This whole cupcake craze is getting to be a bit much...

We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of two gourmet cupcake places in my area for the past few months - Kara's Cupcakes from SF was opening in Town & Country Village and the famous Sprinkles from L.A. was opening up at the Stanford Shopping Center (replacing the much missed Long Life Noodle House).

Yes, we can get cupcakes from lots of local bakeries including our standby of Draeger's, the ever sweet ones from Safeway and the marginally lighter ones from Satura Cakes. But why buy cupcakes from a bakery when you can buy even more overpriced ones from a specialty cupcake bakery?!

Now I have to admit that I've fully partaken of the cupcake craze in the heartland where it all started - Magnolia Bakery in New York. And Buttercup Bake Shop. And the place next to Bryant Park where the cupcakes are almost the size of my hand. And Miette in SF. And the incomparable Sibby's in San Mateo (she only does special orders though, no storefront). But even I'm starting to choke on $3.25 for a little artery-clogging handful of cake and frosting ("but they're so cuuuute!!").

Nonetheless, I've been to Kara's three times since it opened - I blame it all on my kids! My youngest (the chocolate hater) loves the sweet vanilla (in the $2 mini size). My oldest (the chocolate inhaler) loves the very dark, very chocolatey fleur de sel (and thinks the mini size is for weenies). I enjoy both, as well as the banana caramel. The line at Kara's has never taken more than a few minutes.

We did make an attempt at the new Sprinkles on Sunday - the line was 30-40 people long and snaked down the sidewalk past quite a few other shops. I drove right on by - you want me to pay $3.25 for a cupcake AND wait 20 mins?! And we went right back to Kara's again. Sprinkles will just have to wait...

Sprinkles queue update - 6:20 pm on Wednesday night, there were still close to 20 people in line outside the store. I drove right on by. I'm willing to wait in absurd lines for an iPhone, but not for a paltry cupcake!!

OK - last Sprinkles update, I swear - a friend just gave me a box of 10 assorted Sprinkles cupcakes as a thank you gift. Score! And it was delicious. I would need to do a side-by-side tasting to assess whether I like Sprinkles or Kara's better - the kids say that Sprinkles is less sweet and has a more manageable amount of frosting.