About bakeries and customer service

Regarding this post, I was not trying to defend the delivery of Lux Sugar's cupcakes, but rather point to the larger trend of how bakeries handle feedback. Of course the way the cupcake shipment in question was received is not acceptable. I wasn't disputing that but was talking about how a bakery, in this case, Lux Sugar, should handle such a situation after the fact. For the record, I had only seen the comment here and not the original post on All Things Cupcake before I posted, hence my update.

Also for the record, I think (should be obvious) that bloggers, Flickr users, whoever, sharing their experiences, good and bad, about bakeries and cupakes is for the good of all of us. It helps people make decisions and get information about cupcakes, which is something we are trying to further here. My other point from the previous post is that bakeries can and should learn from negative customer experiences as much as, if not more so, than positive ones. The knee-jerk impulse to say, as one bakery owner did to me, "But why are they writing these things?" is not useful for them or anyone else. If you don't understand why, ask and find out.

We have had several bakeries write to us an basically complain that people were leaving negative reviews of their bakery on here (I don't know if they are also contacting other people regarding this). My point was meant to be (perhaps this did not come across) that rather than just complaining, and certainly complaining to Cupcakes Take the Cake about our commenters' opinions, bakeries should try to do something about the problems their customers have with their service.

Will that appease an unsatisfied customer? Maybe yes, maybe no. In the case, of, say, Georgetown Cupcake, where numerous customers have noted that the bakery doesnt keep the hours they have posted on the door, some people are willing to go back and try again, some aren't.

You are free to disagree with me on this or any other point. That was also my point; that we welcome open discussion here, though I have a suspicion some bakeries are posting here anonymously which we do not appreciate (the many threads about Miami cupcakes are but one example). If a bakery has something to say, I personally would rather they say it and acknowledge their customers' experiences than comment anonymously. But please keep in mind this is just one person's opinion, and I don't think it's any more valuable than anyone else's. Just wanted to clear the air on that issue.

I'd love to hear about situations going beyond this one example, about how bakeries can better serve their customers. I think a suggestion box is always a nice touch. What about you?

Cupcake Cookoff article in the Brooklyn Eagle

Nichelle gets a shoutout as a judge in the recent Cupcake Cookoff 2008 in the Brooklyn Eagle

Brooklyn Kitchen owner Taylor Erkkinen had a very popular idea: hold a cupcake bake-off and invite the public to both submit entries and help judge. More that 100 people were drawn by a love of frosted confections to the 2nd Annual Cupcake Cookoff at Union Pool on May 12.

Erkkinen convened an enthusiastic panel of three official judges to help rate 30 cupcake recipes in four categories — simple flavor, simple decoration, exotic flavor and exotic decoration — and left it to the people to chose best in show. Crown Heights resident Kate Brown, a self-described “terrible, horrible cook” who began baking six months ago so as to have something to contribute to dinner parties, took first place for her Rogue Porter Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel icing.

“I got addicted to the creative and experimental aspects of baking — it’s artistic as much as it’s about chemistry. Six months ago I didn’t know what cream of tartar was, and now I daydream about leaving my cubicle for pastry school. So winning the cook-off was a huge, encouraging surprise.”

See also:

The 2nd annual cupcake cookoff recap

Cathy's recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip Happy Cone Cupcakes

Our video interviews from the Cupcake Cookoff on our YouTube channel

The shells, pearls and bride and groom cupcakes

The shells, pearls and bride and groom.
Originally uploaded by CakesByShara

From Cakes by Shara

Free cupcakes at Crumbs in LA (Larchmont) May 29th

Via Eater LA:

Mark your calendars: May 29th means free cupcakes in the Larchmont Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at the new Crumbs Bakeshop.

From Eater LA:

Let us be the first to tell you, Larchmontians: Crumbs Bake Shop opens on May 29, and with it comes 1,000 free cupcakes. When the company's first West Coast cupcakerie opened in Beverly Hills last September, the lines, we're told, snaked down the block and the free cupcakerage was gone before noon. That's 1,000 cupcakes gone before 12pm, people. Having hordes descend on sleepy Larchmont Village might reignite the anger that locals had over losing their beloved mom-and-pop shops. Then again, there's nothing that a free Oreo cookie or blueberry cobbler sugar-bomb cupcake can't cure. Freebies start at 8am. (216 N. Larchmont Blvd, 323.464.8400)

How to get a cupcake in a jar in 5 easy steps

Blogger Little Bit Funky shows you how.

First you bake cupcakes as usual...buy some little jars...these are half pints I believe. Take the cupcake out of the paper and divide in half...place in jar. Make sure there is a gap between the two sides...these makes a nice place for the goodies to settle. :)

More on the LA Cupcake Challenge

LAist has a great roundup of photos and judges' takes on the LA Cupcake Challenge, but this photo in particular of blogger Caroline on Crack, was particularly fun. (via Eating L.A.) All images by Elise Thompson from LAist



Lesley Bargar of Los Angeles magazine writes:

I lost it with the chocolate cupcakes pretty fast. After choco-cake number five I thought I was done for. Thank god for the tart, lemon butter-cream cupcake from Vanilla Bake Shop—it brought me back to life. If you plan on eating more than 20 cupcakes at once sometime in the near future, I advise you to go fruity.

