The Icing on the Cake

After Carrie Bradshaw bit into a delicate, decadent cupcake on Sex and the City, it wasn't long before the trend hit European shores. Unfortunately, the German coast isn't very long, so it was a while before Germany caught on. Berlin, trend-capital of the country, has seen independent cupcake shops spring up over the last year and thankfully, two former digital marketing experts in Munich have said goodbye to their corporate careers and hello to sugar, spice and everything cupcake.

Iris Wagner and Sheloian Tanedo, from Munich and Sydney respectively, moved to Munich in 2007 and over the past three years have been flirting with the idea of starting a cupcake company. After extensive research on food trends in Germany, they took the leap and set up a website this year, www.wirmachencupcakes.de, to test the waters.

According to Sheloian '€œa trend is a trend'€ and this one happens to be a '€œdead simple idea that people overlook'€ which was successful from the word '€˜Go!' Having baked these little treats for the autumn/winter season opening of classic US brand Tommy Hilfiger in Munich, Iris and Sheloian are now selling up to 200 cupcakes in one order be it for weddings, birthday parties or occasions like Oktoberfest.

Not only the English-speaking community is aware of these little gems being baked in the heart of Munich but Germans are jumping on the bandwagon too. This has meant, however, that the amount of sugar used in the recipes had to be cut by half to cater to European taste and indeed, having tasted them myself, they are perfect. These typical Anglo-American desserts have also been adapted to cater for the Bavarian capital in which people are accustomed to traditional bakeries. This has lead to Oktoberfest cupcakes made with beer and Pretzels and cupcakes in honour of the German national football team during the World Cup.

The best news of all is that by the end of this year they will have opened a shop right in the heart of Munich where they'll sell cupcakes from their collection of 40 different flavours. Watch this space as who can no to a cupcake?