Sprinkles, the Los Angeles cupcake bakery, has installed its first ATM to dispense its frosted fare, as Huffington Post food blogger Lucy Blodgett demonstrates above. At $4 a pop (75 cents more than its regular cupcake price), the ATM is slated for New York and the brand's eight other U.S. locations, she hears. Naturally, the cupcake ATM now has its own Twitter feed. The idea expands on the company's Sprinklesmobile that launched in 2009. Also launching this spring: Sprinkles Ice Cream.

The cupcake bust is coming, at least according to Slate. But if you want to catch the tail end of the cupcake phenomenon, how do you get in?

The notion of just baking delicious sweets seems fairly stale at this point. Here are a few niches in the cupcake market that bakers are using to let their brand stand out.Continue reading...