An answer to a perplexing baked goods question issued forth this week from a very unusual source: The Transportation Security Administration. They have issued an opinion on a pressing question: Is a cupcake in a jar really a cupcake?
In December a passenger was not allowed to bring two of these oversized cupcake-esque treats through security, as the agents on duty felt the icing fell into the "gel" category.
TSA came in for a lot of ridicule after this incident, so Blogger Bob of the official TSA blog offered the photo illustration above, and an explanation:
I wanted to make it clear that this wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake. ... As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.
Not your everyday cupcake — could this cupcake-like confection be a bomb in disguise? According to Blogger Bob, yes:
...the days of the three sticks of dynamite with a giant alarm clock strapped to them are long gone. Terrorists have moved to novel explosives disguised as common, everyday items. ... When you think about it, do you think an explosive would be concealed in an ominous item that would draw attention, or something as simple as a cute cupcake jar?
The lesson here, folks, is that regular cupcakes (real ones) are generally allowed through security. Cupcakes in jars? Not so much. If that doesn't push them into their own category of confectionary overkill, I don't know what does.
Read more about Cupcakegate:
• Cupcakegate - At The TSA Blog
• Cupcakes Are OK; Cupcakes In A Jar Won't Fly Past Security, Says TSA - NPR
• TSA defends cupcake confiscation - At CNN, with a followup from the cupcake-bereft passenger herself.
Have you ever had a baked good turned away for security reasons at the airport? Share your stories here!
Related: Cupcakes In a Jar! The Latest Cupcake Craze
(Image: TSA)
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One of the funniest things I've ever read on the kitchen. High five.
while it'd be upsetting to see the work that i put into making the cupcakes in jars, i don't think that i'd ever assume that i could bring them on a plane...
So you're saying I should just put my bomb in a regular cupcake? Good to know!
Cupcakes with CRIMINAL RECORDS?! What's the world come to! The nations security threat level has been raised from Code Green to CODE RED VELVET: Cupcakes of Mass Destruction! http://youtu.be/iebqnpUFwQA
@Welcomereality should be expecting the FBI at your door any minute now...
Just read an unconfirmed report on FB that the TSA allows frozen liquids/gels. I freeze my desserts-in-jars anyway, so packing them in my luggage in a cooler with ice wouldn't be a problem for me. Of course, I haven't tested this theory yet, so I don't know if it's true.
I'm not at all sure why a gel or liquid stops being suspect if it's frozen...
*shrugs* all they had to do was put the jar in their luggage and not in their carry on. I mean It does make sense that if we're not allowed more than 3 oz on gels/liquids *per container* in the cabin, 6 oz of frosting is kinda nebulous. Or you could carry the frosting in seperate squeeze bottles. :)
@MHAYS I don't know -- I wasn't allowed to take ice cream packed in dry ice as a carry-on. And the dry ice wasn't the problem, mind you. It was the ice cream, because (I quote): "You know what ice cream becomes when it melts? A liquid, that's what."
So honestly, I wouldn't risk it.
eh, a bit overkill but no one foresaw people bringing in bombs in their shoes or underwear either.
I had my Greek yogurt confiscated once. Apparently, it fits the same criminal profile.
Yeah, they view soft gooey cheese the same way. Though aparently, if you put the cheese in a baguette, it's ok.
"As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar."
In what world does that picture show a cupcake with a "thin layer of icing"? You think the poor hack assigned to try and craft a convincing argument for a ridiculous policy could at least find a photo to match, or was that just too much effort.
Hand the cupcake to a toddler and I bet TSA would have let it through. I've discovered that when traveling with a toddler, TSA doesn't question much. We travel with all manner of food and drinks (although I do try to adhere to the 3 oz rule size). I think they are just hoping to avoid a knee-high tantrum that they let my son through with his cup of water while enjoying a go-gurt and squeeze pack of applesauce.
I know it seems like a bit overkill, but as someone who travels quite a bit I would rather be safe than sorry. But that's just me.
@atn654, I imagine the technology for a cheese-bomb exists--but the sandwich on a baguette bomb? Years away. That's not even in beta.
I've traveled with my share of baked goods to bring to loved ones and for once, even though their "rules" on these things are stupid, I'm with the TSA on this one.
I've had to open up packaging of baked goods and I know there's some things they're iffy on (cheesecake comes to mind- depending on the agent, they may consider it a gel and make you trash it) and a cupcake in a jar (baked in a jar and frosted in a jar as the picture shows) is not able to be checked properly. Unless the lady wanted tsa poking sticks and things in her cake, which I doubt, I would have been right with them in saying "Sorry, that looks sketchy. Dump it." I think this is a common sense thing of "how does this look to other people" I wouldn't go to the airport with my toiletries in a screwtop pvc pipe cause it just looks sketchy, same packaging with food.
I've never had a problem with cake, but I did have a problem with a brownie! I got pulled aside when I brought a brownie camera in my carry-on luggage. The young TSA officer doing the X-ray scan had no idea what the camera was. They had to take it out of my bag and swab it for explosives. I didn't mind too much - I got to talk about old school tech and we had a laugh - one officer thought it was strange but interesting that the viewfinder was on the top of the camera instead of in the back!
I hate going through security, but I'd rather be overly cautious and have the anxiety of "will this pass through security?" rather than "will someone blow up/hijack my plane?"
Well, if there's that old cliche about smuggling a file in a cake to a prisoner then why not a bomb in a cupcake in a jar?
I'd rather have them ban something, like a cupcake in a jar and look ridiculous then something terrible to happen. At the end of the day they are just trying to keep us safe which is not a ridiculous thing.
Oops, forgot to add that I'm surprised the glass jar was not an issue.
I had a coffee cake swabbed for explosives once. It was a regular grocery store cake still in the clamshell plastic packaging. And my mother in law had to trash some frozen gravy for Italian beef sandwiches one time. Way overkill but hilarious too.
Well, it's nice to know that given enough time, the TSA can rationalize their Kabuki Theater act.
The whole "remove shoes and not allow cupcakes on airplanes" helps some of us feel safer to fly, but in actually does nothing to actually keep us safer. I have no problems with people "feeling safer" as long as they realize it's just a feeling and not a reality that any of ridiculous exercises in trying to board a plane, actually will stop a terrorist attack.
Of course the whole discussion brings to mind Ben Franklin's quote, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I will take my cupcakes in a jar liberty over an irrational emotional feeling any day.
It's so cute how people actually think this is about security. We're not any safer now that cupcakes in a jar are banned. I'd rather they keep their eyes out for actual weapons and explosives.
"When is a cupcake not a cupcake?"
"When it's in ajar!"
Also, don't ever try to take peanut butter cookies in your checked bag.....http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/2011/12/how-the-tsa-stole-christmas/
Enough is enough! I have had it with all these motherf*cking cakes on this motherf*cking plane!
@jonathanrhall BEST COMMENT OF THE POST
I'm guessing you could smash the jar and use the shards of glass as a weapon.