I like cupcakes, but I like cakes in general. For the most part, I think these boutique places are good, but not great. Most definitely over priced, but I'll pay it on occasion. My favourite cupcake in town is actually from Lazy Loaf & Kettle. It is moist, flavourful and does not taste as ridiculously sweet as all of the popular ones.
As for it being a fad, that is absolutely true. So many foods go this route. What is missing right now is a significant chain taking off. The basic pattern is usually:
- A bunch of small places start popping up
- Some chains start popping up as the next great franchise to own
- They die down. Most of the small places go out of business and often just one franchise company sticks around with a much smaller footprint than they had at their peak.
I've seen this pattern for food items such as: frozen yogurt, bagels, smoothies. This appears to be happening with tea joints (e.g. Atomic, Teaopia). Macaroons seem to be heading there too.
There is always the next "it" food.