Cupcake heaven

Have I found my true calling?



Today I volunteered at a cupcake catering company in my quest to figure out what to do with my life. I met up with Keavy, the owner of the business, at her kitchen, which she rents out through a Brooklyn community space devoted to start-up businesses. For the next three hours, I helped her bake and frost about 250 mini-cupcakes ordered for a wedding tomorrow. The bride requested a sampler of most of Keavy's flavors, so we had the chance to make everything from red velvet to chocolate blueberry to lemon & lavender.

Keavy is a super sweet girl. Not only did she invite a complete stranger--that would be me--into her world, but she gave me the inside scoop of starting a business from scratch. She was so easy to talk to. She went to art school and after she graduated, she became obsessed with cupcakes, began developing her own recipes and started her business two years ago, selling her sweets at a weekly flea market and taking custom orders. Her business is booming and boy, doesn't it just sound so easy and completely do-able?

I think I did a pretty good job helping out until we got to the frosting. Keavy pipes all of her frosting using a pastry bag which made me realize....WHOA, I need to practice doing this. I wasn't as proficient as I would liked (I've only done it once or twice before), but Keavy was completely cool about it, assuring me that it took some practice. Whenever I made a mistake, she just swiped my bad frosting job off the cupcake and made me try again. I've decided that I would like to practice icing techniques in one of my next cooking school sessions.


I thought I would be tired by the time we finished, but I felt exhilarated and was sad it was over. Keavy gave me a sampler of sweets to take home. At press time, my favorite is the strawberries & creme, but really, they're all pretty good.