Pat Saperstein of Eating L.A. wrote:

KTLA's Sam Rubin asked what we thought the criteria should be. "Frosting." "Cake - dry or moist?" "Ratio of frosting to cake!," the judges agreed.

While some of the usual suspects (Joan's on Third, Auntie Em's, Dots) were not participating, 10 of us bloggers and foodwriters (and Sam) got a chance to try cupcakes from some lesser-known places. My favorite cupcake -- and I'm usually not really a big chocolate fan -- was the Mandarin orange chocolate cupcake from Essential Chocolate Desserts in Culver City, which reminded me of Baskin Robbins Mandarin orange chocolate sherbet. My second favorite was the Key Lime from Vanilla Bakeshop, and I think my third favorite, raspberry lemon curd, was also from Vanilla. Theirs were among the prettiest, too.



Tara Settembre of When Tara Met Blog says:

I was super excited to be one of the official judges and prepared by not having breakfast that morning, however nothing could have prepared me for tasting 30 different cupcakes in one afternoon!!...

After the first few we started cutting them in half and sharing with the judge next to us and by the end I was even spitting them out after I put them in my mouth, like it was a wine tasting or something. It was harder than I thought, but heck if someone has to do this dirty job, I'll gladly do it ;) One of the judges likened the cupcake judging to a "competitive sport" as we trudged along. I thought that was funny so I wrote the comment down. Besides us judges everyone there could vote too and sample just as many cupcakes if they chose to.



Speaking of LA, don't forget out June 1st meetup at Lark Cake Shop at 1! I have 5 days in LA and plan to try as many cupcake bakeries as I can.

Engagement cupcakes

From Flickr user euniceface



Speaking of wedding cupcakes, here's what the blog Wedding Gowns, Bridal Gowns and More says about wedding cupcakes:

A great alternative to the traditional tiered wedding cake is to use wedding cupcakes. What I like about wedding cupcakes how they give the wedding cake a whole new look. You can either pair the cupcakes with a big wedding cake, or turn the cupcakes into the wedding cake by placing them on a multi-layered tower. Wedding cupcakes also allow for a wide variety of flavors. Most cupcake bakers will give you up to five different flavors, some of which can be accented by filling. That way, guests with different tastes will not be forced to compromise. Finally, using wedding cupcakes allows your guests to express their individuality and feel closer to you. With each cupcake selection, every guest will have a more intimate connection to your wedding as they get to choose their own personal cake to enjoy.

Three very pretty cupcakes

From Flickr user Twinkles Cupcakes

Selfridge's Sex and the City cupcakes

From Selfridge's (UK):

LOLA's proudly presents these devilishly delicious Sex and the City inspired cupcakes. As always, each one is freshly baked every morning and they're decorated with cute phrases and gorgeous sprinkles. Available in vanilla flavour.

Food Hall, 400 Oxford Street. (Click here for hours and directions)

Cupcakes on Race to the Altar

via The State

The “Race to the Altar” will continue for Dominic Socie and Cara Alagna.

The Hilton Head Island couple survived the first round of eliminations on the “Today” show’s “Race to the Altar” competition, where five future newlyweds compete for a dream wedding.

The pair was back in New York City today to appear on the show, after a week of voting that eliminated one couple.

“We were pretty confident (heading into the show),” Socie said. “But, man, it was nerve-wracking.”

Each week the couples compete in a challenge to determine one part of the wedding. This week, they had 6,000 cupcakes they had to sell within 15 minutes. The couple that sold the most cupcakes for the most amount of money won. The Hilton Head duo sold almost all of their cupcakes and raised $232 to fight breast cancer, but finished third.

Video: Dance celebrating "The Cult of the Cupcake"

Via YouTube - what the New York Times called "a 15-minute satire on cupcake mania." Upcoming dates: May 24, June 14, June 22, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., corner of Bleecker and West 11th Street, Manhattan.

Sue Hogan's choreographic take on the changing West Village, an homage to the cupcake, interpreted by the artistes of The Cupcake Brigade.

We're going to check this out Saturday at 2 p.m. - join us if you like!

S'mores cupcakes take over the world

Pretty much all you have to do to get my attention is show me a photo of s'mores cupcakes (or, well, actual s'mores cupcakes). I'm a sucker for marshmallow gooeyness.

These are from Flickr user la dolce lola who bills them "MOST. DELICIOUS. CUPCAKES. EVER." She used the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Cupcake tasting at Boston's Sweet

Carolyn from the blog LimeyG bends yer lughole visited new Boston bakery Sweet and had some great things to say (see her post for more photos):

First impression: well, they certainly are tiny.



But they're potent little packages. The karat cake (geddit?) was dense and spicy and topped with a thick, chewy cream cheese frosting, which just stopped short of being overwhelmingly sweet and harmonized well with the cake.

