Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you quit your job for the sole purpose of making your dream a reality?
That’s just what Michelle Bracken did and she’s now the proud co-owner of Frosting, A Cupcakery. She had always wanted to own her own shop but never had the confidence to do so. It wasn’t until her husband Todd planned a trip to New York City to tour cupcake shops that she realized she could do it. “It was on that trip that Todd encouraged me to pursue my passion and open a sweet shop. We walked into "Babycakes NYC" and he turned to me and said, ‘If they can do it, you can do this!’ We started working on a business plan shortly after our trip. As we planned and typed away at our business plan, Todd turned to me and asked if he could make my dream, his dream. The rest is history.”
Frosting is a delicious wonderland of unique sweets and delightful décor. Using recipes passed down from her mother, Bracken creates a wide assortment of cupcake flavors so there’s always something for everyone. My personal favorite is the Frenchie – a cupcake with a French toast bottom and a maple-buttercream top (yes, you could eat it for breakfast)! And my daughters adore the Birthday cupcake – a chocolate bottom with a vanilla buttercream top and colorful sprinkles.
Michelle and Todd work long days to ensure that their cupcakes turn out perfectly every time. “Our ovens start between 4 and 5 am on a typical day. If we have a heavy order day, our ovens start warming earlier.” Turning out hot biscotti, warm banana bread, coffee cake, muffins, scones and doughnuts in addition to their array of cupcakes isn’t always easy. “It takes me a few hours to get everything ready for our early morning rush, which starts at 7:30 AM on the weekdays. My bake staff starts working on the daily cupcake flavors and I join them after the breakfast bar is ready to be served. Our cupcakes are out by 10:30 am and from then until the rest of the day we are mixing, baking more, prepping what we can for the next day.”
But there are more reasons to try Frosting than just the cupcakes and other sweets; the coffee and espresso is its own unique treat. Brewed by Italian-trained baristas, Frosting serves the Illy brand of coffee and espresso – a company dedicated to offering consumers the best quality coffee possible. The day I dropped in to see Michelle and Todd, they also had another visitor – Giorgio Milos, a Master Barista from Italy who was on hand to create special espresso drinks for customers, including a brand-new one just for Frosting’s already impressive menu.
Watching the baristas in action is alone worth the trip. This is coffee unlike any I’d ever had; I’m a cream and sugar kind of girl, and Frosting’s coffee simply doesn’t need anything extra. Except, perhaps, a cupcake.
KRISTY BERNARDO is a personal chef and the author of the popular food blog "The Wicked Noodle". She began cooking six years ago when she resigned from the corporate world to raise her daughters. She has won several local and national cooking contests and is currently at work on a cookbook filled with easy yet elegant and unique recipes. Kristy lives in Aldie, VA with her husband and two girls. For more of Kristy's delicious recipes, please visit her website, thewickednoodle.com.
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