News & Events
|
|
|
”I’d been doing cupcakes for friends and family for a long time and I’d heard about the cupcake craze starting,” said Ruthie Bzdewka, co-owner. “My business was growing at home and I decided to pick Princeton because cupcake shops tend to do better in downtowns and family-oriented areas.”
Mrs. Bzdewka, a Somerset resident, said the success of her business is built on the strong community of Princeton and how it embraces family businesses. “We opened when the economy collapsed, but the people of Princeton have been wonderful and have supported me knowing it’s a family businesses.” She owns and runs the shop with the help of her husband, Ron, and two sons.
There are more than 25 varieties of cupcakes available — from vanilla cake with chocolate frosting to coconut or Brooklyn Blackout, a chocolate cake with ganache and cake crumbs — on any given day at the store and Mrs. Bzdewka has more than 60 recipes she uses to create the treats.
”The Brooklyn Blackout is a hard cupcake to make, it takes effort,” said Rage, her 9-year-old son, who has a signature cupcake, the Chocolate Rage. “I’ve always loved chocolate, I’m not a vanilla fan.”
The most popular flavor is Red Velvet, a cocoa based cake with cream cheese frosting. “It sells at least two-to-one to all others,” said Mrs. Bzdewka.
”It’s a big challenge to keep it interesting with new flavors,” added Ron Bzdewka. “Customers don’t want to come back five times and see the same flavors.”
For new flavors, the Bzdewkas see inspiration all around them, from candy bars to ice cream flavors. “You get ideas just seeing something somewhere,” said Mr. Bzdewka. “We do lemon, lime, mango; we rotate through what’s selling and then bring the (popular) flavors back later.”
Special seasonal flavors have included: pumpkin spice and caramel apple in the fall; Christmas cookie; cinnamon for Valentine’s Day; Mexican hot chocolate for Cinco de Mayo and beer for St. Patrick’s Day.
”We made a beer batter cupcake with a thick ale, I liked it, it tasted like beer,” said Mr. Bzdewka. “It tasted better than I thought it would.”
Developing cupcake recipes isn’t as easy as it sounds. The icings take the longest to create and match with cake bottoms. “Once you get the cake right you’ve got to try 10 different frostings to get the right one, there’s so many combinations,” said Mr. Bzdewka.
The cupcakes cost $2.25 each or $1.85 when 50 or more are purchased at one time. When customers buy five, they get one free or when they buy 10, they get two free. She sells 500 to 800 cupcakes per day, depending upon the time of the year.
The shop also offers “pupcakes,” or cupcakes for dogs for $1.49 each that are made with oatmeal, peanut butter, honey and cornmeal. “People buy a dozen and take them to the dog park for a party,” said Mrs. Bzdewka.
The House of Cupcakes has three bakers and two front end sales people. All cupcakes and cookies are baked fresh daily in store.
The store is generally open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. “I’ve been extending and extending, it’s been busier downtown that it has before,” said Mrs. Bzdewka. A good day for her is Thursdays, when the farmer’s market is in session. “People leave the farmer’s market and come here,” she said.
Flavors will soon be expanding to include delights such as cannolli, whipped cream and cheesecake. A new refrigerated case was recently delivered and waits to be filled with treats.
Although there is plenty of foot traffic, Mrs. Bzdewka does a lot of special orders for corporate events, birthdays, showers and weddings. Such orders can have custom wrappers to match a theme and the tops of the cupcakes can be decorated with flowers or themed decorations.
”It’s not a job,” she added. “We’ve made so many friends from steady customers and people who’ve placed orders. It’s a great feeling when the business becomes a success and you see it growing and becoming something people enjoy. We make people happy with cupcakes,” said Mrs. Bzdewka, who personally handles each special order.
The toughest part of owning a business has been learning balance, said Mrs. Bzdewka. “It’s a lot of hours. When we first opened I was here open to close, seven days a week for eight months; I didn’t leave.”
Her handiwork is featured in the “Cakes to Fall In Love With” feature in Fall 2010 issue of Contemporary Bride magazines’ New Jersey issue.
Happy Birthday House Of Cupcakes!
75th Anniversary Celebration, Mrs. G. TV & Appliances Saturday September 25, 2010
10:00AM - 04:00PM
75th Anniversary Celebration, Mrs. G. TV & Appliances, 2960 Route 1, Lawrenceville, 609-882-1444
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 'Grilling Best Practices and Easy Recipes' presented by Glenn Lyman, who is known for customizing meals to match nutritional needs of professional athletes (like LeBron James) on regimented diets. He will showcase four different recipes on a Lynx professional grill. Chef Matt Sytsema of Griggstown Farm demonstrates an easy and healthy turkey for the upcoming holidays. Ruth Bzdewka, owner of House of Cupcakes in Princeton, presents a cupcake lessons. Also talks about health, fashion, laundry, and fitness by Michele Banks, Lindsay Vastola, Ellen Tozzi, Ed Tseng, Denise H. Frederickson, Lucinda Ottusch, and Joanna O'Neill. Also massages, makeovers, refreshments, and prizes. Register. Free., www.mrsgs.com
Cooking Demonstration
Provided by House of Cupcakes
From “Contemporary Bride Magazine” to Princeton University, Ruthie Bzdewka has helped bring the popularity of cupcakes from the city to New Jersey’s ivy leagued Princeton. A long time retail owner, Bzdewka took her business skills and combined them with her favorite hobby of baking to open the “House of Cupcakes” in the summer of 2008. Using her own recipes, she has made a name for herself with flavors such as “Red Velvet ” to “pupcakes” for the areas four legged friends. In addition to her business location, Bzdewka has also made cupcakes for events such as weddings, corporate events, and Princeton University’s Greek organizations. Ruthie lives on the outskirts of Princeton with her co-owner husband Ron, and their two helpers – their sons Rage and Riot. Please join her as she invites you to share in her secrets of making holiday desserts fun and easy with cupcakes.
| HOUSE OF CUPCAKES |
| Delicious cupcakes for every occasion |
|
Located in the heart of downtown Princeton NJ, the 'House of Cupcakes' offers the best in quality cupcakes at affordable prices! Our cupcakes are delicious! We offer your favorite flavors and toppings beautifully decorated and baked with the finest ingredients. Baked fresh in small batches throughout the day, our cupcakes are made from the finest ingredients, including sweet cream butter,bitter sweet Belgian chocolate, rich milk chocolate, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, and fresh fruit. Decorated to perfection, our cupcakes are a delicious update on a classic American dessert. Cupcakes are perfect for birthday parties, thank you gifts, baby showers, wedding receptions,bachelorette parties, bridal showers, school parties, office parties, holiday gifts, hostess gifts,get well gifts, housewarming gifts, and much more! In addition, cupcakes also make unique and thoughtful favors. See us for more ideas,information and pricing. |
Cupcake-Only Bakeries in NJ
If it seems that cupcake bakeries are popping up everywhere, it's because they are.
Posted November 16, 2010 by Julia Lawlor
HOUSE OF CUPCAKES, Princeton—Ruthie Bzdewka, who grew up in Princeton, had been baking cupcakes for friends and relatives for years when she decided that a specialty cupcake shop in a college town was a no-brainer. She opened in 2008. Self-taught, she offers more than 25 varieties in her bare-bones shop each day. Most creative: Pink Champagne—vanilla cake with buttercream icing, both pink, are made with pink champagne and topped with pink champagne-flavored candy. 30 Witherspoon St. 609-924-0085.
We Won! Thank you for your support