The lemon was bright and vibrant and much less sweet--it was restrained, refreshing, and cake and frosting came together as one flavor, rather than playing off each other as the carrot cupcake did. (Update: in the shower this morning, I realized what it reminded me of: Bigelow's lovely line of lemon unguents and ointments.)

Cappuccino was the most "grown-up" cake; more elegant and complex, rich without being ostentatious.

Chocolate was good ol' chocolate, all big friendly round bass notes, satisfyingly chocolate-puddingy.

More photos from Sarah Lacy's book party

More photos from Sarah Lacy's book party for Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, from Valleywag. Photos by Randal Alan Smith.

Wedding dress cake and cupcakes

Another great thing about cupcakes is that they don't have to stand alone. They can be paired with a larger cake, for instance, one big wedding cake to display and then cupcakes for guests. Cupcake Envy did a great job with this (via Flickr:

Kumquat Cupcakery in the New York Times

You already know how much we love Kumquat Cupcakery, so we were thrilled to see them get mentioned in this New York Times article about the Brooklyn Flea. Keavy says the new cupcake of the week, chocolate pistachio, pictured above, is not to be missed, so check them out this Sunday (and also Saturday at Williamsburg's Artists and Fleas.

Keavy says of the chocolate pistachio cupcakes:

The base of this cupcake is an incredibly moist rich chocolate cake that's been made with a healthy does of almond extract. It's topped with a very thin layer of vanilla frosting and then rolled in freshly roasted and chopped pistachios.

From the New York Times:

hen I was there, around the corner were the Lilliputian cupcakes at Keavy Landreth’s stand, Kumquat Cupcakery. Each is moist and dense, so much so that they might be overkill at three times their size. But they’re perfect as they are. Kumquat’s selection changes regularly (updates are posted at kumquatcupcakery.blogspot.com), which means, sadly, that the apricot and poppy seed cupcakes will someday be gone. A box of six cupcakes is $5.


Apricot & Poppy Seed
-Black & White
-Red Velvet

Spa City Cupcakes to open June 1st in Sarasota Springs, NY

"Cupcake shop coming to Downstreet Marketplace," Daily Gazette

Now, she plans to open Spa City Cupcakes on June 1 in the lower level of the Downstreet Marketplace at 454 Broadway.

The shop will be the first in the city to capitalize on a cupcake shop trend that started several years ago and catapulted into the limelight thanks to a cupcake-munching appearance on “Sex and the City.” In addition to the individual cakes, Spa City Cupcakes will sell coffee and tea so people can take a break with their sweets at tables in the hallway.

“They’re so special and unique, and there’s something about a cupcake that brings you back to childhood,” St. Martin said.

Key lime, peanut butter cup, caramel apple and Fluffernutter will join traditional flavors like vanilla, chocolate and red velvet on her constantly changing menu.

The Pittsburgh native also will sell a “gob” cupcake inspired by the icing-filled chocolate sandwich cookies that are called whoopie pies outside Western Pennsylvania.

American Idol cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy

From The Sweet Tooth Fairy (via No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner) which describes itself as "a small, made-to-order, family owned and operated, custom cake/sweets boutique." They're located in Salt Lake City (we recommend putting that prominently on their site!) and are also on Flickr and have a blog. More on them coming soon. These were made for an American Idol finale party.





Here are the flavors they offer:

Black and White
Chocolate Mocha
Chocolate Peanut Butter
Cookies n' Cream
Cotton Candy
Key Lime
Lemon Chiffon
Mint Chocolate n' Chip
Pecan' n Toffee
Smores
Strawberry Cheesecake
Vanilla Toasted Coconut
Vanilla w/ Rainbow Sprinkles

How bakeries should handle negative feedback

Lux Sugar's Marilyn Monroe cupcake (red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting)

We've gotten some emails from bakery owners concerned about negative comments left on this blog. We do not censor reader comments, and in some threads debates rage for months. Recently Lux Sugar posted a comment on a thread about them here that exemplifies, to me, good customer service and the gracious realization that the internet is a forum where everyone can express their opinions. Update: Sorry, here is the feedback in question, from All Things Cupcake.

I think this is a good thing for customers and for bakeries, because it allows people to share what they liked and didn't like about a particular bakery. Some complaints are, of course, subjective - one person may not like a type of frosting - but others, such as bakeries not keeping the hours posted on their signs or making customers wait, are just bad customer service.

Bakeries with automatic knee-jerk, whiny and ultimately unhelpful to their business "why is someone saying something bad about me?" reactions would be wise to heed their example:

Greeting from Lux Sugar :-)
A faithful Cupcake Takes the Cake reader & Lux Sugar repeat customer (thanks Becca) let us know that a less than satisfactory comment was posted about Lux Sugar.
We at Lux Sugar take all comments seriously and have contacted UPS our preferred shipper to recoup the shipping costs that we gave as complimentary to the customer.
Also, we have contacted the customer to let her know we are processing a refund to her.
We regret that we were not first given an opportunity to rectify this situation before it was posted.

Thank you to our new and veteran customers who continue to adore our goodies and shop Lux Sugar.

Sign at Salt Lake City's So Cupcake

From Flickr user Cholie Ann of Salt Lake City bakery So Cupcake