Cliff Bostock of Atlanta's Creative Loafing looks into overturning unhappy cupcake memories and talks to the owners of Atlanta's new Cupcake Factory:
I went to a birthday party when I was a kid where amazingly repulsive cupcakes were served. I got very sick and hadn't been able to eat another without feeling queasy until I encountered the Cupcake Factory's "lemon-lemon" one at MetroFresh a few months ago. That's a lot of years of saying "no, thank you" to cupcakes.
"Actually," co-owner Jamie Fahey tells me, "my memories were also unpleasant. I hated cupcakes. Moisture is a huge issue with me and I'd eaten too many with dry cake and dry icing that was too sweet. So I've worked really hard on texture and moisture with the cake. And I've spent a lot of time developing the frostings. I wanted them to be creamy but maintain body without adding a ton of sugar. Everything is pure – no preservatives at all."
Lori Glover, who runs the business side of the operation, says that Fahey, who bakes without assistance, indeed resisted her original idea to specialize in cupcakes. "Jamie was already dabbling in catering with high-end desserts," she says, "but I had mentioned to my husband two years ago that there was a void in the city – good cupcakes – that needed to be filled."
Previously, at his Omnivore Atlanta blog, he'd visited Star Provisions:
I limited myself to one (giant-sized) Smore while my friend Gregg swallowed a German chocolate cupcake whole. Gregg said German chocolate cake has been his favorite since he was a kid.
I went to a birthday party when I was a kid where amazingly repulsive cupcakes were served. I got very sick and hadn't been able to eat another without feeling queasy until I encountered the Cupcake Factory's "lemon-lemon" one at MetroFresh a few months ago. That's a lot of years of saying "no, thank you" to cupcakes.
"Actually," co-owner Jamie Fahey tells me, "my memories were also unpleasant. I hated cupcakes. Moisture is a huge issue with me and I'd eaten too many with dry cake and dry icing that was too sweet. So I've worked really hard on texture and moisture with the cake. And I've spent a lot of time developing the frostings. I wanted them to be creamy but maintain body without adding a ton of sugar. Everything is pure – no preservatives at all."
Lori Glover, who runs the business side of the operation, says that Fahey, who bakes without assistance, indeed resisted her original idea to specialize in cupcakes. "Jamie was already dabbling in catering with high-end desserts," she says, "but I had mentioned to my husband two years ago that there was a void in the city – good cupcakes – that needed to be filled."
Previously, at his Omnivore Atlanta blog, he'd visited Star Provisions:
I limited myself to one (giant-sized) Smore while my friend Gregg swallowed a German chocolate cupcake whole. Gregg said German chocolate cake has been his favorite since he was a kid.
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