"After our laugh subsided, we realized that there are plenty of men that would be more attracted to a 'Beer Run' cupcake"

... some very insecure men.

"After our laugh subsided, we realized that there are plenty of men that would be more attracted to a 'Beer Run' cupcake (chocolate beer cake with beer-infused buttercream topped with crushed pretzels) than a Red Velvet cupcake."

How many of those men wouldn't have preferred an actual beer run? Empty set.

Obviously not ALL men would feel that way, which is why I chose the words "plenty of men".

palates, not palettes.

This post seems to verge into dangerous territory.

My husband won't touch yogurt or jello salads. He dislikes casseroles too, but I don't know that he considers them feminine foods.

Interesting topic. My partners food choices generally line up with mine (we are gay male couple) with the exception of a few things (nuts in baked goods, hard chocolate on ice cream, scallops, etc - mostly texture based preferences).

However, I have a sister that is one year younger than me and we have the exact same food taste - even though we don't live close to each other we often find were eating the same unusual things. Once in a restaurant she went to the bathroom when I ordered and when she came back she ordered warning me she had developed an odd liking to burnt pepperoni pizza with pineapple - little did she know I had ordered the same thing even though we had neither talked about it or eaten it in front of each other before.

I think the Butch Bakery is playing more to stereotypes of gender rather than gender biases.

This is just another example of unnecessary gendering of products. It celebrates and feeds into baseless and ultimately damaging stereotypes. For example, their claim that men "build" cupcakes instead of "baking" them implies that men can't/don't/shouldn't bake because it's feminine. I would guess many male readers of this site might take issue with that.

The cupcake flavors look super-tasty, (the beer run one sounds great!) but I guess I should prefer frilly pink cupcakes because I'm female? Whatever.

Hehe, let me see:

Things my husband likes more than me: chocolate, honey, cookies, cake, bread with 'bits' in, diet cola.

Things I like much more than him: broad beans, polenta, mashed potato, full-fat cola.

...we *always* have to swap our drinks around when ordering at the bar...

My friends' food preferences seem more culturally based than anything. Where they grew up, their parents' ethnicity, etc.

The only gender preference I can think of is that the guys I know seem more meat-obsessed than the women I know.

Does anyone really think these cupcakes perpetuate harmful stereotypes? If anything, they're a tongue-in-cheek joke about such stereotypes.

Their motto is "where butch meets buttercream" for crying out loud -- sounds anything but serious to me.

"Don't read the comments," is common advice among my friends when surfing the web. This is one of the times that advice fails. I would have been better off skipping this article which does little more than offer the bakery publicity and gone straight to the comments which point out the stereotypes that motivate this sort of a product and how stupid they are.

Gotta tell you that while my hubby and his friends wouldn't really hesitate much to bite into a really girly cupcake made by me complete with glittery sprinkles that they would be pretty amused by the offerings of this bakery. While stereotypes have a bad rap, many for good reasons certainly, there are many that do start out for reasons like this - many people do have similar interests like men enjoying camo, or trucks etc vs. pink/purple and dolls. Women can like the same things as men and switch it around. I don't care. An awful lot of people do tend to fit the stereotypes though! Have fun with it! If you can't handle it many take a deep breath and bury your head in the sand for a while till the box of cupcakes is gone!

I forgot to mention: I could wolf down three of those B-52 cupcakes in the length of time it took to read these comments. And if anyone has a recipe that comes close to the B-52 cupcake, leave a link, I beg you.

That is funny about the swapping drinks thing! My husband and I have to do the exact same thing. In his heart of hearts, he prefers more stereotypically girly drinks---wine, cider, cocktails---and I am more of a whiskey and beer girl. The waiters always deliver the drinks wrong. It is too bad, because I am pretty sure if it weren't for the askance looks, he would probably choose to drink cosmos all the time.

My boyfriend and I would both choose the red velvet cupcake. It's got CHOCOLATE in it. Duh.

If it came in a pink paper cup, he'd still choose it, but I might not. According to marketers, all women love pink, but this one doesn't. You can always spot the crap made to appeal to girls and women: it's more expensive and it's pink.

It's not quite the B-52, but Smitten Kitchen does have a recipe for Irish car bomb cupcakes, which are similar:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/car-bomb-cupcakes/

The main differences in cupcake flavors at this bakery - aside from the pattern on the chocolate on top - is that half the cupcakes involve some kind of alcohol and/or bacon. Outside of those, all the cupcakes are standard bakery fare with less, uh, fluffy names (and bacon is becoming pretty standard bakery fare these days anyway).

Does this imply that there are more alcoholic men out there? Or that men need to be persuaded with the promise of alcohol to enjoy a small tasty baked good? Personally, I'd gladly enjoy a Tom Collins cupcake. There isn't nearly enough gin in baked goods.

I like the silliness of the bakery and the whole concept of "manly cupcakes" as a joke, but even so I'm a bit turned off by the whole "gender bias" thing that's been pretty strong in the world lately.

