The best part about cupcakes is that you get to eat an entire cake all by your little old self. While there’s a time and place for your mother’s Duncan Hines box-mix cakelets slathered with frosting from a can and peppered with sprinkles in colors not found in nature, there’s something of a cupcake revolution going on. It won’t be televised, but it is fully shopcasted.

Perhaps most famous among cupcake confectioneries is New York’s Magnolia Bakery, whose star rose when Carrie Bradshaw nibbled on one in an episode of “Sex and the City.” Perhaps Sam from Becks & Posh doesn’t much dig the mountain of butter creme crowning each cake, but scads of people line up for them just the same. (Interestingly, NYCNosh notes that Magnolia’s cupcakes are but one toothsome treat, and arguably not even the best of the bunch!) Out on the Left Coast, ThisNext überninja Alyson opts for Sprinkles Cupcakes as an alternative to Magnolia, damn the expense. Toronto’s The Cupcake Shoppe is cath’s favorite haunt for dainty little cakes, perhaps with tea. But for real commitment to cupcake quality control, follow the bouncing bloggers on Chicago Bites through The Windy City as they devour and rate some three dozen different cupcakes around town. Pass the insulin!

If you don’t have one of these fabulous cupcakeries in your town, you’ll just have to make do at home. (Or at the least, you can indulge in a little cupcake porn. It’s easier on the waist.) You can have Magnolia’s magnificence emerge from your own oven, thanks to The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. Or you can boost up your cakelets with some of the boozy recipes in Gail Wagman’s Cupcakes Galore, also found on ThisNext. But for the best balance of interesting and erudite cupcake recipes, it’s really hard to beat Chockylit’s comprehensive cupcake blog, Cupcake Bakeshop. Exotic flavors like Mooncake Cupcakes (Bean Paste Filled Cupcakes with Date-Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting) and Green Tea, Lavender, and Honey Cupcake Bombe are exquisitely explained and illustrated.

Killer cupcakes require the right equipment. If extracting cupcakes from your rigid muffin tins gets you miffed, try lizajernow’s favorite: silicone muffin molds. “The silicone molds are soft and flexible—you can almost turn them inside out with your fingers!” And if boring old cup-shaped cupcakes kill your buzz, check out princess’s pick of the NordicWare Rose Bundt Cupcake Pan for a bouquet of adorable rose-shaped muffins.

Of course, presentation counts, too. Mere icing is not enough to make a masterpiece; no, for the ultimate in cupcake décor, you must invest in cupcake toppers. Daily Dose of Denise will hook you up with tip-top toppers for any occasion, from weddings to Pride to Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrrgh! Stack up your beautiful baked goods on — what else? — a cupcake stand. No baker’s kitchen is complete without it. And to keep your petite pastries picture-perfect as well as portable, ThisNexter jmel26 and design blog Outblush prefer The Container Store’s Cup-a-Cake containers, perfect for those brown-bag lunches.