We told you about the cupcake comeback. Well, here’s a companion piece to that: The banning of cupcakes! Cupcakes are the ultimate comfort food, a sweet reminder of childhood, and specialty cupcake stores are springing up all over, selling fancy flavors like dulce de leche, rocky road, and pineapple-upside-down-cupcakes. Connoisseurs are delighted, but some nutritionists are having a conniption fit.

According to The New York Times, many nutritionists point out that cupcakes provide instant portion control. They average between 200 and 300 calories each - about one-third fewer calories than a piece of cake. However, other food experts call the cupcake the “poster food” of the child obesity crisis. The colorful creations are being banned from classrooms, school birthday parties and bake sales because they’re “just” sugar, fat and empty calories.

Of course, most parents see the obvious health benefits of banning junk foods, and applaud when schools want to ban vending machines full of Skittles, potato chips, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but the minute the list of banned school snacks and treats included cupcakes, parents overwhelmingly say ‘nay’ – and drew a pink-frosted line in the sand. Even local governments have gone cupcake crazy. So many parents lobbied against school cupcake bans, that the Texas Legislature recently passed the “Safe Cupcake Amendment.” Their objective: to keep the cupcake safe from harm and available at school bake sales.