For those who caught New York City bakery Butter Lane on The Martha Stewart Show (and those who didn't!), here's more information about this delicious bakery, and you can read our previous coverage here. Also, it's full but you can get on the waiting list for Sunday's NYC Cupcakes Take the Cake Meetup at Lunasa Bar (or join to be alerted about the next one) with free cupcakes, courtesy of this blog, from Butter Lane! All photos here by Rachel Kramer Bussel.
Butter Lane co-owners (L to R) Linda Lea and Maria Baugh - third co-owner Pam Nelson not pictured
Name: Maria Baugh
Age: 45
Location: 123 East 7th Street, NY, NY 10009
Occupation: co-owner of Butter Lane and magazine editor
URL: www.butterlane.com
When did you first get the idea for Butter Lane, and where does the name come from?
We got the idea last winter. Butter Lane is the name of a road near East Hampton. We love the name and thought it would work well for our cupcake shop.
What were the main steps involved in going from idea to bakery opening? Why did you choose the East Village?
We created a business plan, looked for a store to rent, then worked for hundreds of hours on recipes. We chose the East Village because we love the neighborhood. It's also not saturated with cupcake shops.
Butter Lane has an old-fashioned, simple feel to it, which is enhanced by the fact that all you sell is cupcakes and beverages. What kind of mood are you going for with Butter Lane's appearance and why did you decide to go cupcake-only?
We wanted to do one thing and do it really well. We may branch out into cakes one day, but for now it's only cupcakes. We're going for a warm, slightly sophisticated style in the shop.
Your slogan is "The Better Cupcake." Why are yours better than other bakeries' cupcakes?
Because we use natural ingredients like real vanilla beans; we use only locally produced, organic dairy (eggs, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, milk) from Organic Valley which is a company we found while doing research for local organic vendors. Organic Valley gets a very high rating on Cornucopia.org which is an organization that rates organic companies.
You use all local, organic ingredients, and offer both American and French buttercream frosting. Why is sourcing of ingredients important, and how does that affect the way your cupcakes taste?
We actually use organic dairy and natural flavors. The sourcing is extremely important to us because we feel really strongly about buying locally. It's better for everyone--the small famer, the environment, and in our opinion, it's better for our customer. Organic ingredients absolutely make a difference in taste. There was a great article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about butter. The article mentioned Organic Valley as producing a butter that tastes different during different times of the year depending on what type of grass is in season. What the cow is eating affects how the butter tastes. It's so simple which makes it so much better.
You offer both French and American buttercream frosting in vanilla and chocolate. Can you tell us the difference between the two and which go well with which types of cakes?
French Buttercream is made with egg whites, butter, granulated cane sugar, etc. American Buttercream is made with confectioners sugar and butter. The French has a glossy almost meringue like consistency. It's a little less sweet. The American Buttercream is like a birthday cake icing. But ours is made with less sugar so it's slightly less sweet than the typical American Buttercream. We usually put the French and American chocolate and vanilla buttercreams on chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. But we will put them on our other flavor of cupcake too, which is banana, if someone requests it. We generally put cream cheese icing on banana.
Which type of frosting is selling better? What's your bestselling cupcake?
The banana with cream cheese is a big hit and sells really well. The French and American are both doing well--it's really about half and half in terms of preference.
Which are your personal favorites of the cupcakes you offer?
I love the banana cupcake and I actually like it best with no icing. It's one of the best things I've ever tasted. Mary Fitzgerald is our head baker and she is gifted. Her chocolate French Buttercream icing is my favorite icing. I often taste a little spoonful at a time and I'm very happy! I seem to like the cupcakes and the icings separate from each other--but believe me I have no trouble getting through one of our basic American vanilla on vanilla either.
What are your busiest times of the day and week?
Weekends are really big for us.
You also plan to become part of Seamless Web so people can order your cupcakes for delivery. Is that available yet?
Any day now! But we're already set up to deliver now by phone: 212-677-2880.
Do you offer catering, and if so, how far in advance should people book?
