LET them eat (cup) cake, for this month marks National Cupcake Week which runs from September 17 to 21.

These dinky desserts have enjoyed a long frosting-filled ride, which shows no sign of bottoming out any time soon.

So why are they still so popular?

Ursula Boardman, is the cafe training coordinator at The Crumbs Project in Christchurch Road, Boscombe, which provides training for adults with mental health, learning disability and drug and alcohol addictions.

She said cupcakes are still a best seller: “Cupcakes are fun to make, reasonably-priced and very versatile as you can personalise them for any occasion.

“We run a celebrations cake department and cup cakes are still our biggest sellers.

“Our trainees enjoy making them too.

“Last week they made some cupcakes with a magical theme when local author Catherine Sabatina visited the cafe.”

Catherine who has dyslexia, read from her books Sweet Jasmine Book 1 Cakes & Magic, and also Book 2, called Stakes & Magic.

Some tasty facts about cupcakes:

They were named cupcakes because the portions of ingredients were measured in cups.

The world record for eating cupcakes in one sitting is 29 cupcakes in 30 seconds.

Originally cupcakes were called ‘number cakes’ or ‘1234 cakes’ to remember the portions (one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk and one spoonful of soda).

Traditionally cupcakes were flavoured with dried fruit or spices, they were not frosted.