'm not sure what camouflage tastes like. Dried leaves?
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:26 PM on February 18, 2010 [8 favorites]

Butch, nelly, masculine, whatever....all I know is, I see "cupcakes, with booze in them" and I want to know if they deliver to Chicago.
posted by dnash at 2:31 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Though, from what I've heard, the cupcake bubble has burst.

Since my town is getting its first "cupcakery" (and yes, they do call it that), I can confirm the trend is officially over.

I look forward to a whoopie pie vendor somewhere in 2015.
posted by madajb at 3:45 PM on February 18, 2010

People get passionate about cupcakes.

And use them to send political messages to children.


I refrained from making an FPP about that last October.
posted by zarq at 3:50 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I envision a reality TV show where the cameras take us into the bakery to see how these macho cupcakes are made, a place run by heavy, biker-looking men with walrus moustaches and Motörhead playing in the background.
posted by bwg at 4:09 PM on February 18, 2010

And use them to send political messages to children.

what the actual fuck
posted by elizardbits at 4:36 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

I think this may be true. I've gotten some interesting looks (and caught some interesting aside glances to each other) when I've been in a blue-collar crowd and describe my Danners as "big butch black boots."

That's because Danners are for sissies. Real men wear Red Wings, or Wescos if they are short and need the heel lift. Not Dannerist
posted by Forktine at 4:40 PM on February 18, 2010

what the actual fuck

Yeah. Can you imagine? Targeting school children.

I thought about posting it for a while, then figured the uproar would end with the mods sticking needles into voodoo dolls shaped in my likeness. :P
posted by zarq at 4:42 PM on February 18, 2010

Though, from what I've heard, the cupcake bubble has burst.

I might actually support a federal bailout for Big Cupcake.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:47 PM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Glossy black frosting with little silver studs...the Leather God! Plant your lips on our man-muffins!

How about The Ho-Cake...pink and red sculpted frosting labia...with or without the shredded coconut....

Dude, I should so open a bakery.
posted by Xoebe at 4:52 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kahlua is manly? Really?

Kahlua? No. Cafe Patron? Yes.

This thing seems like stupidity, but it may be tasty stupidity, so what the hell?
posted by jonmc at 5:00 PM on February 18, 2010

Also, I'm the furthest thing from a New Age male around these parts, and I'm here to tell you that the whole cupcake renaissance is fucking stupid. Just get the Entemann's Holiday cupcakes (the St. Paddy's Day ones are due out soon, the frosting's all green and whatnot). Separate cake and frosting. Eat cake, then eat the puck of frosting in one big sugar-crack burst. You don't need all this overpriced hipster/yuppie gimmickry.
posted by jonmc at 5:10 PM on February 18, 2010

And secondly, while I can understand why feminists don't like advertisements that trade on misogyny, like the Dockers ads that have been out there recently, I don't really see why it's a problem to simply target men for products. Women get products targeted towards them (either explicitly or implicitly all the time)

It's not marketing to men that's an issue. It's marketing to men with the message that they'd better not like anything remotely feminine because anything related to femininity is bad. Taken straight, that is the message of the advertising here. It's not "this product is suitable for men," it's "don't worry, we took away all that horrible girliness so you won't be contaminated by it". And that is trading on misogyny, if not in the exact same way as the Dockers ads.
posted by Karmakaze at 5:14 PM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

This whole reclamation-of-masculinity vibe that's going around (again) these days makes me want to move to the moon.

I can see why some people feel that way, but thus far I'm digging it. Some people are approaching the "reclamation of masculinity" vibe without the usual "ARRRGH! SPORTS! CARS! MISOGYNY!!!" vibe. A good place to start is here: http://artofmanliness.com/2009/11/08/manliness-the-baby-and-the-bathwater/ At least the guy writing AoM has a pretty good head on his shoulders (some of the commenters there... not so much).

This cupcake shop is part of the problem, as it isn't really clear whether or not they're serious. Like these guys: http://www.mandleco.com/ - it looks like it might be a joke, but when I heard them interviewed on NPR - dead serious about selling Meat and Potato scented candles.
posted by mdaugherty82 at 6:11 PM on February 18, 2010

I see some checking of Austin's many cupcake places in the hopes of finding boozy cupcakes in my future. Yum!
posted by immlass at 6:38 PM on February 18, 2010

Female friend of mine and her two sinister male assistants made Car Bomb Cupcakes once.

And ONLY once.
posted by The Whelk at 7:05 PM on February 18, 2010

They are alcohol loaded and appear illegal to sell to minors.

Do you ship your cupcakes outside of New York City?
Not yet. We’re working on it, though, and should be able to ship throughout the United States by 2010.

