I may be the *worst* blogger EVER- I know, it’s been forever since I wrote a new post, but rather than apologizing like usual and feeling guilty (and eating chocolate dusted almonds to quell the guilt) I’m going to get huffy:
Look man, I’ve been busy!
YEAH, I said it! You want a piece of me?
WHACHULOOKINAT?!

So, I’ve missed you all! It was a nutty summer- full of mini cupcakes and sweaty deliveries (ew). This summer was especially brutal and heat is definitely the enemy of cupcake frostings. But we made it through and I’m loving the cool weather we’re having this week!

I totally love this time of year, when mornings start to feel brisk and there’s a smell in the air that reminds me of the first day of school…I went to a Catholic elementary school (I’m Protestant but it was the closest private school, thanks mom and dad for totally confusing my religious belief system) and there were two styles of uniform that you could wear: the cute plaid skirt with the peter pan collar blouse or the fugly, ill-fitting polyester pant outfit with turtleneck…and vest. EW. So each morning my mom and I would listen to the radio to see what the high temperature would be for that day. 45 degrees and over, skirt uniform was ok! Less than 45 degrees and I had to wear the 1979 warden’s outfit.

What does this have to do with cupcakes?
Nothing, but hey, you wanted to read a new blog entry right?

Alright fine- actually I haven’t worked on any new flavors, although one kind of just sprang up by request. I did a Rosh Hashanah cupcake of Apple and Honey for a Jewish customer (Happy 5771, y’all!) recently that seemed to go over well- this customer was kind enough to give feedback:
“Best cupcake EVER! They were sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!”
Them’s a lot of exclamation marks.

Oh, I do have some exciting news- I gave an interview that’s on the American Express business site!  It’s not a major thing and I wish they had used pics of my cupcakes rather than the neon colored confections that’s up now, but I’ll take it just the same.   I’m honored to have been asked!  Hopefully I’m offering some decent ‘tips’ that can help some start-up businesses out there.

And while I don’t have any fresh cupcake pics for you, I do have this you can look at.

I’m not expanding the product line, but I happened to be going to the Serious Eats office and thought I’d bring some treats!  I’ve been making rolls of different kinds just for fun…and I have to admit that they’re pretty tasty.  Maybe another business is in the works?

Oh heyyyy…yeah, all good…really hot out, huh…erm…ok…I’M SORRY FOR BEING AWAY FOR SO LONG!

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get onto my *single* post for the month of June!

If you know me personally you probably know that I’m into k-pop (Korean pop music)- I keep up with the latest songs, flail/jerk my body into strange movements learning the dance moves and yes, play it in the background and warble as I bake.   The cheery melodies, catchy hooks and hilarious nonsensical English (aka Konglish) make this flavor of musical fizz irresistible to me.  A new girl group on the scene is APink, whose debut song and video, “I Don’t Know” I resisted for a couple of months until I finally broke down and really listened to it- so naturally now I’m obsessed.

But APink’s world is so different from mine!  For instance:

I have never gone on a relaxing bike ride…on a mountain…on a 100 year old bicycle…in a mini dress (what?)

Never hang with my girls in a field of pinwheels

And if I ever found a dude passed out on my front door, I wouldn’t be curious, I’d be hella pi$$ed

So maybe it’s a bit of escapism that I enjoy when listening to this fluff- sunny day, red balloon, will you be my friend?  It all sounds so happy and simple in konglish!  Well, here’s my reality in pink- last week I had a baker’s choice order and was able to include some of the Snowball- I have to admit that it’s one of my favorite looking cakes (yes, it’s tasty too)- modeled after the hot-pink coconut snack cake we all know, I’ve made it into a bite sized morsel of childhood.  With a real marshmallow top, covered in that pink coconut, it’s a dead ringer for the big version…except that it’s made for a grown up’s taste!

This was a first order from a customer who was celebrating her birthday- I had met her a year ago at a cupcake event!   I’m so honored that she remembered the cakes and I hope that they helped make her party extra sweet!  As it turns out she’s a friend of the ladies at Cupcakes Take the Cake, who mentioned her party and my cakes- thanks for the lovely write-up, ladies!

Dear Brides,

I know you’ve been starving yourselves for the past 3 months to fit into that fabulous gown- I know that you’re having ‘Atkins rage’ from the lack of carbs and can’t wait to cram fistfuls of pasta, bread, and cupcakes into your gob…so do yourselves a favor and put some of our minis aside!

