Not too long ago, a friend won a contest by being 300th fan on Facebook for Desmond and Beatrice. She was delivered a simple, white boxed up dozen of amazing lookin’ red velvet cupcakes.

Quickly after checking out the Desmond and Beatrice website I sent an email inquiring about an interview. The baker and owner, Amanda, responded right away.  Check out the interview below:

When did you decide to start Desmond & Beatrice?

Amanda: I started Desmond and Beatrice while on maternity leave.  Much to the encouragement of my friends and family, who I am forever baking for, I decided to start a business from something that I love to do, that I was getting great support for, and that would allow me to take care of my baby.  My website has only been up and running for approximately 3 months and the response is amazing!

As a relatively new business, what is the focus of Desmond and Beatrice?

Amanda: Desmond and Beatrice is all about back to basics, down home mama’s baking.  We are comfort baking.  Our focus is offering you treats that your grandma may have made, or that you remember from a certain occasion or event.  We of course have plenty of interesting and unique items on our menu, for example: curried cashews and pumpkin spice cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting, but it really comes down to taste.  It has to be delicious or we just won’t offer it.  We also really try to take a personal approach when fulfilling orders, we will make modifications, customize orders, and do our best to offer you what you want.

A friend won the contest you hosted on your facebook page.  She received a delivery of a dozen Red Velvet cupcakes.  My first impression was that they aesthetically looked amazing. How important is the presentation of your baked goods?

Amanda: Yes!  That contest was really fun!!  I often have fun little give away contests on facebook to encourage people to become fans of the page and to thank the fans that are already there.  Presentation, along with taste, are paramount for Desmond and Beatrice.  I am not so concerned with creating and making sweets that are so pretty that you feel you shouldn’t eat them, but rather I focus on a simple and pretty presentation that you can then rip open and get right in to!

Recently, I have noticed an increasing number of cupcake oriented books and products that are available, is this a new trend?

Amanda: Cupcakes are where it’s at!!!  It is my number one selling item and rightfully so.   The cupcake trend, so to speak, is not a new one; I believe that cupcakes are trendy but they are here to stay.  I have an increasing amount of interest in cupcakes in lieu of wedding cakes, and we have numerous weddings booked for this upcoming summer.  We offer cupcakes for birthday parties, corporate gifts, custom orders, and our biggest focus is sending cupcakes instead of flowers!  I am not knocking flowers, I love flowers… I just love cupcakes more!

What is your favorite baked good?

Amanda: Oh I can’t possibly pick one favorite baked good… warm cinnamon buns on a Sunday morning, fresh baked cookies (we will deliver frozen rolled cookie dough that you can pop in the oven as you like and take all the credit for) of any kind,  chocolate brownies, ooo I love brownies, or maybe a carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing?  I honestly can’t pick, I love it all, and if it isn’t a sincere love for me, you won’t find it on the menu!

Not sure what to get that special someone for Valentines Day?

Forget the flowers, send cupcakes!!  The NEW Desmond and Beatrice Valentines Day menu.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Food, January 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.