From a classy storefront nestled beside the shining golden elevators of the Colonnade wafts a smell sweeter than a spring bouquet, more enticing than summer's first barbecue, more luxurious than Chanel No. 5: the smell of cupcakes.
Charm City Cupcakes, which is unaffiliated with Charm City Cakes of Ace of Cakes fame, has recently teamed up with Hopkins, providing the University and its students with two upcoming cupcakes customized exclusively for Hopkins.
With a smile on her face, Sandra Long, owner of Charm City Cupcakes, remarked on the collaboration with Hopkins.
"We did a JHU Blue Jay cupcake, and we're working on one that is a Johns Hopkins seal cupcake," Long said.
Don't start salivating yet: these designs are still in the works.
When everything is finalized and the Hopkins cupcakes are ready to be rolled out of the oven, the Starbucks at Barnes & Noble may very well be putting them in the hands of eager students.
"Barnes & Noble has the decision as to when to unveil them," Long said. "Our job is just to create two really good cupcakes, and I have to yield to when they will announce it."
So far, Charm City Cupcakes has catered only a few Hopkins-sponsored parties and events. However, Long hopes to extend her partnership with Hopkins to the students, by selling cupcakes during sporting events and providing services to various student-run organizations and clubs.
"We feel it's a natural fit to be able to do student activities and sporting events," Long said. "That's good. That's the hope. It is our quest."
Charm City Cupcakes started its quest with the Hopkins Cupcake Club. As a member of the Cupcake Club, a student has a 10 to 15 percent discount on any cupcake from either of Charm City's two locations.
With room enough for only one table and two small chairs, the Colonnade shop is too small for the cupcakes to be baked on the premises. To guarantee freshness, cupcakes are transported two to three times a day, depending on demand, from Bakery & Cupcakes To Go, Charm City's downtown birthplace, where cupcakes are baked in the early hours of the morning.
"On a day like this, where we don't have any more cupcakes even though we've baked dozens and dozens, we'll go back and try to bake a third time," Long said.
The inspiration for the bakery's 40 varieties of cupcakes comes from those closest to Long. Many of her recipes were passed down in her family, while others come from friends around the world.
"Some were my grandmother's recipes, and some were my great-grandmother's recipes," Long said. "I'm a military brat, which means my family and I traveled everywhere. I have friends that are from different nationalities and they'll tell me what the equivalent is of the cupcake in their country."
With popular flavors like "one of my grandmother's old recipes for a chocolate cupcake with vanilla butter-cream and jelly drizzle," Long said, Charm City often sells out within two hours of baking. On some Saturdays, they even bake upwards of 2500 cupcakes. Charm City donates any leftovers to charity organizations located downtown, one of which is the Daily Bread.
Recently, as a departure from the usual corporate catering, children's birthdays and "cupcake weddings," the bakery catered a "Baby Unveiling."
"This lady was pregnant, and she and her husband were going to do an unveiling party of what the baby's sex was," Long explained. "The only two people that knew the sex of their baby before they did was the doctor and me. That was awesome. So we created a little cupcake so when they bit into it, they would bite into blue chocolate mousse, and they could tell it was a little boy."
Charm City Cupcakes will soon unveil its spring collection, which includes eight new cupcake varieties kept secret until May.
Charm City's classy locale, massive menu and dedication to baking innovation beg the question: What inspired this reinvention of the cupcake?
"Our mission statement is to bake fresh everyday and become sort of the 'International House of Cupcakes,'" Long said. "We're working on a great international menu. I want to be the best."
