The mission of Dress for Success is to promote economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

Founded in 1996 in New York City, Dress for Success is a global, non-profit network of affiliated organizations that provide interview suits, a support network and career development tools to clients in over 75 cities.

For the month of September, Cupcakes is proudly donating a portion of the proceeds from every dress you up cupcake sold to help fund the Dress for Success Vancouver Society and create a future for disadvantaged women who want to take charge of their lives.

The dress you up is a vanilla cupcake finished with purple buttercream and decorated with a fondant bow.

This is an annual cause cupcake in partnership with the Dress for Success Vancouver Society to help create awareness for the local organization and help disadvantaged women re-enter the work force. The Dress for Success cause cupcake will be sold throughout the month of September at all 5 Cupcakes Bakery locations.

For additional information on Dress for Success and to help out in your own way, please visit http://www.dressforsuccess.org/.

Yum yum!

The Cupcake Girls

You spoke, we listened, and then went back to the drawing board…

At Cupcakes, we trust and care about our customers’ feedback. We have comment cards at every one of our locations and our management team goes through them every week, taking note of your concerns, suggestions and praises. We also take our facebook page very seriously and appreciate all the feedback and especially questions that get posted by our fans every day.

Repeatedly, we hear that our buttercream is too sweet and sometimes too heavy. So, for the last month, we had our bake team at Cupcakes working together to recreate a NEW butter cream recipe. After sampling over 20 attempts we were finally excited about a new swiss-style buttercream. It’s deliciously fluffy, and at the same time, a lot lighter in flavour.

For the entire month of August, we will be featuring our new buttercream on the ‘confetti’ cupcake. This vanilla cake with the NEW white vanilla buttercream, topped with colourful confetti sprinkles, will soon be another favourite amongst our cupcake enthusiasts.

Please be sure to stop by any one of our five locations and try the ‘confetti’ with our new buttercream. We appreciate your feedback, whether it be via facebook, or you can simply fill out one of our customer feedback cards and hand them back to one of our cupcake girls behind the counter. “Because who doesn’t love a cupcake?”

The Cupcake Girls

Cupcakes is excited to partner with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation for the month of July. BC Children’s Hospital Foundation is united with its donors by a single, simple passion – to improve the health and the lives of the young people who enter BC Children’s Hospital every day.

“Sunny” is the July cause cupcake. For the entire month of July, Cupcakes is proudly donating a portion of the proceeds from every “sunny” cause cupcake sold to support the people, places and things required to ensure BC’s kids have access to outstanding pediatric care.

“Sunny” is a vanilla cupcake finished with orange flavoured buttercream and topped with an edible sunshine fondant. The “sunny” cause cupcake will be sold throughout the month of July at all Cupcakes Bakery locations.

If you’re a fan of Cupcakes and want to be updated on our new products, events, and weekly specials, be sure to add yourself as a fan onto our Facebook page. Simply click on the “facebook” icon to the left of the screen.

Thanks for visiting!

The Cupcakes Girls,
Heather & Lori

When I moved to Vancouver in March of 2006 one of the first places my husband David said I had to go was Cupcakes on Denman. While walking around the West End with my cousin, Carolina, we were drawn into Cupcakes because of the atmosphere, the crowd that filled the tiny Denman shop, and of course since David said too!

The silver cupcake stands were filled with all sorts of Cupcakes and we had a hard time choosing just one. So we did what any rational person would do and bought a half dozen. We asked the lovely front staff to pick out the top six and add them to our order. When they put what looked like a coconut ball in the pack, I told my cousin she could have that one all to herself, since coconut was one of my least favourite things.

As we left, we could barely contain ourselves from getting into the Cupcakes. As Carolina took a bite of the Koo Koo, her face froze for a moment. Then as she regained movement in her facial nerves, she demanded that I take a bite of the coconut cupcake. So I did. Again and again until it was all gone. The Koo Koo was beyond what I had ever imagined and opened up my world to all things coconut.

Now, 3 years later, I work at Cupcakes on W. Broadway and it is no secret that Koo Koo is my favourite Cupcake of all time.

Now it’s your turn. Share your Cupcakes story with us on Facebook!

Happy Eating!!!

