Sugar and Spice (10 page)

Magnolia has always been one of my fave cupcakeries in NYC. I never cease to be wowed by how pretty their cupcakes are. They have mastered the art of frosting with an offset spatula (kind of like a long, flat metal paddle). No matter what the holiday or occasion, Magnolia creates cupcakes that are mini works of art. I'm also a big fan of their pies, muffins, and banana pudding! You can imagine how excited I was to meet Bobbie and ask her to tell me all about her amazing job. We talked all things cupcake…

Carrie: How did you get started in cupcakes? Were you always into baking as a kid?

Bobbie:
I started baking with my mother, grandmother, and even my great-grandmother when I was a little girl. I have always loved baking something—cake, bread, pies, and cookies for friends, family, and neighbors. It seemed to be a natural transition to make this a career.

Carrie: Why are cupcakes so popular? And how did Magnolia start making them?

Bobbie:
We have all grown up with cupcakes as part of the American culture. At Magnolia Bakery they became an extension of a product line based on cakes. A little leftover batter one day turned into an entire product line because people wanted it.

Carrie: What makes Magnolia Bakery so special?

Bobbie:
Everything! The moment you walk into our stores, you are transported by the smells and the activity of baking in the store. Watching our cake and cupcake icers is part theater and part production. It's a sensory experience from the minute you walk in to when you taste the perfect confection.

Carrie: What are your fave Magnolia flavors? What are the most popular ones in the stores?

Bobbie:
Our bestselling cupcake is always the vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. I think people just love a classic cupcake. For me, I love all things peanut butter. At Magnolia Bakery we serve the most amazing peanut-butter-and-jelly cupcake. I could eat the peanut-butter buttercream by the cupful, it's so good.

Carrie: How do you come up with your ideas for new cupcakes? What have been some really fun ones?

Bobbie:
I usually think about what the season offers. For example, we recently did a harvest apple cupcake for October. The recipe was based on our most popular muffin, the apple walnut muffin. When I thought about what everyone loves about this muffin, I created a cupcake using the same flavor profile of tart apples and cranberries with the warm spice combination of an apple pie. Perfection!

Carrie: You've judged
The Next Great Baker
for
Cake
Boss—I know, because I was one of the kids helping judge that episode! In your opinion, what makes a great cake?

Bobbie:
I had so much fun as a judge on
The
Next
Great
Baker
. The bakers and decorators that competed on the show came with a huge variation in skill levels. Some were better bakers, and some were better at decorating with no baking skill at all. For me, a cake is all about taste and texture, but of course you want the cake to be beautiful. In the end, you are eating a cake after all. To make the amazing sculptural cakes for the show, you have to use fondant and other ingredients that may not taste great but provide the structure you need for a large cake.

Carrie: Magnolia has a really great way of frosting its cupcakes. Can you share your secret?

Bobbie:
There really are no secrets to the famous Magnolia swirl. It takes hours to learn the technique, which is a ten-step process. The right type of buttercream, the right texture, and of course, the right tools will set you on the right path. Then it's just hours of practice. I compare our process to Olympic training. We make it look easy in the end because we are fast and consistent, but there are hours of practice behind what we make look so easy.

Carrie: How many Magnolia stores are there?

Bobbie:
There are five in NYC, one in Chicago, and one in LA. We have eight stores in the Middle East, and one each in Japan, Moscow, and Mexico City. In 2015 we have about another eighteen stores planned to open.

Carrie: How can we get some of those Magnolia recipes to bake at home? Do you have a cookbook?

Bobbie:
The original owner of Magnolia Bakery, Allysa Torrey, has three books. The most recent one is called
The
Complete
Magnolia
Bakery
Cookbook
. You can find it at
www.magnoliabakery.com
or your favorite bookstore.

Carrie: Thanks so much, Bobbie!

Me, my camp bestie Ally, and Magnolia Bakery's Bobbie Lloyd

Bobbie Lloyd

Many thanks to our family, the Berks, Saps, and Kahns! Jason: you always wanted a boy to be in PLC… We gave you Herbie! Brad: our new robotics whiz of an advisor was inspired by you (minus the red hair!).

Many thanks to Carrie's TDS teachers and friends! Ms. McNally, Ms. Murphy, Ms. Rathbone, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Danenburg: hope you get a kick out of your “names” in the book ;-) What a great year it's been in seventh grade!

To our good friends at East Coast USA Pageants/East Coast Starz (http://eastcoaststarz.com/) for making Carrie feel beautiful and confident. You helped her find her voice, just like Lexi! You were our first pageant and will always have a special place in our hearts. Lauren Handler, Stacie Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Percy, and Mr. Tim, hugs and sprinkles! Now you've all been immortalized in the Cupcake Club! Lilly and Paige: you are the sweetest! We'll be seeing you starring on Broadway and the big screen one day soon…

Kim Gravel and the gang at Pageant Place (Amy, Allisyn, Miss Jo): You have the biggest hearts and the biggest crowns! We love you all and
Kim
of
Queens
. Kim, you are
ah-may-zing
. There is nothing you can't do! We believe in you!

Hannah Stark: Carrie is so glad she found her “sister.” Harleigh is for you! You are such an incredible, caring, loving, brilliant, sweet soul. We know your Barbie Mama is proud of you. We are too! Your faith is incredible.

Amaryllis “Lilly” Rodriguez: our fave
American
Idol
contender, pageant queen, and coach. You are such a star! Can we say we knew you when…?

To Jennifer Curfman: We promised and here it is—your very own shout-out and your very own character (Miss Jen)! You have done the most amazing job in bringing the girls of PLC to life onstage at Vital! We can't thank you enough! XO

Christina Jackson and Meghan Ross: We had to put Meredith and Lexi head-to-head for you guys! Hope you loved their rematch as much as we did. We just need to picture you two onstage and the characters write themselves!

To the gang at Sourcebooks, Steve Geck, Kate Prosswimmer, Elizabeth Boyer: thanks for making every book such a fun and fabulous experience. We hope Cupcake Club never ends!

Katherine Latshaw at Folio: wish we could give you a lifetime supply of cupcakes for all your hard work and encouragement. Thanks as always…

Sheryl Berk is the
New
York
Times
bestselling co-author of
Soul
Surfer
. An entertainment editor and journalist, she has written dozens of books with celebrities including Britney Spears, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Zendaya. Her daughter, Carrie Berk, is a renowned cupcake connoisseur and blogger (
www.facebook.com/PLCCupcakeClub
;
www.carriescupakecritique.shutterfly.com
; Instagram @ ) with over 105K followers at the tender young age of 12! Carrie cooked up the idea for the Cupcake Club series while in second grade. To date, they have written seven books together (with many more in the works!).
Peace, Love, and Cupcakes
had its world premiere as a delicious new musical at New York City's Vital Theatre in 2014. The Berk ladies are also hard at work on a new series, The Fashion Academy, due out on shelves Spring 2015. Stay tuned!