Name: Danielle Vance
Age: 25
Location: Rutherford, NJ
Occupation: Owner/Baker
URL: http://www.sweetavenuebakeshop.com
How long have you been baking, and how did you come up with the idea for Sweet Avenue Bake Shop? Why did you decide to focus on cupcakes?
For as long as I can remember, I would bake cookies with my mom every Christmas. Each year we would try to top the year before by making more cookie varieties. As I got older, I knew I wanted to make baking my career. I eventually decided to take the leap and start my own baking business. I naturally started my business focusing on cookies. At the time, our business was entirely mail order and local catering. After a couple of years, our focus started shifting more towards cupcakes as we received more and more requests to cater weddings and parties with cupcakes, rather than cookies. By the time we opened our retail shop about four months ago, we were focusing 90% of our business on cupcakes. Our cupcake line has greatly expanded even since then, and we offer more than 30 different varieties.
You made the leap from home-based bakery to having a storefront in Rutherford, New Jersey. How long did that process take and what were the biggest challenges?
I operated the business for almost two years as a home-based bakery before making the leap to running my own storefront. Like many things in my life, the leap to the storefront wasn't exactly planned. I just happened to find a space in Rutherford that was in my price range and had previously been set up as bakery. The biggest challenge was getting the licenses and certificates approved and ready in time for our planned opening.
You offer a wide array of flavors, from crumb cake to fluffernutter, banana truffle, peanut butter and jelly, root beer float, orange milana, mocha madness, and s'mores. Which flavors are the most popular? How long do you generally work on testing a given flavor until you unveil it?
Sexy Sadie is our most popular flavor. Close runners-up include: S'mores, Crumb Cake, Carrot Cake, and Snowball. Sometimes we'll get inspired to base a cupcake on special name or song title and come up with something right away. Other times, we'll decide that we want to have a particular type of cupcake and will spend days perfecting our recipe until it goes public.
You studied graphic design, and I'm curious how that background comes into play in the creation of your cupcakes?
It's a huge part of it. Our cupcakes have a unique, boutique-feel. We think they all taste really great, but what sets our cupcakes apart is that each cupcake is specifically designed with a look to compliment the flavor. We're a creative bunch here at Sweet Avenue. My husband is also a graphic/web designer, my sister has a unique sense of style, and my mother is the one who taught me to bake and is always coming up with new ideas. We make a great team.
Being a Jersey girl myself, I'd like to know if any of your cupcakes have a specifically Garden State twist?
We haven't had any requests yet for NJ-themed cupcakes, but we'd be open to creating something for a party of event.
You yourself are vegan, yet you offer both traditional and vegan cupcakes. Do you make two versions of each variety, or are some vegan and some not vegan? Can non-vegans tell the difference?
Over two-thirds of our cupcakes are vegan. We don't make different versions of each flavor. Each flavor we make is either vegan or not. All of our non-vegan cupcakes are flavors created before I was vegan. All new flavors are vegan. We strive to make sure that our vegan cupcakes are as good or better than traditional cupcakes.
Do you have any vegan baking tips you'd like to share?
Vegan baking requires a lot of trial and error in the beginning. Baking is a science, and when you're using vegan ingredients it can often take a bit of work to figure out the right proportions. You can start out by trying a regular recipe and using vegan substitutes.
You do custom events for parties and corporate gatherings. What's been the most fun project you've worked on? Do you prefer to be given creative freedom when doing those types of events or to be told what the customer's looking for?
We recently did an order of 200 cupcakes for Ramapo College's annual vegan Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun because we got to make a huge variety of vegan cupcakes, and we got to design one of our largest tiers yet. I think the best type of order we get is when a customer gives us some idea of the type of cupcakes they're looking for, but allows us to have freedom over the styles and designs.
How far in advance should someone call to book you for catering? Is there any advice you can give to potential customers that would be helpful to them?
The most important thing for our potential clients to realize is that we are a small shop, and we book up quickly. If someone is looking for cupcakes on a weekday, a couple of days notice is usually sufficient. Cupcake orders for weekends typically require more advance notice (more like a week), because we tend to fully book up more often on weekends.
Speaking of custom cupcakes, you made subway cupcakes for one of our Cupcakes Take the Cake outdoor meetups. Where'd you come up with that idea, and how did you go about making those?
I had a lot of fun making those cupcakes! When I was trying to come up with something fun and original to bring to the meetup, I realized that the MTA subway lines were about as iconic as you could find to the average New Yorker. The cupcakes were topped with subway line icons, which were made with rolled fondant.
Do you have any specials planned for the upcoming holidays?
We look at the holidays as a great excuse to create new cupcakes! So of course, we just released a line of holiday-themed cupcakes. In addition to Christmas and Hanukkah decorated cupcakes, we're also offering Egg Nog, Peppermint Twist, and Gingerbread Spice. We plan to have all of these around until the end of the year.
Is there a typical Sweet Avenue customer?
Our customers vary quite a bit. Among our regulars, you will find just as many tattooed vegans as you will sweet, elderly grandmothers⎯and everyone in between! This just goes to show that cupcakes are for everyone!
What's your busiest time of the day/week?
Weekends are definitely busiest, early Saturday afternoons, specifically.
What's your favorite and least favorite things about running Sweet Avenue Bake Shop?
My favorite thing is seeing people's reaction to our cupcakes! I especially love when we get vegan customers or customers with allergies come in and have their first cupcake in years. It's also great to work with your family every day⎯we have a lot of fun at the shop. My least favorite thing is having to answer the question, "So...you only make cupcakes?" 10 times a day. For the record, yes, that's what we do, and we rock at it.
And now for some personal questions…
How often do you eat cupcakes?
I eat one or two a day.
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Um, what's not to love?!
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
This changes pretty much daily. My all-time favorite is our Orange Milana, but my current favorite is our newest addition⎯Pomegranate Passion. I also recently converted our S'mores cupcake to veganism, and it's mighty tasty.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
I love all sorts of baked goods, but cupcakes will always be my favorite. You can do so many different things with them, as evidenced by our 30+ flavors!
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
I'd be happy to offer a generous thank you to the first person who develops an affordable packaging box that would allow us to ship cupcakes.
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
Our cupcakes are all baked my either myself, my sister, my mom, or my husband. Family does it best!
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
My first cupcake memory is from grammar school bake sales. Someone would always bring in confetti cupcakes, which we've adapted into our Purple Haze cupcakes.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
We make cupcakes every day, and it's always fun. I can't say it enough that I am just thrilled with the people I work with. My sister and I dance and make goofy jokes all day in between cupcake batches. It's a lot of fun.
Do you have anything else to add?
One of my best customers said it best⎯"God Bless the Cupcake!"
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