Holy yum! Via our elephriends at Eco Salon.

Vegan cupcakes based on Sex and the City’s famous Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe.

From New York City to Dubai, we’re living in a sugar coated world of cupcake mania. Many reports (like this one from the UK Telegraph) put the addiction blame on the famed Magnolia Bakery.

What started 16 years ago as the tiniest of local cupcake spots on Bleeker Street in New York City’s West Village, has now become an over-heated sensation. Sex and the City, followed by Saturday Night Live’s “Lazy Sunday” and The Devil Wears Prada, have all been accused of instigating and spreading the cupcakes-gone-wild craze. Flash through old episodes of Sex and the City and you’re sure to find the one where Carrie and Miranda munch on frosted treats outside the original Magnolia Bakery—back in the day before lines circled around the block.

“I have a crush,” Carrie confesses to Miranda, lips lined with pink buttercream frosting. Was it a cupcake crush? Tourists who happily fork over $48 and more than three hours of their time to take the official Sex and the City Hotspots Tour in New York City—including a stop at this very spot—can answer best. Walk inside the flagship Bloomingdale’s, or simply follow the trend from New York to Chicago, L.A. to Dubai or the 120 new locations in the works, and you’ll see that a bad case of the Magnolia cupcake crush is taking the world by sweet-toothed storm.

My memories of Magnolia Bakery go back to those one-location wonder days, post Sex and the City. As a transplanted New Yorker, I recall once dedicating an afternoon standing in the Magnolia line—for what felt like hours—simply to snag a cupcake for a friend’s birthday. Five years later, I tasted a tiny crumble of the infamous Vanilla Vanilla Magnolia Cupcake.

Fast forward to today where I’ve masterminded a vegan, gluten-free edition—starting with the original Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe, compliments of Magnolia Bakery and the Food Network.

While this is no baking adventure for the weary, the results are well worth it.

Check out Eco Salon for the full recipe.

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