Call it comfort food if you will, but cupcakes may just be the perfect recession-proof little indulgences.

In the Tri-Counties, cupcake bakeries – or cupcakeries – have proliferated over the past two years, and their owners say they’re only getting more popular.

Maybe it’s because the HBO series “Sex and the City” shows its characters indulging in the mini cakes at Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, or maybe it’s because cupcakes are small and affordable, but they’ve become popular not just as personal treats but as replacements for traditional wedding and birthday cakes as well.

The cupcake trend is part of a larger consumer movement to get back to home-made, old-fashioned food, said Lisa Kraus, owner of Cupcakery Cupcakes Bakery & Boutique in Thousand Oaks. 

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