Someone really could make a killing re-selling NYC only restaurant food products through the mail nationwide. It's about 5$ a cake in NYC (with delivery) but I bet you could get 10$ shipped nationwide.
posted by stbalbach at 8:03 PM on February 18, 2010

except shipping through the mail tends to ruin foodstuffs, freshest is bestest, no? Which is why Kee's Chocolates closes when it's sold all of the day's chocolate.

P.S if you are in NYC, go to Kee's. They are amazing.
posted by The Whelk at 8:35 PM on February 18, 2010

The background of their About Us page is a couple of engineering views of their cupcakes.

I'm sure I'm reading too much into this, but I know some girls that could kick their asses in CAD.
posted by rubah at 9:52 PM on February 18, 2010

Problem: How to make your cupcake business stand out.
Solution: Come up with a gimmick people will talk about.

Now, at least two big websites are talking about their business. Guess what? Gimmicks work.
posted by bentley at 5:29 AM on February 19, 2010

mdaugherty82 I guess, per your link, I'm part of the "Eunuch Era". I'm just plain not seeing any need for the concepts of "manhood" and "womanhood".

Take his list of 9 "manly" virtues:

* Loyalty
* Industry
* Resiliency
* Resolution
* Personal Responsibility
* Self-Reliance
* Courage
* Integrity
* Sacrifice

Nice virtues all, but what about them is particularly linked to ownership of a Y chromosome? There's plenty of women who have the virtues he describes as "manly", does this make them less womanly?

Or what of men who have the virtues that are implicitly defined as "womanly" in contrast to his "manly" virtues?

By getting essentialist, as he appears to be doing, even if he is going for a broader essentialism, he seems to be falling into the trap he claims to be trying to escape.

What's wrong with giving up on "manhood" and "womanhood" and just letting people be whatever they are regardless of their genitals? With encouraging virtue in all, rather than specific virtues in some based sex?

I suppose that to some the idea of simply being people, of giving up on pre-defined social roles based on sex, is frightening.
posted by sotonohito at 6:58 AM on February 19, 2010

sotonhito - actually, the site owner has come out a couple of times and said he prefers the dichotomy to be "manliness v. boyishness" and that the same qualities found in a woman would make her "womanly."
posted by mdaugherty82 at 9:16 AM on February 19, 2010

Then can't we say "adultness" vs. "kidness" and be both more precise and less infuriating?
posted by muddgirl at 9:22 AM on February 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

still, those are some silly looking cupcake hockey-pucks.
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 AM on February 19, 2010

I'm just plain not seeing any need for the concepts of "manhood" and "womanhood".

Yeah, I don't see sex. Anyone who claims to see sex and wants to keep going on about sexism -- they're the real sexists. We're post-sexist now.
posted by Zed at 9:34 AM on February 19, 2010

Do you have manly towels, manly lawn grass and manly allergy medication, too?

Yes. Specifically: uncured boar hide, cacti filled with wasps, and a pair of .50 cal rounds, one to shove up each nostril.
posted by Amanojaku at 9:38 AM on February 19, 2010

Goddammit, The Whelk! Why did you have to tell me about a chocolatier with a store located five blocks from my school?

I'm afraid you've forced my hand. I'm going to have to respond in kind and link to this recipe (they're actually not that hard to make). If this escalates any further I might have to make a batch for the next meetup.
posted by ChutneyFerret at 2:07 AM on February 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Zed Sex vs. gender.

Sex exists, of course. Male, female, intersexed, whatever.

Gender is more of a social construct, that's "manhood" as distinct from "being a male of the species".

I'm male. I rather enjoy being male. But I don't get along with "manhood" in the gender sense. Why should I be limited in what I'm socially allowed to do by my genitals? Obviously there are certain physical restrictions, I can't bear children (yet) etc. But from a social standpoint limiting people by their genitals seems pretty damn stupid.
posted by sotonohito at 5:52 AM on February 20, 2010

It's not marketing to men that's an issue. It's marketing to men with the message that they'd better not like anything remotely feminine because anything related to femininity is bad. Taken straight, that is the message of the advertising here. It's not "this product is suitable for men," it's "don't worry, we took away all that horrible girliness so you won't be contaminated by it". And that is trading on misogyny, if not in the exact same way as the Dockers ads.
posted by Karmakaze

This. Karmakaze hit on why this rankles so. And I guess I'm a humorless feminist, because I don't see what's so funny about making fun of people (those un-funny feminists comments) because they are upset about being ridiculed all the time.
posted by agregoli at 11:52 AM on February 21, 2010 [1 favorite]