Cupcake Tour: Austin, TX

Subtitle: How to Sell Cupcakes.

My cupcake “spiel” includes two questions:

1) Are your Cupcakes Powdered sugar based?
2) Are you on Twitter?

First, if you work as the salesperson at a place that sells baked goods (or any special type of food), you should know a little about your baked goods. Cakes and cupcakes only come with a few types of frostings, you should know something about their composition.

I asked one bakery if their frostings were powdered sugar based. They said “yes, except the cream cheese.” which wasn’t “based” on powdered sugar, but had it in the recipe. Not the same.

On the twitter, None of the bakeries I have been to this trip have been able to answer the “What is your twitter name” question. While I realize that social media and in person marketing are different, when I am tweeting pictures to the social media, it would be nice if I didnt have to search the internet on my cell phone to get your twitter name.

So far, cupcakes have been okay. Nothing spectacular, but nothing horrible either. (Well, except for the one that tasted like canned frosting, that was kinda weird.) Amy at Cupprimo (@cupprimo was extremely nice, and we had a great discussion of cupcakes, including the travels of her bakers to NYC. She also pointed out that it seemed like the Austin “foodie” scene liked cupcakes, but seemed to be fairly standard in their flavors, with only a few that are outside the box. Their red velvet was really red, and their Brownie Sundae was actually a brownie! The minis are a dollar each, or 6 for $5, or 12 for $10. Very reasonable, and tasty, and a good way to get a taste of all of the cupcakes offered.

6 delicious mini cupcakes

Cupprimo Mini Cupcakes

My second stop today was Be My Cupcake, in Round Rock, TX. These cupcakes were larger, but much more expensive. (3.75 for a large cupcake, and 2.50 for a mini.) They did advertise the cupcakes as “large enough for two.” I tried a Neopolitan Cupcake, which was a great mix of Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry in both the cake and the frosting. I also had a (2oz!) frosting shot of their Oreo Frosting, which was Amazing! I need to go back before my trip is done to try their Oreo Cupcake.

Array of Cupcakes at Be My Cupcake

Be My Cupcake

Currently, I have two more stops planned (One is Lick it, Bite it, or Both, because I want the cupcake and ice cream combo.) Otherwise, unless I hear of an Austin Cupcake place that sells Non Powdered Sugar Based Frosting, I am done.

Any leads? :)

7 Comments »

  1. Kini said

    OMG! You are not a normal human being if you do not LUV cupcakes. I almost fainted just looking at the pics on your blog. Delish!

    So far I can only say there are two places that have great cupcakes. One is located in Downtown L.A., but the name of the place fails me now. The boss lady brought it in last week for a treat to the slaves (me and my co-workers). The other one was from a cup cake mobile truck. I didn’t even look at the name of the truck. Sorry, not good on names.

    I’m coming back for more!

    Kini

  2. Stopping by for 31DBBB over at blogfrog

    Ohh cupcakes who doesnt love them!

    I cant help you with places for cupcakes as i am from Oman however good luck with the hunt

    Hmm i think the company should have their social media names such as FB and Twitter on display for all customers to see.

  3. Michelle said

    Those cupcakes look yummy – so not good for me, but yummy nonetheless!

    Peace. ;)

  4. You are SO right…anyone in the business must know what’s going on with their treats. I’m reading though your cupcake business blogs as I am taking baby steps toward selling on the small scale. Thanks for the great bits of information…I’ve been bookmarking along the way. ~Liz

  5. Kayla said

    I love to bake! I’m fairly new to the baking scene & have a lot to learn. [I really want to take classes at Le Cordon Bleu or The French Culinary Institute – someday…] So, I might sound like a dummy when I ask: what do you mean by non powdered sugar based frosting? Do you mean like buttercream frosting?

    • AmandaLP said

      Kayla,

      My previous post talked about types of frostings. Far too many places think that since the frosting has “butter” in it, it is a buttercream. My view is that the choice of powdered sugar vs eggs makes much more of a difference in taste, and thus I differentiate between “powdered sugar buttercream” and “buttercream.”

      • Kayla said

        Amanda,
        I was just coming back to this post to see your response & saw your post with all the different frostings. Thank you so much for this information!

        I had to go look real quick at the buttercream recipe that I made a couple months ago & it was eggs. So thank you for clarifying! I have so much to learn!

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