Mini-desserts: Downsizing everything but flavor

Just because you're watching your waistline doesn't necessarily mean you have to give up eating dessert these days. Thanks to a new fad of small sweets, perhaps the old adage will ring true for you: You can have your cake and eat it too -- just as long as it's bite-sized.

But people are eating miniature desserts for a number of reasons -- and they don't all include an eating-less motive.

 "Early Show" contributor Taryn Winter Brill reported that, at Baked by Melissa's in New York, children are flocking to stores because they're simply inexpensive -- just $1 for each bite-sized cupcake.

Owner Melissa Bushell said, "(Kids) come in with their allowance, like, 'I have a dollar, can I buy one cupcake?' And to me, that's it."

Bushell started Baked by Melissa from her apartment after she lost her advertising job. It was her business partner who came up with the idea to downsize dessert.

"He was a caterer, and he saw how people just love little tiny things," Bushell said. "You can just take one nice clean bite and you don't have to worry about the mess or a fork. It's just easy."

From mini-macaroons, to donuts and brownies, tiny treats are changing the way we eat our sweets, Brill said. Even at the supermarket, classic cookies are offered in bite-sized portions.

At Pop Bar in New York City, owner Reuben Benjehuda says his mini-gelato popsicles are the perfect size for parties.

Benjehuda said, "It's a cute size. (Customers) don't feel like they are eating too much or too little."

The small sizes allow calorie-counters to adhere to their diet.

Bushell said, "On average, our cupcakes are less than 50 calories a piece, and our tie-dye flavor is only 38 calories."

However, many can't resist reaching for more.

When asked how he stops himself from eating too many of Melissa's cupcakes, he said, "I just eat them all."

For Bushell, it's the sweet taste of success. Now with five stores in Manhattan, her business model of a dollar a cupcake looks like it makes a whole lot of sense.

Brill remarked after eating one of Bushell's Baked By Melissa cupcakes, "It's a small, little thing, but (it has) huge flavor."