The philosophy that everybody likes a cupcake is part of the business model behind The Pink Cupcake, the new bakery and coffee shop at the Landing.
Kelly Pickens opened the shop on the first floor near Aly Cat after she and her husband visited the Landing and decided it would be a good location for a cupcake store.
Pickens had been baking and selling her creations through a website, cupcakefriday.webs.com, for about two years.
She said the business had expanded to the point she needed a larger kitchen to keep up with orders. Pickens also liked the idea of having a retail storefront where she could sell her cupcakes, cake pops and cake truffles to a new market.
So far, the response has been positive.
“So many people have come into the store and said to me that Downtown needs cupcakes,” Pickens said.
In addition to several daily featured flavors of cupcakes, Pickens sells cake pops — a small cake on a stick — coffee, tea and candy.
Pickens said all of her cakes are made from scratch with real butter, fresh fruit and other ingredients.
“To me, butter is a delicacy. I won’t make cupcakes with margarine,” said Pickens.
She said one of her most popular cupcakes is pumpkin cheesecake, which combines traditional cake with cheesecake and cinnamon buttercream frosting.
The “PB&J” is yellow cake filled with grape jelly and covered with peanut-butter frosting. Toasted butter pecan combines vanilla cake with toasted nuts and maple buttercream frosting.
Red velvet, French toast, Boston cream and chocolate caramel chunk also are proving to be popular with customers at the Landing, said Pickens.
The display case is full of individual cupcakes in two sizes, but Pickens said quite a bit of her business is cake towers and cupcake displays for wedding receptions, baby showers and birthday and office parties.
Pickens said cupcakes are popular because they are small, don’t induce the guilt of larger cakes, and a box of cupcakes can include several different flavors.
“For most people, cupcakes bring back fond memories. They make people think about a happy, warm feeling. Cupcakes are comfort food,” Pickens said.
The Pink Cupcake at the Landing is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Call Pickens at 434-9599 for the daily flavors and custom orders.
356-2466