Multicoloured cupcakes have been the surprise winner in our credit crunched times. Cupcake businesses, mainly run by women, are booming as we comfort-eat and treat ourselves to a little bit of affordable luxury: at £2 each they are far cheaper than the latest ‘it-bag’ or a restaurant meal. Cupcake cafes, bakeries, blogs, decorating classes are popping up all over the place and the trend shows no sign of slowing down.

Cupcakes, like many culinary inventions, originated by accident when leftover cake mix was used up in pottery cup moulds in 19th-century America. During the 1950s, cupcakes became synonymous with motherly love and childhood innocence as a ritual developed from taking a tray of cupcakes into school on a child’s birthday.

In the late 90s, the TV series Sex and the City propelled cupcakes from the classroom to Vogue. As Carrie and Miranda sunk their perfect teeth into a thick layer of pink icing outside Manhattan’s Magnolia Bakery they launched a cupcake craze. Back in the UK, Nigella salivated over cupcakes in her retro kitchen and cupcake tiers fast replaced the traditional wedding cake.

Women had been given the green light to eat cake. Unfortunately, back in the real world a cupcake weighs in at 400 calories (this is never ever mentioned): nearly a quarter of a woman’s recommended daily calorie intake.

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Eating a cupcake appears to be a rebellious ‘two fingers up’ to the diet police. But have we really escaped the gorging, guilt and denial cycle that has created a hugely profitable diet industry? Psychotherapist and author of Bodies, Professor Susie Orbach, says: "I think it is more to do with pretending to defy the trend against deprivation but doing it in a cutesy cutesy way…an updated version of naughty but nice."

Some US states have banned cupcakes in schools fuelling a nutrition versus nostalgia debate. In the UK, a recent government advert showing a cupcake-eating girl warns: "Is a premature death so tempting?" But cake is not the major culprit here: the real problem lies with our diet of processed foods and drinks pumped full of cheap fats and sugars.

Nikki Cameron founded award-winning Country Cupcakes in 2007 after a tip-off from a friend about the US craze. She attributes her success to creating a high-quality food: "I sell real cake made with good-quality simple ingredients. I adapted the US recipe to suit UK tastes, so mine are less sweet with restrained pastel decorations: pale pin is my bestseller."

Boutique bakeries are a key part of this trend with gorgeous retro interiors - 1950’s black and white chequered floors, pastel pink and green walls, and old-fashioned wooden trays displaying the range of flavours from peanut butter and chocolate to rosewater, are all part of the appeal. Customers step away from office life, back in time to an idealised world of 1950s' happy domesticity as opposed to the anxious Revolutionary Road version. The modern cupcake operates on many levels of desirability combining the infantilised language of ‘sparkles and sprinkles’, highly personalised ‘me-time’ indulgence and aspirational packaging.

Cake made with high-quality ingredients should be an enjoyable part of our diet. But perhaps we should move on from the super-sized US cupcakes, take pride in our own baking culture and bring back fairy cakes.

For more information on National Cupcake Week visit the website of the British Baker magazine

Where to buy Britain's best cupcakes

Country Cupcakes
The Podium, Northgate Street, Bath (T: 07801 280910; www.countrycupcakes.com/)
Elegant, pastel-coloured icing with glitter and pink roses decorations. Cake decorating classes.

Cupcake
70 Bell Street, Glasgow (T: 0141 552 2195; www.cupcakeglasgow.com/)
Lovely shop in foodie Merchant City area. All the favourites: ‘99 chocolate’ or simple lemon, and a cocktail range featuring vodka and rum.

Hummingbird Bakery
133 Portobello Road, London W11 (and 47 Old Brompton Road, Kensington) (T: 02072296446; www.hummingbirdbakery.com/flash.html)
Expect queues at this American-inspired bakery. Sells the iconic Magnolia Bakery ‘Red Velvet’ cupcake. Make your own with their cookbook.

Indulgence Cupcake Company
Brighton and Hove (T: 01273 419727; www.indulgence-cupcakes.co.uk/)
Family-run bakery where you can order customers’ favourite, ‘Or-Eh-Oh!’ vanilla butter icing with Oreo cookies.

Macaroon
569 Bury Road, Rochdale (T: 01706 558 565; www.macaroonbyalisonseagrave.co.uk/)
Run by Harvey Nichols' former pastry chef Alison Seagrave serving up delicious light cupcakes as well as Laduree-style macaroons.

Primrose Bakery 69 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 (and Covent Garden branch: 42 Tavistock Street) (T: 020 7483 4222; www.primrosebakery.org.uk/)
Popular with local celebrities. Specialities include: peanut butter and rose and ginger with very pretty decorations.

Sweet Tooth Cupcakery
9A Oswald Road, Chorlton, Manchester (T: 07855 765355; www.sweettoothcupcakery.co.uk/)
Beautiful retro interior with exquisite cakes: try their ‘Kylie’ raspberry-dotted vanilla sponge with real raspberry buttercream.

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