Tiny Cakes: Cupcakes on Denman

Chelsea Mushaluk, OP Contributor

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A cupcake (or fairy cake)
is a small cake designed to serve one
person, usually made in a small paper
cup container.” I couldn’t have defined
that much better than our old friend
Wikipedia did, though I’ve never heard
the term “fairy cake.” And I’ve eaten a
lot of cupcakes. Some people call them
just an inferior cake; but no, they’re a
dessert all their own. Is there a better
confection invention than the cupcake?
Probably not. While I could sing the
praises of the cupcake, it won’t be
anything new to you. What I will tell
you, however, will come as a delight to
all Vancouver cupcake lovers. Nestled
between Davie Street and Comox Street,
on Denman, is a shop called Cupcakes.
The selection: awesome. The cupcakes:
yummy!

Cupcakes, which also has another
location on W. Broadway, is definitely
the place to go if you’re into cakes of
the cup variety. They’re not the most
inexpensive, but when they have pear-
flavoured icing, it’s a pretty good deal.
The cupcakes come in singles, half
dozens and full dozens. At $2.50 a
pop, singles seemed like a good idea

at the time. And then I came across
flavours like the Blue Hawaii, the Mint
Condition, and the Mochamotion.
$13.50 later, I left with a half-dozen.

The cakes are moist and not too
sweet, but the icing is the best part. The
pear, caramel and mint icings were my
favourites, though some were terribly
sweet. When paired with a sweet
cupcake, it makes for a less enjoyable
cake experience. That said, the cupcakes
also come in Mini size, so perhaps the
sweeter ones are best eaten in small
portions. In addition to the Minis, the
cupcakes also come in Big One size.
This is a cupcake equivalent to two and
a half regular sized ones, and they’re
flat-iced so that they can be written on.
At $5 apiece, they’re perfect’ for small
birthday cakes.

You can find out more about
Cupcakes at www.cupcakesonline.com.
For the full list of flavours, I suggest
you stop by one of the two shops.
Cupcakes is the place to be for anyone
who’s into small cakes. If you’re still
not sold, try the classic chocolate
cupcake. If you’re not sold after that,
stick to pie. Happy eating!

 

 

 

Cake: I Love You

J.J. McCullough, OP Confectionary

CF

 

 

L.n no music snob. In fact, when
it comes to songs I basically only have
two criteria: it must be catchy and it
must have clever lyrics. So while I can
certainly appreciate the technical skill of
a five-minute guitar solo or unrestrained

 

Madly

quirky instruments, genius lyrics, and
distinctive vocals have make them one
of the most unforgettable bands you’ll
ever come across, especially if you hold
a musical philosophy similar to mine.

Much of Cake’s appeal comes from
the vocal stylings of John McCrea,
the group’s lead vocalist/guitarist, and
pretty much the only stable member
of the band in its 16-year history. He’s
not a particularly talented singer, but
that’s part of the appeal. In fact, he
hardly even sings at all. Instead of
modulating and hitting high notes, he
just sort of dead-pan raps the lyrics
in a bored, indifferent droll. Though
he’s gotten a bit more enthusiastic in
recent years, some of the earlier works
have an almost beat-poet feel to them,
as McCrea recites lyrics like “heads
of state who ride and wrangle / who
look at your face from more than one
angle / will slice you from their bloated
budgets / like sharpened knives to
Chicken McNuggets” over moody jazz
percussions.

Such lyrics are typical fare for
Cake, a band that can (and often does)
lapse seamlessly from the trivial to
the profound, from the poetic to the
nonsensical, and back again. “I want a
girl with the right allocations / who’s
fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack”
sings McCrea in their hit single from
a few years back “Short Skirt, Long

drum freak-out, unless I can sing it to
myself in the shower the next morning
it’s just so much forgettable noise.
Cake is a northern California band
that has been around in some form
since the early 1990s. Though oft-
ignored and easily overlooked, their

Jacket,” before lapsing into even
more convoluted analogies about
how he additionally wants a girl with
“fingernails that shine like justice”
and one who “uses a machete / to cut
through red tape.” And then there’s
songs like “Building a Religion” or
“Meanwhile, Rick James” whose words
basically read like a string of avant-
garde slogans.

Cake’s also come to be known
as “that band with the trumpet,” and
indeed, the trumpet-playing of Vince
DiFiore is one of the group’s other most
defining characteristics. I don’t know
why more bands don’t have a trumpet,
but they should. The sound adds a sort
of quirky elegance, best heard in songs
such as “Opera Singer” or “Italian
Leather Sofa.”

In an age when bands do nothing
except constantly brag about how
they have a “new sound” or are
“reinventing” such-and-such genre,
Cake is one group that can honestly
claim to have eked out a musical
style all their own. They’re not quite
a rock band and they’re not quite a
ska band and they’re not quite a jazz
band. They’re just Cake. Give them a
listen sometime. I guarantee you’ ll be
deadpanning to yourself in the shower
for days to come.

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