Here's another delicious dispatch from our Seattle-based stringer, ELD Images and his wife, Muffin. This time, they are covering St. Louis cupcakeries, and this is part 1 of a 2-part series.
Although its actual name is
The Cup, and website is www.cravethecup.com, we
concluded the best name would just be “Crave,” as that seems to capture the
slightly offbeat, slightly urban feel at the Central West End mothership of
what is now a five-store cupcake mini-empire. The Cup grew out of Ericka Frank’s Cakery, which focused on cakes, and did
some cupcakes on the side. The Cup now has five stores: two in Knoxville, TN,
one in Edwardsville, IL, and one in Springfield, MO, in addition to the one we
visited in St. Louis, where we met up with co-owner Nicole Puyear. Nicole
focuses on the marketing and development aspects of the business, leaving the
culinary end to Ericka Frank, the founder, and other members of the team.
From left: Nicole, Alexis, Andy, Lauren, Rachel, Erica – who handles
product research and development, and is not to be confused with Ericka.
Center: Island Dream,
Clockwise from front: Cherry Kicker, Hope, Mummy, Monster, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Cup, Gold Rush, Rally Cup.
Clockwise from front: Cherry Kicker, Hope, Mummy, Monster, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Cup, Gold Rush, Rally Cup.
After sharing the history of
The Cup, Nicole explained that The Cup emphasizes creating moist cakes, with
homestyle buttercream frostings, and streamlined, but clever decorative
techniques. At The Cup, cupcakes are viewed as fun comfort food, rather than
high art. That ethos extends to the décor, as each café is designed and
decorated to fit with and reflect the neighborhood it’s located in. While the
perspective may be that of cupcakes as fun and comforting, The Cup crafts
delicious cupcakes that were a hit with all of our tasters, some of whom had a
reputation for not really liking much of anything. It was refreshing to hear
from Nicole that The Cup doesn’t try to be all things to all people. She is
rightfully confident that most people will love The Cup’s products; she is more
than willing to send customers to her competitors if that’s what will provide
the customer with what she or he is looking for.
Clockwise from bottom center: Confetti, Grasshopper, Cuppa Coffee Cake, Tuxedo, Gold Rush, Double Chocolate
Nicole’s favorite cupcake,
the Tuxedo, is one of
the seven classic cakes available every day, and has the expected flavors from
childhood. It’s hard to argue with dark chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream
frosting and a mini-Oreo cookie. I didn’t even try. She is also a big fan of
the seasonal Pumpkin Harvest and limited edition Mummy. Going slightly off the cupcake grid, Nicole also
loves the Cakewich, two sliced cake tops bonded by buttercream frosting.
The Mummy!
One of the things we always
like to inquire about is any cupcake-related transformational moment. While Nicole
couldn’t identify a specific life-altering event involving cupcakes (or The
Cup), she was quick to point out that the success of The Cup, in evolving from
a single neighborhood shop to five, has allowed it give back to the communities
it operates in: “If every cupcake shop could [affect] the community it’s in,
then a cupcake really can make a difference.” And as one customer noted: “There’s
nothing better than a cupcake shop…I don’t care how old you are.”
The Hope.
Cherry Kicker (Radio City Rockettes)
The Cup’s “Baking a
Difference” program has each of the five shops choosing its own charity. On a
broader scale, some of the revenue generated by specialty cakes made by The Cup
goes directly to charity. On our visit, the Cherry Kicker was customized with a Radio City Rockettes fondant
as a tribute to the upcoming Rockettes Christmas Spectacular show; the Hope; and the (National
Football League’s St. Louis Rams) Touchdown/Chocolate Rampage all have a portion of
proceeds going to charity.
St. Louis Rams Football Touchdown/Chocolate Rampage cupcake.
Red Velvet -- spooky!
The most popular cupcake—according
to Rachel, who works the front counter—is Confetti, followed by Red Velvet. Rachel’s current favorite cake is the Pumpkin
Harvest, while her overall fave is the Raspberry Beret, which was unfortunately
unavailable the day of our visit.
Confetti (most popular!)
The Pumpkin Harvest is one of The Cup’s many seasonal
cakes. It’s a moist pumpkin spice cake with a cinnamon buttercream frosting,
topped with chocolate bark. A bite of this one immediately recalled
Thanksgiving dessert. Creating updated twists of familiar flavors is one of the
goals of The Cup. Mint fans will love Grasshopper, a dark chocolate cake with vanilla mint
buttercream, with an Andes mint crown, available every four weeks. Delicious! The
Cuppa Coffee Cake,
a daily classic, is a sour-cream coffeecake with cinnamon streusel topping and
sugar glaze drizzle. It’s an old-fashioned, homestyle cake that’s light and
fluffy, and not too sweet. Lighter on the icing, too. This one’s just what the
doctor ordered for a lazy Sunday morning, perhaps right before football. Created
for the St. Louis Rams football team, we were treated to a sneak preview of the
Chocolate Rampage. Balanced and moist, the Rampage is a light chocolate cake
with notes of caramel in the filling and a chocolate ganache topping, capped
with the Rams logo in fondant. It’s the perfect football game watching cake and
it scored big time. Small wonder why The Cup is the official cupcake provider
of the Rams.
Pumpkin Harvest.
Cuppa Coffee Cake, left.
Grasshopper on the left.
Although our time at The Cup
was pretty brief, it was clear that this is a team that loves working together.
They have a lot of fun and there’s mutual respect. While The Cup’s business is
cupcakes, it’s also about building community, and all indications are they’re
doing a great job on both ends.
You can follow The Cup on Twitter or like them on Facebook (links updated to reflect St Louis West End location).
Prices: $2.75 - $3.25
All images and copy by ELD, on assignment for Cupcakes Take the Cake.
Stay tuned for the second St. Louis cupcake shop review, Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe, up next!
;)
All images and copy by ELD, on assignment for Cupcakes Take the Cake.
Stay tuned for the second St. Louis cupcake shop review, Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe, up next!
;)
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