I've known Sharlene for a long time, and I love that now she has her own cupcake empire growing in the Bay Area! I highly recommend her cupcakes and am so proud to share this interview with you all. When I was last in town, I tried her Mexican chocolate cupcakes (with whipped cream on top!) and another filled cupcake that were both totally amazing. Please see her site for descriptions of the cupcakes and how to order them. There's a 1 dozen minimum, and you get 50% off the second dozen.
Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes
Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes (with mini cinnamon chips!)
Name: Sharlene Rednour
Age: 41
Location: San Francisco CA, Bay Area
Occupation: Mommy & cupcake baker
URL: www.sharlenesbabycakes.com
How did you get started baking and when/where did you develop the cupcake recipes you use now?
My mommy is a big baker so I have always baked. My mother had a 3-ring binder cookbook with different sections like "Breads," "Appetizers"⎯they were all empty but the desserts section was bulging with recipes and falling apart. We did a cookbook together called Down Home Desserts.
Most of my recipes are based on traditional southern recipes (mommy is from Tennessee/Kentucky) with me doing a lot of work to incorporate my own twists. Instead of DEconstruct I often REconstruct some weird recipe that is made with Jello or cake mixes and I remake it into a real recipe that is often organic or at least quality.
Making recipes takes work⎯I am selling 24 at a time so I can't steal one to taste it. I have to know it's right beforehand!
Espresso Yourself Mommy Love cupcake
What's so special about Sharlene's Babycakes?
You can find lots of super cute cupcakes or cupcakes that are true works of art visually⎯I love them honestly and they make our eyeballs happy! My cupcakes are attractive but what is so special about mine is the taste. I especially love a moist cupcake, gooey, perfect balance of flavor-⎯I want your eyes to roll back in taste-gasmic pleasure and for a friend to summon the fainting couch. Pure joy, pure decadence!
You're a custom cupcake catering company. To what locations do you deliver?
I go from Santa Cruz to Sonoma. Anyone can pick them up locally in Oakland, otherwise delivery varies. I put love into every cake. I have so much fun hearing about the events people order for and baking for them.
Do you plan to offer more cupcake options?
Yes, I bake much faster than I take pictures for my website. I hesitate to put up flavors without pictures but when I am talking to customers we discuss them all. In the fall, everyone loves my ginger cream cheese icing with bits of candied ginger glistening on top of pumpkin cake. Right now I just did carrot cake with cookie "dirt" on top and fresh flowers. I am doing lemon meringue pie cupcakes (gooey in the middle my favorite!) because I have so many fresh lemons.
Bunny love carrot cupcake
What's been the most exciting cupcake order you've worked on so far?
Every single one honestly. Serving up to a bride living in Texas but who is from here (I just loved being demanded by a bride to her soon-to-be-mother-in-law.) Making ladybug cupcakes on top of Red Velvet cake for a 2-year-old's birthday party. Really though I get excited giving away tester cupcakes for new recipes.
Who would your dream customer be and what would they order?
Senator Carol Moseley Braun so that I could deliver them and hopefully hear some good, and wise, stories and she must order the Diva Pink Velvets not because they are pink but because they are the most decadent and she deserves it. Or Roger Ebert. I really really want to meet Roger Ebert. I would make him cupcakes shaped like little film rolls.
Diva Pink Velvet cupcakes
Do you have any plans to open up a storefront?
Yes. I want Sharlene's Babycakes to be a store that loves everyone but especially spoils parents. My wife and I became parents through foster-to-adoption so AS IF being a mom isn't busy enough but being certified and having dates with social workers, etc. It's a lot so I appreciate parenting more than ever⎯of course I want the kids and everyone to eat homemade organic sweets but I also want to spoil those parents!
Why do you think cupcakes have become so popular in recent years?
They are so cute, personal, you can be possessive (that one is all mine). It's one place we don't have to share!
Also I get many calls for weddings. Guests love cupcakes and will talk about an event much more if there's cupcakes. (I often have a small centerpiece cake so the couple has that tradition but then we put trees of cupcakes around it which thrills the guests).
Hummingbird cupcake
And now for some personal questions…
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Weekly.
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Biting into them is fantastic, better than desserts that require forks.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
My Diva Pink Velvet cupcake.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
They are my favorite except for my mom's Pumpkin Roll.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
More moisture but I did that for mine.
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
I bake them all but my kids want to help (too much sometimes). My 3-year-old wants to run the shop but I have new baby who is a fabulously fierce 15-year-old and he is way into bakin⎯my family is cosmic.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
Making homemade icing with my mommy and frosting them in their little pastel cups.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
Watching my first baby eat it when he was way too young. I have rolls and rolls of cupcake eating pictures!