Alex
Cupcakes Wedding Coordinator

Spring is always an exciting time for Cupcakes. A time for change, new window displays, fresh ideas and wonderful festivities to celebrate the arrival of warmer weather. Easter is just around the corner, so please make sure to check out our new easter cake designs online on our features page at: http://www.originalcupcakes.com/features.php

Our “bunny” cake, is sure to delight all those young at heart. This light fluffy coconut cake, layered with cream cheese frosting and then covered in coconut shavings, is finished with an adorable bunny face and long fondant ears.

If you’re looking for a smaller way to celebrate Easter, we have “big ones” which are 2.5 times the size of our regular cupcakes and are decorated with spring flowers, easter eggs, butterflies or a bunny face. You can also indulge in our newest big one, “tweet” which is a vanilla cake decorated with a nest of toasted coconut and three little birds sitting inside…tweet tweet…

Please make sure to order your Easter cake at least 48 hours in advance. Hope to see you soon at any one of our 5 locations across the lower mainland.

The Cupcake Girls

Like lobster claws and corn on the cob, eating cupcakes can be a difficult venture without getting, well, cupcake all over your face. So, is there a delicate way to eat a cupcake? Thankfully, we have some resident experts who generously gave us their trade secrets which I will share with you.

Step 1: Lightly grasp the cupcake between your thumb and index finger of your left hand.

Step 2: With your right hand, slowly peel away part the wrapper exposing the base of the cupcake.

Step 3: Lightly brush any fallen crumbs and gently nibble away at the edge of the cupcake (smaller bites will keep the icing off your nose).

Step 4: Continue to peel away the wrapper and nibble as you go until there is no cupcake left.

Step 5: Fold the wrapper delicately in half and discard.

Thank you to Miss Kaia White, who gracefully demonstrates the lady-like way to eat a cupcake. If we could all eat our delicious cupcakes with the style and aplomb of this young lady, the world would be a better (albeit stickier) place.

Pictures taken by Jodi Renee Photography – www.jodirenee.com

When Lori and I first decided we were going to open a cupcake bakery our first order of business was to get our food safe certificate. While sitting in the back of the classroom filled with eager foodies we found ourselves becoming easily distracted by the sheer boredom of the course material, the instructors monotone voice and the low energy in the classroom. Distracted, Lori and I started to flip through a book of sample paint chips. With our creative juices flowing we both began to wake up and become inspired by the pallet of pretty pastel tones . Each shade of pink came with its very own signature name –cotton candy, rose, baby pink and then the one- sweet 16!. As the book dropped to the floor with a loud BANG , and the entire class turned in their seats, we had the name of our very first and most popular cupcake to date, the sweet 16!!!

Cupcakes is created and run by Lori Joyce and myself Heather White, we are two best friends who grew up together in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Now thirty-three and thirty-four years of age, our life long dream of starting our own business together has become a reality. Both having a background in sales, Lori and I have worked for various companies dealing with everything from fashion to wastewater treatment.

Rewind back in time to Fall 2001, where we found ourselves working together in New York around the time of the tragic events of September 11th. Ironically, amongst darkness and devastation, Lori and I were inspired to finally make our life long dream come true. It was time to go solo and it became very clear to both of us that our new venture was just about to begin. Our new business concept had to be light, it had to be fresh and it had to be fun, a return to simpler times. There was no question, it had to be, Cupcakes.

Fast Forward to the present and 6 years from its conception, Cupcakes has won a special place in the sweet teeth of Vancouverites. With our three bustling locations to serve our customers, (1168 Denman, 2887 West Broadway and our newest location in Edgemont Village) we try to inspire every new and repeat customer with a mouth full of whimsy. We pride ourselves on our nostalgic trademark and brand that we built using colors like perfect icing pink, soft vanilla and rich chocolaty brown. Once drawn inside by the familiar softly sweet aroma, you are instantly tempted by an array of irresistible confections from the classic top selling “Sweet Sixteen” (vanilla cake with pink icing and pastel sprinkles) to our sinful “Heartthrob” (vanilla and chocolate marble cake with chocolate cream cheese icing and a white chocolate button to top it off) yummm!

Our talented Cupcakes team of 54 staff is busy providing various ideas for weddings, special events and other to-dos with our unique and scrumptious brand of retro cakes and cupcakes. Why is Cupcakes such a hit?

“because, who doesn’t love a cupcake?”