We do offer catering. Generally anything over two dozen we ask for at least 24 hours. If it's a really big order a few days notice would be great.
Is there a typical Butter Lane customer?
The hippest, cutest, coolest, nicest, most sophisticated, happiest, smartest cat in town. No, there's not really a typical customer--one thing we love about Butter Lane and about cupcakes in general is how they please everyone. We get all kinds of customers in the shop and we love each and every one of them!
Are you doing any special holiday cupcakes? Do you plan to expand your menu?
We are working on some special Valentine's Day cupcakes right now. And we're always playing with flavors. We just added peanut butter icing a few weeks ago and it's a huge hit.
What are the best and worst parts of running Butter Lane?
Best is when people tell you how much they love the cupcakes. There's not really a worst. It's extraordinarily busy, even with the three of us running it. But we are not complaining and feel extremely fortunate to be seeing the kind of success we're already seeing in the six weeks we've been open.
The three of you all have other jobs outside Butter Lane. How do you
juggle them and running the bakery, and how do you divvy up your
cupcake duties?
Fortunately, Pam runs Butter Lane full time. She left her "day job" about a year ago and has been devoted to our business ever since. We all three try to play to our strengths and contribute in ways that make sense for all of us. And it feels like a very natural fit.
Why do you think cupcakes are so popular? How much of it is due to nostalgia?
I'm sure it's partly nostalgia. But I also think it's about portability. It's prefab. You don't have to do anything. It's compact and ready to go.
And now for some personal questions...
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Whenever I'm at the shop I'll have at least half of one just to see how a batch turned out. And sometimes I'll have a whole one!
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Great taste, less filling.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
Banana
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
They trump all other baked goods. But a warm chocolate chip cookie that's a little bit chewy right out of the oven is a mighty close second.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that
would improve it for you?
Nope
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
We have the genius head baker Mary Fitzgerald. And our other extremely talented baker who works with Mary is Jenna Giannasio.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
Being thrilled in elementary school when it was someone's birthday and their mom would bring them into class. Always a good day.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
All the tastings we did this summer while perfecting the recipes. Plus, it sounds corny, but I love when kids come in the shop and freak out over the icing tasters.
Do you have anything else to add?
Thanks to Cupcakes Take the Cake for all of your support!
Butter Lane co-owners (L to R) Linda Lea and Maria Baugh - third co-owner Pam Nelson not pictured
Name: Maria Baugh
Age: 45
Location: 123 East 7th Street, NY, NY 10009
Occupation: co-owner of Butter Lane and magazine editor
URL: www.butterlane.com
When did you first get the idea for Butter Lane, and where does the name come from?
We got the idea last winter. Butter Lane is the name of a road near East Hampton. We love the name and thought it would work well for our cupcake shop.
What were the main steps involved in going from idea to bakery opening? Why did you choose the East Village?
We created a business plan, looked for a store to rent, then worked for hundreds of hours on recipes. We chose the East Village because we love the neighborhood. It's also not saturated with cupcake shops.
Butter Lane has an old-fashioned, simple feel to it, which is enhanced by the fact that all you sell is cupcakes and beverages. What kind of mood are you going for with Butter Lane's appearance and why did you decide to go cupcake-only?
We wanted to do one thing and do it really well. We may branch out into cakes one day, but for now it's only cupcakes. We're going for a warm, slightly sophisticated style in the shop.
Your slogan is "The Better Cupcake." Why are yours better than other bakeries' cupcakes?
Because we use natural ingredients like real vanilla beans; we use only locally produced, organic dairy (eggs, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, milk) from Organic Valley which is a company we found while doing research for local organic vendors. Organic Valley gets a very high rating on Cornucopia.org which is an organization that rates organic companies.
You use all local, organic ingredients, and offer both American and French buttercream frosting. Why is sourcing of ingredients important, and how does that affect the way your cupcakes taste?
We actually use organic dairy and natural flavors. The sourcing is extremely important to us because we feel really strongly about buying locally. It's better for everyone--the small famer, the environment, and in our opinion, it's better for our customer. Organic ingredients absolutely make a difference in taste. There was a great article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about butter. The article mentioned Organic Valley as producing a butter that tastes different during different times of the year depending on what type of grass is in season. What the cow is eating affects how the butter tastes. It's so simple which makes it so much better.
