I love baked goods, and I love people who bake goods. They've always got some sweet wisdom to impart, and new flavor combinations to share.
What follows is an interview with budding baking business C for Cupcake Cupcakery, a southern California based business specializing in...well, you guessed it, cupcakes! But with flavors like Japanese honey and a blog which intersects sweetness and pop culture, this business is anything but cookie-cutter. Read on:
C for Cupcake Cupcakery. How did you make the jump from home baker to commercial baker? I always enjoyed baking, cooking and art. Baking is a magical hobby that somehow marry two things I love the most, food and art, together! I often baked for no reasons at home in the past. One evening, a friend of my husband came over to our house, and he saw me baking some cupcakes. He asked if I am having a party tomorrow. I answered no, just baking for fun. Then, he was joking that I should consider baking for others as a business. After his "joke", I thought of it thoroughly for nights, and totally agreed that I could turn my hobby to business. After preparing myself for years (mastering my recipes and practicing my cupcake decorating skills), I was finally ready to turn myself to a commerical baker to serve others.
Do you still enjoy baking as a hobby, or is it more like work to you now? OF COURSE! I still enjoy baking and still treat it as my ultimate hobby. I still love trying new recipes, bake for fun, and decorating cupcakes when I have ideas popped up in my mind .
If cake balls and cupcakes had a knife fight, who would win? hm...hm...interesting question - I will say cupcakes would still kick cake balls' butts. The reason why I love cupcakes are the feeling of biting in a moist cupcake with fluffy frosting on top. Cake balls cannot fulfill that satisfaction (SORRY! cake balls, but I still love you.)
I need fashion advice. Do you think I could get away with wearing a cupcake dress like Katy Perry? Dear Head Spy, you will look as cute as (or even cuter than) Katy in a cupcake dress, trust me on that!
Tell me more about your "Japanese Honey" flavor. Japanese food is my cardio. Japanese food and its culture have influence my baking and decorating in a big way. I once had this Japanese cake when I was a little kid. Ever since that "encounter", I could not forget the honest flavor of this cake. So I experienced with different recipes to find the perfect flavor I had tasted when I was little. Finally, I successfully created this perfect Japanese honey cupcake. This cake has a very honest taste - a faint honey flavor, a hintful of egg flavor, very light and almost spongy texture.
What is a "bad" cupcake to you? A DRY cupcake with overly sweet frosting is a bad cupcake to me.
Do you think you'll ever open a retail location? Why or why not? That's my dream! I have couple ideas/concepts in mine of what I want my store to be (*secret*); I am working hard to make my dream come true. I want people to view my store as part of the lifestyle.
Pressing dessert question: which do you like best: ice cream, gelato, or frozen custard? Gelato and FroYo are my fave!
If you could only eat one cake/frosting flavor combo for the rest of your life, what would it be? It's quite a challenging question to answer - I would pick my home-made caramel apple cupcake with caramel butter cream frosting; this cupcake reminds me of a big caramel apple but with a soft texture.
Tell me about how pop culture and cupcakes intersect in your life and business. Pop culture is something I see, read and listen everyday. A simple line from a movie, clothes that celebrities wear, or a romantic sit-com are always an inspiration to me. I love to cooperate what I saw, listened, read lately into my cupcake designs.
What's next for C is for Cupcake? We just launched our Etsy shop not too long ago (http://www.etsy.com/shop/C4CupcakeCupcakery). My next goal this year is offering matching party supplies, including fondant cupcake toppers/paper cupcake picks, cupcake liners, party decorations (such as banners, paper straws, flags, etc.) to help people to create their perfect party!
Any parting words? I always believe that everything is possible. Don't ever look down on yourself! Don't tell yourself you are just an ordinary housewife, a freshly graduated student without a real job, or a single mom...Everything is possible, so DON'T STOP BELIVING! A drive can make people run very very very...far.
For more sweetness, visit the C for Cupcake website.