Courtesy Transportation Security Administration

Like many Americans, I am a fan of the cupcake. Just saying the word makes me smile. (Go ahead, say it: “cupcake.” See?)

So I was concerned when I read about the Transportation Security Administration’s recent confiscation of a cupcake from a woman flying to Boston from Las Vegas. It seems that the copious frosting violated the rule about bringing liquids and gels on board. We here at Bucks wondered: What new outrage is this? What’s next? Taking snow globes from children? (Oops, they’re already banned.)

Things got even weirder when the T.S.A. defended its action against the menacing confection in its own blog post, titled Cupcakegate. (Many thanks to The Consumerist for bringing it to our attention.)

It turns out that this was not your typical birthday-variety cupcake. No, this was — get this — a cupcake in a jar. (The photo from the T.S.A. blog shows an example of a jar-encapsulated cupcake, with its own spoon helpfully attached, next to a “normal” cupcake. The jar version is a “Peanut Butter Surprise” flavor, according to the label.) Like the example in the photo, the security agency noted in the blog post, the confiscated cupcake “had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.”

Security issues aside, who puts a cupcake in a jar? Aren’t those little tin foil baking cups good enough anymore?

Apparently not. I’m clearly behind the curve on the latest trends in cupcake presentation. Cupcakes baked in a jar — not just sealed inside a jar, but in some cases baked right in it, with frosting swirled on top, or even mixed all together with cupcake pieces, like tiramisu, before the lid is screwed on — are the latest baking fad. I know because of this headline from The Kitchn, a cooking Web site: “Cupcakes in a jar! The latest cupcake craze.”

It seems they’ve even shown up in O Magazine and are described as “the illicit love child of cake pops and those jarred cake mixes ubiquitous in holiday gift-giving.” O.K., then.

On the upside, the Cupcake Incident apparently has spurred orders for the sweets from the bakery in Cohasset, Mass., that made the treat confiscated by the security agency.

Anyway, the T.S.A. says you can bring cakes, pies and cupcakes through the security checkpoint but expect them to get “additional screening.”

You’ve been warned.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d6c0ff0a48f35437b05b0fd5a229dee6