You offer both French and American buttercream frosting in vanilla and chocolate. Can you tell us the difference between the two and which go well with which types of cakes?
French Buttercream is made with egg whites, butter, granulated cane sugar, etc. American Buttercream is made with confectioners sugar and butter. The French has a glossy almost meringue like consistency. It's a little less sweet. The American Buttercream is like a birthday cake icing. But ours is made with less sugar so it's slightly less sweet than the typical American Buttercream. We usually put the French and American chocolate and vanilla buttercreams on chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. But we will put them on our other flavor of cupcake too, which is banana, if someone requests it. We generally put cream cheese icing on banana.
Which type of frosting is selling better? What's your bestselling cupcake?
The banana with cream cheese is a big hit and sells really well. The French and American are both doing well--it's really about half and half in terms of preference.
Which are your personal favorites of the cupcakes you offer?
I love the banana cupcake and I actually like it best with no icing. It's one of the best things I've ever tasted. Mary Fitzgerald is our head baker and she is gifted. Her chocolate French Buttercream icing is my favorite icing. I often taste a little spoonful at a time and I'm very happy! I seem to like the cupcakes and the icings separate from each other--but believe me I have no trouble getting through one of our basic American vanilla on vanilla either.
What are your busiest times of the day and week?
Weekends are really big for us.
You also plan to become part of Seamless Web so people can order your cupcakes for delivery. Is that available yet?
Any day now! But we're already set up to deliver now by phone: 212-677-2880.
Do you offer catering, and if so, how far in advance should people book?
We do offer catering. Generally anything over two dozen we ask for at least 24 hours. If it's a really big order a few days notice would be great.
Is there a typical Butter Lane customer?
The hippest, cutest, coolest, nicest, most sophisticated, happiest, smartest cat in town. No, there's not really a typical customer--one thing we love about Butter Lane and about cupcakes in general is how they please everyone. We get all kinds of customers in the shop and we love each and every one of them!
Are you doing any special holiday cupcakes? Do you plan to expand your menu?
We are working on some special Valentine's Day cupcakes right now. And we're always playing with flavors. We just added peanut butter icing a few weeks ago and it's a huge hit.
What are the best and worst parts of running Butter Lane?
Best is when people tell you how much they love the cupcakes. There's not really a worst. It's extraordinarily busy, even with the three of us running it. But we are not complaining and feel extremely fortunate to be seeing the kind of success we're already seeing in the six weeks we've been open.
The three of you all have other jobs outside Butter Lane. How do you
juggle them and running the bakery, and how do you divvy up your
cupcake duties?
Fortunately, Pam runs Butter Lane full time. She left her "day job" about a year ago and has been devoted to our business ever since. We all three try to play to our strengths and contribute in ways that make sense for all of us. And it feels like a very natural fit.
Why do you think cupcakes are so popular? How much of it is due to nostalgia?
I'm sure it's partly nostalgia. But I also think it's about portability. It's prefab. You don't have to do anything. It's compact and ready to go.
And now for some personal questions...
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Whenever I'm at the shop I'll have at least half of one just to see how a batch turned out. And sometimes I'll have a whole one!
What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
Great taste, less filling.
What's your favorite type of cupcake?
Banana
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
They trump all other baked goods. But a warm chocolate chip cookie that's a little bit chewy right out of the oven is a mighty close second.
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that
would improve it for you?
Nope
Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
We have the genius head baker Mary Fitzgerald. And our other extremely talented baker who works with Mary is Jenna Giannasio.
What's your first cupcake-related memory?
Being thrilled in elementary school when it was someone's birthday and their mom would bring them into class. Always a good day.
What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
All the tastings we did this summer while perfecting the recipes. Plus, it sounds corny, but I love when kids come in the shop and freak out over the icing tasters.
Do you have anything else to add?
Thanks to Cupcakes Take the Cake for all of your support!
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