$55,000 Valentine’s Day Cupcake with Engagement Ring

[steveiguana]

They say love is sweet, but it can also make you sick. A couture cupcake shop in Philadelphia has decided to embrace both idioms with a Valentine’s Day offer so hyperbolic it’ll make you vomit. 

Here’s what I mean (read in your best-imagined sugary sweet voice of your worst high school frenemy)

“Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Cupcakes Gourmet, the first couture cupcake shop in the Philadelphia area now with three locations, today announced a sparkling twist to its popular red velvet cupcake,” announced the store’s press release. ” The new sparkling red velvet cupcake features an 8-carat diamond engagement ring from Warwick Jewelers. The delectable sparkling cupcake is available to special-order year round for guests who plan on popping the question or simply gift to his significant other.”

That’s right. The store is adding some bling to every cupcake store’s signature flavor–red velvet–by putting a ring smack dab in the middle of that cream cheese frosting. While Valentine’s Day is known for bringing out contenders for the cheesiest marketing gags, this has to be one of the worst. Not only does it fall in line with those aforementioned contenders, the “Sparkling Red Velvet” encourages the greatest desecration to the name of love, twofold: it promotes a cliché proposal, on Valentine’s Day.  

I realize I’m being harsh. For some couples Valentine’s Day could hold more significance than a national holiday (I admit one of my former relationship’s anniversaries landed on the 14th), or the ring-in-the-cupcake actually is cute because they went to Magnolia Bakery for their first date, or they share a passion for cupcakes that goes WAY beyond the normal sweet tooth’s consumption patterns. I haven’t even presented the counter-argument. 

“There’s no sweeter way to pop the question to your significant other than with a dreamy cupcake with a diamond engagement ring sitting on top,” said Maki Garcia-Evans, owner and executive pastry chef at Cupcakes Gourmet in the company’s press release. “A diamond is worth a thousand words, but with a cupcake, it’s worth more. It suits our store’s slogan, ‘Love Tastes Like This.’”

To give credit where its due, Warwick Jewelers, Cupcakes Gourmet’s promotional partner for this endeavor, will grant 15% off select engagement rings purchased in conjunction with the special offer. And Cupcakes Gourmet is no hole-in-the-wall cupcake shop–according to the press release it was “named by Brides magazine as one of the four best cupcake shops in the nation.”

But I think I’ll just stick to indulging in the regular-priced dozen

[kitty8199]

Cute idea.  Too much money.  I would tell him to take it back, for a cheaper ring.  That is a down payment on a house.  I don't think that much money should be spent on MY engagement ring.  If some other girl wants it, whatever.  IMO it is a waste of money.  I'm not materialistic, though.

[Miss-B]

Quoting kitty8199:

Cute idea.  Too much money.  I would tell him to take it back, for a cheaper ring.  That is a down payment on a house.  I don't think that much money should be spent on MY engagement ring.  If some other girl wants it, whatever.  IMO it is a waste of money.  I'm not materialistic, though.

[Cindy18]

I'm thinking it would be cheaper to buy a regular cupcake and put your own ring in it.