Morsels from the Bakery

A lot of people ask me about my job, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share some goings on at the Bakery.

1. I am glad that I get to ice cakes because it means that I have less contact with our customers, also known as The Most Spoiled People on the Planet. I still have to answer some of their queries, like "don't you have anything without sugar" (umm...NO!) or "can you get me that cupcake in the case that is completely out of reach because it is purple and has a flower on it?" I hate the last question the most. The Bakery is known around town for letting customers choose the cupcake they desire and then putting their chosen treat in their own box. In the original store this works out rather well. The cupcakes are placed on a table, and people pick from the ones on the trays and don't say a peep about it. In the Upper West Side, however, it doesn't work as well. We place our open trays of cupcakes on top of a case where customers can see the other cupcakes and so if the only pink ones available has blue sprinkles and they want a pink one with green sprinkles, they will point and say that they "have to have that one." It does not matter if all the buttercream is vanilla flavored, or if the sprinkles really have no flavor whatsoever, these customers demand the out of reach cupcake. (Sometimes they erroneously believe that the ones on the bottom shelf are fresher. Sorry kids, the cakes and frostings were all made at the same time.) Sometimes when they ask, "Can you get me the purple one on the second shelf?" I want to say, "Can you be a grown-up and choose one from the ones placed before?" Sometimes I wish we only made one color of frosting with one type of sprinkle so we wouldn't have to deal with their whininess. I think that would be considered cupcake communism.

2. Another thing I would like to say to the people of the Upper West Side: Red Velvet cupcakes are not one of your unalienable rights. If we don't have them when you come in, don't complain, just suck it up and get a slice of cake.

3. The Bakery sees a lot of photographers and photo shoots. Recently we had a shoot with The Owner and three top-rated chefs, including Daniel Boulud. I didn't realize how cool that was at the time; I was more concerned about stepping over tripods while carrying cakes. Anyway, Daniel Boulud is a 4-Star chef who is a bigger name that Anthony Bourdain in the biz. He owns a gaggle of $25o/plate restaurants, writes for Epicurean Magazine and was in that Queen Latifah movie, The Last Holiday. Don't be ashamed if you didn't know this tidbit of knowledge, I found out after I met him. During a quick photo break, he watched me ice a cake, asked a few questions, and suggested doing a "stage" (or mini-internship) to learn how to ice cakes. Of course I agreed, although I knew he was joshing. One of the managers asked if I knew who he was, I pretended that I did. One of coworkers clued me in later.

4. Our Bakery is now Kosher, which is a really good idea for an Upper West Side location with its large Jewish population. We didn't have to change too much on our menu, but we now no longer make the IceBox Cake since the chocolate wafers are not kosher. Have no fear, I still know how to make it.