Cupcakes: good.
Alcohol: good.
Cupcakes and alcohol. GOOD.
End of debate.

Gneder/food issues aside, I find this bakery no more or less silly than the concept of a Grooms Cake.

The most famous of which, ever, was the Armadillo Cake in Steel Magnolias (a chick flick featuring some very butch women). A cake, I might add, which was Red Velvet Cake inside.

I love it when life comes full circle.

Plus, I think really truly manly men will eat Red Velvet Cake.

Since it sounds like a stripper.

I agree with Freestate above, these do seem to be playing with stereotypes, rather than indicating biases. In fact, you might even say they are being gender subversive here in a way, by mixing stereotypically masculine and feminine traits in one object. Cupcakes are small and dainty and typically frilly; giving them a butch name and painting camo on it is a little like putting ballerinas in camo tutus and calling them "aerodynamic movement tacticians". Thus, rather than seeing these to reinforce stereotypes, we can instead understand them as subverting them, showing them for what they are; make-belief.

Food- like everything- often plays a role in gender identity. There's actually a fair bit of research on it. But I'd guess that only the minority would take these as a sincere manifestation of masculinity.

i think the notion that food preferences are often rooted in gender identity has been pretty well established:
obvious stereotypes:
Men are more likely to prefer Meat, rice, & soup
Women eat salads, veggies, & dairy items (yogurt, cottage cheese)

oh man... cheetohs, doritos, etc. = boy food. anything that leaves behind serious finger residue. blech. or maybe its just me... (a girl. obviously).

My only food gender stereotype gets blown all the time--that women are the sweet lovers and men go for salt. That's true about 50% of the time, making it...not really true.
These cupcakes look great. I'd eat a manly cupcake or two as long as they look that delicious! I mean, I tried the December recipe for bacon fudge, so why not a bacon cake?
I'm so excited about the above smitten kitchen link....

@amyeliz---thank you for the Smitten Kitchen link :)

I like the bakery's designs-they're obviously having fun! But it doesn't really fit in with the OP's conceit; these cupcakes aren't going to taste that different to a sex-in-the-city-esque cupcake, they're just decorated different. So by that argument it doesn't lead to a difference in food taste between the genders, just in aesthetics?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the taste of cupcakes, however beautifully decorated (I don't really like any sorts of icing).

After reading the manifesto in the tones of "We make manly cupcakes for manly man" I'd like to know whether the ones making thesse cupcakes are actually the men themselves as claimed by the ad. Nice ideas for homemade cupcakes though!

According to the topic of the post, I think men are less likely to eat grains, pulses, ecc, except it's in the chilli. I have doubts about milky desserts, too... Though my BF can devour several servings of freshly made warm vanilla pudding ... Go figure

I've never thought of this before. My husband and I like almost exactly the same foods. The only difference I can think of is that he prefers white wine and I prefer red.

But then, I love beer, camping, and tools, and I don't really like cupcakes, so who knows.

i think the notion that food preferences are often rooted in gender identity has been pretty well established:
obvious stereotypes:
Men are more likely to prefer Meat, rice, & soup
Women eat salads, veggies, & dairy items (yogurt, cottage cheese)

Men are more likely to prefer soup???? I've never ever heard of that and can't imagine what the basis behind it would be. If we're talking in terms of the need to feel/act "manly" I would think that soup doesn't fit. Actually, neither does rice...

Not that I think people actually fit into these nice little boxes, nor do I think they should try to.

cupcakes and cupcake bakeries are a trendy thing right now. these people are simply jumping on the bandwagon and offering something different than traditional flavors, design, etc. It's obviously a novelty product and a way to set themselves apart from the dozens (hundreds?) of other cupcake bakeries in NYC. But do I think that a woman is less likely to buy one of these cupcakes because they have camo or alcohol? No. Do I think a man is more likely to buy one of these cupcakes because of those same reasons? No.
Do I think that talking about "gender bias" when talking about food is completely ridiculous? YES.
Now give me one of those cupcakes! The more alcohol, the better! :)

The only way you can buy into this crock is if you also enjoy buying into gender binaries. Way to go with the stereotyping though. You've really done a bang-up job of upholding the status quo.

Calm down everyone! They're just baked goods! Cupcakes are trendy and this shop is setting itself apart by having untraditional designs and some untraditional flavors. (Let's face it, graham cracker cupcake with marshmallow filling and ganache isn't really that butch either.) It's silly, not misogynist! Now pass the Old Fashioned cupcakes.

All I got from that was the idea that crushed pretzels seemed like they may be really awesome on a cupcake. Yes? Or yes.

This is just weird. Their cupcakes are cute and I love a good theme, but this is an odd one.

My husband loved the batch of red velvet cupcakes I made him for Valentine's day and so did all of his male coworkers. They even commented on the chocolate heart garnishes. However, I think my husband would be a little embarrassed to go in this cupcake shop.