Jus’ Sayin’,

CakeLab

I can’t tell you how many brides have told me about how they were looking forward to monching on cupcakes at their reception, only to find that the guests have eaten them all!  I suppose it’s a good thing that your guests are having fun/eating/building up appetites doing the electric slide, but if cupcakes are what you’re wanting, I strongly suggest reserving a batch for yourselves- hello, that’s what bridesmaids are for (along with holding up your dress in the ladies room and putting band-aids on your blisters from those ^%$@# shoes you thought were so cute).

This apparently was the case with a bride this past weekend- the lovely lady was so excited to see her cakes and in fact confessed that in a way she was more excited at the smorgasbord of delicacies that awaited them than for the actual ceremony itself!  Alas, in her feedback on Monday, she reported that she sadly did not get any cupcakes (and probably didn’t get to eat anything at all as is the cruel tradition of not allowing the bride and groom to eat at their own reception).  THAT’S SO SAD!

So at the very least, for this bride I will post a couple of pics of the custom flavor made for her special day…in addition to some of my signature flavors, she requested a champagne cake with strawberry cream:

Yes, that’s a little strawberry dot on top (I totally died, it was so cute).  A slice of berry on these little guys seemed awkward, so they each wore a berry chapeau instead!

So the Taste of Hope event went really well!  Met a bunch of people in the food industry, and introduced myself to another mini cupcake biz that was there (hey, why not?).  The venue was pretty spacious at 82 Mercer.  It was basically 3 rooms that people could wander in and out of…and they were all filled to the brim with FOODSTUFFS.  I was appropriately set up in the dessert section.

The reaction to the cakes was wonderful- it’s been a while since I had the opportunity to watch people eat the cakes and I do enjoy the interaction…and the crazy feedback.  There was this wacky lady who ate 1, then grabbed about 8 more, mumbled something at me and scuttled off- weird!  I had quite a number of people coming back multiple times to snarf more cakes and usually they came back with people in tow.  The best part was that the majority of return guests were male- that was a total surprise to me!  I know the cakes appeal to the ladies, with their cute appearance and dainty size…but to these big dudes?  It was a total shocker and was hilarious to see them cradling the tiny cakes with their beefy fingers.  One fellow would drag people over, stuff a cake into their mouth and then make angel chorus “ahhhhhh” sounds as they chewed.  Another gentlemen thought it necessary to come by every 10 minutes and count off the number of cakes he was eating, and another asked to have them packed ‘to go’.  I was thoroughly entertained when not busy replenishing the cakes these dudes were inhaling.

Anyhow, thank you, guests of the event for reminding me of how rewarding it is to bake.  All those happy faces and kind remarks really made my night!  But of course the first question they ask is “where is your store?”…I think I’m going to have to think about retailing somewhere…I’ve had it in the back of my mind but need to think more seriously about it.  The push for a physical selling presence is too strong…actually I was approached recently for a wholesaling opportunity (which I declined)…maybe I need to re-consider that.

Here’s my table for the evening- I was set up next to Starbucks (yes I got a ton of free coffee)!

Hidey-ho!  So as the title suggests, CakeLab will be preparing a gajillion cupcakes for the Taste of Hope event that The American Cancer Society is hosting on May 5th.  The line up of vendors includes at least 2 other cupcake companies, so it’ll be interesting to see our products in the same room!  I’m a little nervous to see what the reaction will be- one of the companies is pretty big (or at least well known), so I’m curious to see how my little cakes fare.  With about 800 guests expected, I expect that tastes for cupcakes will be pretty varied, so there should be something sweet for everyone!

Did you notice the great restos that are participating?  I’m totally going to go around and try to snarf some plates under a table- oh, and The Black and White Cookie Company is going to be there!  Black and white cookies are only like one of my most favorite things in the universe along with Dr. Pepper, rugelach, Fun Dip, puppy noses and kitten toes (those last 2 aren’t for eating).  I think I like Black and Whites because it’s like a portable cake…but not like a cupcake…but with chocolate icing…and cake.   Basically I like cakey things.

So what flavors am I taking, you ask?  It’ll be a variation of a ‘crack pack’, naturally!  My crack pack (no it’s not sold by that name) includes:

Red Velvet

Blackout

Lemon Meringue

Either Pumpkin-Ginger or Banana Fluffernutter

It’s a good mix- chocolate, cream cheese frosting, something fruity, and something spiced/peanut buttery.  But with the event still a week away, we’ll see what we end up with!  Cross your fingers that it goes well (and I don’t get mobbed or totally ignored)!