Eugenean and 20-year-old Hannah Howard doesn’t need to be asked what she’s doing after she graduates. Last fall, Howard opened and continues to operate a cupcake catering business, Little Miss Cupcake, out of her home kitchen while finishing up classes at Lane Community College’s culinary baking program.
“Ever since I was fifteen I’ve been weirdly obsessed with cupcakes,” Howard said. “Anything that had a cupcake on it, I needed it, and since high school I’ve always thought how cool it would be to have a cupcake shop.”
After a summer of shooting wedding videos, Howard began to see the assortment of local dessert catering and thought of her cupcake obsession. She looked into licensing and food handling certification, and she opened Little Miss Cupcake catering out of her kitchen.
Howard’s licensing designation allows her to cater out of her inspected home kitchen, but her sights are set much higher: She would really like open her own shop.
She envisions a place that is inviting to kids, swathed in vibrant colors, but entertaining for adults as well with an espresso bar and an array of frosted delectables.
Dreaming aside, it will probably be awhile until she can fund her cupcake shop, but with prospects like festival booths and farmers markets, the possibility of fast growth seems likely.
“I want to have a shop, but I think it will take about five years,” Howard said. “I’m planning on going to Saturday Market and things like that during the summer. I mean, there are so many crazy events you can have a booth at: Eugene Celebration, Saturday Market, the Country Fair.”
In a market that is already growing, the types of cupcakes available and the possible combinations of flavor and personalization are limitless. That sort of individual attention and personality is what many of Howard’s customers enjoy most.
“With cupcakes it’s an individual cake that can be personalized rather than a whole big cake,” Howard said. “So that’s like what magnetizes me to it, because it’s something personal and wonderfully delicious.”
When not taking customers’ orders, Howard gets the opportunity to be creative in the kitchen. She has developed some customer favorites like the banana chocolate chip, topped with Nutella buttercream icing. Others, like her maple bacon cupcake, offer her take on a trendy, new flavor combination.
“There are a lot of places doing maple bacon,” Howard said. “I mean VooDoo Doughnuts does it, then like Divine Cupcake, they do one too, and there’s a place called Sassy Cupcakes and she does that too. But it’s such a good combination when you have something so salty and so sweet, the two are made for each other.”
When it comes down to it, Howard is about the fundamentals and perfecting the most basic parts of an increasingly complex dessert form.
“I like to have a well-rounded cake so that in every bite you get some frosting, but it’s not all you taste,” Howard said. “I like to have the cake be moist and that’s what stands out.”
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Opening a delicatessen is no cakewalk
Daily Emerald
January 29, 2011
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