Mandy Mathis of Dublin and her son, Noah, prepare a cupcake at Our CupCakery after ordering a dozen for Noah's second birthday, which was Aug. 6.
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Officially open for about a month, Our CupCakery has been filled with people of all ages decorating their own cupcakes at the make-your-own cupcake bar.
The cupcake bar allows people to pick out a cupcake that has been made (there are usually three flavors to choose from) and decorate it themselves.
"This is the only cupcake bar like this in the country that I have seen," owner Linda Kick said. "I bake the cupcake, you decorate and so it becomes our cupcake, hence the name Our CupCakery."
Dozens of icing flavors, from traditional vanilla and chocolate to bubblegum and peppermint, and toppings line the tables at our CupCakery, which Kick said satisfies nearly everyone's tastes.
The cupcakes are priced by weight at $1 per ounce. The record for the heaviest cupcake belongs to 7-year-old Matthew Hirth, whose cupcake sold for $7.70.
"My job is to put smiles on people's faces," Kick said.
In addition to the bar, Kick teaches classes and bakes cakes and cookies made to order. In the near future, she anticipates a small number of cakes will be made and sold daily.
Kick's cupcake adventure started in 2003 during a banquet event for one of her children.
"No one wanted to have a cake because of the bother with cutting it," she said. "Someone mentioned a cupcake cake, where you just squish all the cupcakes together. That is so messy. I knew there at to be a better way to do it."
About that same time, Kick was diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer.
"During all that, this thought about this cupcake cake was always in my head," Kick said. "It was a way to focus on something other than what was going on."
That is when Kick developed the patent-pending cupcake grid.
"The cupcake liners are placed in the pan and the grid holds the side up like a normal cupcake pan," Kick described. "But the exception is the grid is low, allowing the cupcakes to rise then bake together to from a solid top. It's similar to an over-filled ice cube tray."
It's been nearly five years that Kick has been cancer free and with a business she said is booming.
"That was my slap in the face from God," Kick said. "Wake up and do what you love to do."
Small classes in her kitchen at home for neighborhood children and special orders for friends turned into a special order business followed by the retail business that opened in July.
"I feel like I'm seeing my mind in action," Kick said. "I'm a visual person and had it all up in my mind. To see it happening, well, I believe it was God's plan. I really think it was time for me to do something different and get back to the thing I loved to do."
Our CupCakery's summer hours are Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More information about Our CupCakery can be found at ourcupcakery.com.
