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PupcakesFirst Bite Blog: Sweet Wishes
My cupcake quest has now expanded beyond Atlanta to my hometown of Baton Rouge. I won some free cupcakes fromSweet Wishes Cafe via Twitter following the Saints Superbowl win. I guess everyone was in a giving mood! (But really, they have been doing Twitter giveaways fairly often…follow them!) As far as I know, this is Baton Rouge’s only cupcakery. And though they’ve been open for a few years, all I can say is…About Time! I stopped in when I breezed through BR on my way to NOLA for Mardi Gras to pick up my loot:
Sweet Wishes
Cupcakes
If memory serves, these are (cw from top) white chocolate raspberry, chocolate peanut butter, red velvet, and king cake. These didn’t look like the cupcakes I’m used to eating. They looked more…rustic. I will admit, to me “rustic” at first said “dry” but this was not the case at all. I was also a little wary because Sweet Wishes uses a more moderate frosting-to-cake ratio than I like (I’m a big frosting person) but I was pleasantly surprised on more than just those two points.
The cake was really, really moist, and the rustic look just added a “We just made these with our Mom” kind of nostalgia. The amount of frosting perfectly complemented the size of the cupcake, and it wasn’t too sweet, as it had a little something extra to compete with–there was stuff baked into the cake!! When I bit into the white chocolate raspberry, I found that there were actual bits of white chocolate in the cake., The chocolate peanut butter also had peanut butter chips baked in. In all my cupcake tastings, I’ve never seen anyone else do this, and I really liked it. Kudos, Sweet Wishes. I’ve just added a permanent stop to my trips home.
Sweet Wishes Cafe is located on Perkins Rd near the intersection with Bluebonnet. They have free wifi, coffee, tea, various gift items for purchase, and also serve LSU Dairy ice cream. Check them out!
www.sweetwishescafe.com
Best of Baton Rouge Visits Sweet Wishes
Do you absolutely love cupcakes? Do you find yourself longing for that perfect cupcake you had long ago at grandma's? Well if you want cupcake heaven it's here in Baton Rouge at Sweet Wishes cafe. A gourmet shop which offers about 35+ different handcrafted cupcakes. It's a great place to go sit, relax and enjoy a perfect cup of coffee and a cupcake like you'll have no place else. They also have free wifi so you can act like you're working while you'e indulging. It's locally owned and operated by two ladies who'll make sure you're at home when you visit Sweet Wishes.
I visited Sweet Wishes to get some cupcakes for my wife and of course try them out. I had a red velvet cupcake that was so moist and tasty. Truly I was shocked at how good it was. For my wife I got an arrangement of four including red velvet, White Chocolate Raspberry, Italian Cream and Carrot. They were very beautiful and tasty treats. Talking with the lady at the counter she explained that with a couple of days notice you can have specially made cupcakes just for your loved one. Most of the cupcakes have a custom made chocolate top piece and they can make those specially for your occasion. Very neat.
I also found out that Sweet Wishes has breakfast cupcakes that you can call in and order. How about that? Breakfast cupcake.
Featured in 225 Magazine: The New Handheld
The New Hand-Held
Sheetal Bueche and Rhonda Weeks have made hundreds of dozens of cupcakes. Some have been duds. Others have been perfect.
“We’re going for that ‘wow’ factor,” Bueche says. “We want ours to stand out.”
Bueche and Weeks, social workers and friends, are reintroducing Baton Rouge to the cupcake. The two friends’ Sweet Wishes bakery, scheduled to open this month at 10889 Perkins Rd., features homemade, gourmet cupcakes in classic and offbeat flavors. They expect kids to come in droves, but not exclusively. “Cupcakes and candlelight” is aimed at singles and a signature line of “pupcakes” is for dog lovers.
A new class of cupcakes, diminutive and glam, is selling like mad nationwide. Cupcake shops are everywhere. The western chain, Sprinkles, just opened its fourth location, with 15 more in the works in spots like Atlanta and Houston. Bueche was inspired after she saw a story on the Food Network about the Washington, D.C.-based bakery, Cakelove. She picked up the phone immediately and called Weeks.
“Everyone thought it was just another one of my cockamamie ideas,” Bueche says, but Weeks bit. The two had talked for years about opening a business together and this felt right. Weeks, 39, loved to bake and had a good decorating hand. Bueche, 35, loved to sell. Sweet Wishes was born.
It took months of planning. The partners found a spot in the former retail side of a salon and installed a commercial kitchen. They decided on a color scheme of warm red, cream and chocolate brown. And from the beginning, they tested recipes night after night at home.
Butterscotch was easy to nail. Peanut butter was not. Carrot cake was improved by freshly grated carrots. Heavy-duty chocolate, spiked with dark chocolate pieces, was converted from a favorite cake recipe Weeks made growing up. The classic Plain Jane was kept moist and distinct by a secret blend of ingredients. The homespun banana featured pureed fruit in the batter, giving it the tender texture of an old fashioned, church supper cake.
“We both like a cupcake that’s moist and airy,” Bueche says. Taste-testing became an interactive sport. They took batches to friends, colleagues and family members for feedback.
“They were really popular,” says Bueche. Taste-testers began asking for duds to stay in full supply. One of their burliest samplers fantasized about dainty flavors like raspberries and cream, a Plain Jane filled with tangy gelled fruit and topped with signature cream frosting, she says.
Sweet Wishes’ menu features eight rotating flavors out of a possible 21, along with LSU Dairy Store ice cream. The store plans to offer wireless access, coffees, teas and a room for small business meetings.
Birthday parties, Weeks says, will give children the chance to confect their own designs and take home novelty cupcakes featuring images “printed” with special equipment. “We can do children’s artwork or messages like ‘Happy Birthday’ in the frosting,” she says.
As for the name, Sweet Wishes connotes the women’s desire to stay connected to social work by supporting charitable organizations. “We want to be community oriented and help these groups realize their wishes,” Bueche says.
Sweet.