3-year-old Ches with cupcake in hand
Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes
Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes (with mini cinnamon chips!)
Name: Sharlene Rednour
Age: 41
Location: San Francisco CA, Bay Area
Occupation: Mommy & cupcake baker
URL: www.sharlenesbabycakes.com
How did you get started baking and when/where did you develop the cupcake recipes you use now?
My mommy is a big baker so I have always baked. My mother had a 3-ring binder cookbook with different sections like "Breads," "Appetizers"⎯they were all empty but the desserts section was bulging with recipes and falling apart. We did a cookbook together called Down Home Desserts.
Most of my recipes are based on traditional southern recipes (mommy is from Tennessee/Kentucky) with me doing a lot of work to incorporate my own twists. Instead of DEconstruct I often REconstruct some weird recipe that is made with Jello or cake mixes and I remake it into a real recipe that is often organic or at least quality.
Making recipes takes work⎯I am selling 24 at a time so I can't steal one to taste it. I have to know it's right beforehand!
Espresso Yourself Mommy Love cupcake
What's so special about Sharlene's Babycakes?
You can find lots of super cute cupcakes or cupcakes that are true works of art visually⎯I love them honestly and they make our eyeballs happy! My cupcakes are attractive but what is so special about mine is the taste. I especially love a moist cupcake, gooey, perfect balance of flavor-⎯I want your eyes to roll back in taste-gasmic pleasure and for a friend to summon the fainting couch. Pure joy, pure decadence!
You're a custom cupcake catering company. To what locations do you deliver?
I go from Santa Cruz to Sonoma. Anyone can pick them up locally in Oakland, otherwise delivery varies. I put love into every cake. I have so much fun hearing about the events people order for and baking for them.
Do you plan to offer more cupcake options?
Yes, I bake much faster than I take pictures for my website. I hesitate to put up flavors without pictures but when I am talking to customers we discuss them all. In the fall, everyone loves my ginger cream cheese icing with bits of candied ginger glistening on top of pumpkin cake. Right now I just did carrot cake with cookie "dirt" on top and fresh flowers. I am doing lemon meringue pie cupcakes (gooey in the middle my favorite!) because I have so many fresh lemons.
Bunny love carrot cupcake
What's been the most exciting cupcake order you've worked on so far?
Every single one honestly. Serving up to a bride living in Texas but who is from here (I just loved being demanded by a bride to her soon-to-be-mother-in-law.) Making ladybug cupcakes on top of Red Velvet cake for a 2-year-old's birthday party. Really though I get excited giving away tester cupcakes for new recipes.
Who would your dream customer be and what would they order?
Senator Carol Moseley Braun so that I could deliver them and hopefully hear some good, and wise, stories and she must order the Diva Pink Velvets not because they are pink but because they are the most decadent and she deserves it. Or Roger Ebert. I really really want to meet Roger Ebert. I would make him cupcakes shaped like little film rolls.
Diva Pink Velvet cupcakes
Do you have any plans to open up a storefront?
Yes. I want Sharlene's Babycakes to be a store that loves everyone but especially spoils parents. My wife and I became parents through foster-to-adoption so AS IF being a mom isn't busy enough but being certified and having dates with social workers, etc. It's a lot so I appreciate parenting more than ever⎯of course I want the kids and everyone to eat homemade organic sweets but I also want to spoil those parents!
Why do you think cupcakes have become so popular in recent years?
They are so cute, personal, you can be possessive (that one is all mine). It's one place we don't have to share!
Also I get many calls for weddings. Guests love cupcakes and will talk about an event much more if there's cupcakes. (I often have a small centerpiece cake so the couple has that tradition but then we put trees of cupcakes around it which thrills the guests).
Hummingbird cupcake
And now for some personal questions…
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Weekly.
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Biting into them is fantastic, better than desserts that require forks.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
My Diva Pink Velvet cupcake.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
They are my favorite except for my mom's Pumpkin Roll.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
More moisture but I did that for mine.
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
I bake them all but my kids want to help (too much sometimes). My 3-year-old wants to run the shop but I have new baby who is a fabulously fierce 15-year-old and he is way into bakin⎯my family is cosmic.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
Making homemade icing with my mommy and frosting them in their little pastel cups.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
Watching my first baby eat it when he was way too young. I have rolls and rolls of cupcake eating pictures!
3-year-old Ches with cupcake in hand
Comments
I've known Shar for 18 years, but I learned things I never knew before in this interview.
And... Roger E. is a friend of mine, and I just sent him your crush notes. He is going to be so, so, touched!
Susie
Jill