Dear Concerned Cupcake Community, Sweets Bakeshop is Staying Put

In mid-July, ' head baker Krista Steinbach announced she was leaving, but that it would be business as usual in the St. Paul and Tangletown stores.

Sugarhounds throughout the region held their breath. Would it be like Cake Eater Bakery, which folded July 10, 2011, just six months after its cupcake queen left?

According to Amanda Underwood, who helps with the retail and marketing end of Sweets, there's no need to panic. The same bakers (save for Steinbach) and recipes are in place and they are not changing the focus.

"It's still going to be cupcakes — that's going to be our main thing and the French macarons. We may add a few other things but we haven't made any decisions about that at this point," said Underwood.

Ly Lo, decorator extraordinaire, is now the sole owner of the two stores and the related catering business. She recently had a free cupcake tasting for the public on August 13 to invite them into the Nicollet Avenue store and try out some new flavors.

Neighbors streamed in to try potential flavors like chocolate Surly, lemon meringue, and mini donut and rated them on ballots as they sipped at homemade sodas.

It's all in preparation for a few changes to the menu that are meant to make things less complicated for those eating and ordering — all of which were under discussion even before the head baker departed.

"There were a lot of things we'd been meaning to play around with about this shop and it's just kind of the right time to make a little change," said Underwood.

Does this mean your old favorites will be stricken from Sweet's menu? Underwood assured me that even the few kinds that will be "retired" will always be available if ordered ahead of time.

And rest assured, the salted caramel, one of their most popular, is here to stay. They plan on having 12 cupcake varieties available each day once they switch to the new format — 9 evergreen and 3 seasonal. They are also adding macaron flavors, which may include vanilla bean, lemon raspberry or lavender chocolate.

Though not set in stone, they hope to announce the changes in early September. As well, they may change the decor of the Minneapolis location, as they learn whether customers prefer to linger or simply use the place as a take-out site.

Survival of the Sweets-est

While Underwood conveyed that the company is doing just fine, the neighborhood still wonders if the store has what it takes to survive in these tough economic times.

Food blogger and columnist for City Pages, Lavender and CBS Local Joy Summers hopes that Sweets thrives, as she, "likes their cupcakes best of those I've sampled in the cities."

Noting that she's seen Lo's husband working the counter, she knows that it is a labor of love, as was Cake Eater. However, she pointed out the main difference between the two establishments.

"Sweets is more about refinement and have established themselves doing special occasions in addition to the cupcakes and macaroons," she explained.

The catering and wholesale sides of Sweets may be the secret to their success. In addition to weddings and events, they provide cupcakes to the Modern, Brasa in Minneapolis, and Groundswell Coffee.

"They also have been savvy when capitalizing on events - they made special cupcakes for Lady Gaga when she was in town and there were the HMS Pinafore cupcakes that were featured in Lavender's cover shoot highlighting the play," Summers added.

Also, the bakery seems to have an effective social media presence. A father from Cottage Grove brought in a group of teenage girls en route to Valley Fair, after finding the August 13 cupcake event online. Other guests at the tasting told me that Facebook and Twitter were their source for all things Sweets.

These are good signs, cupcake comrades, that Sweets is here to stay in Southwest Minneapolis. However, the best way to insure that Ly Lo keeps her shop open in Tangletown is to buy her cupcakes, macarons and special occasion cakes.

But you knew that already, didn't you?

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- 4747 Nicollet Ave. S./612.208.0672