By Isabel Ovalle
Cupcakes have become very popular in Doha in the last couple of years. The explanation to their popularity mainly is, in the words of a baker, that “they’re as easy to make as a cake, you can choose your own flavour plus, with no trouble, you can take it anywhere.”
While many bake at home to enjoy with family or friends, some of the bakery business pros have also opened shops in Qatar. This is the case of New York’s Magnolia Bakery which inaugurated a store here last year and plans to open another one in 2014.
They sells over 300 cupcakes, which represent 30 percent of the sales. Magnolia’s history goes back 17 years and became particularly popular about six years ago. “Despite what people think, it was way before actress Sarah Jessica Parker featured us on her famous show,” said Bobbie Lloyd, Chief Baking Officer (CBO).
The founder of Magnolia started the bakery with the idea of selling the kind of deserts that mothers and grandmothers make. “It was open for a few years and, one day, there was little bit of leftover batter and she decided to make cupcakes. They were a phenomenon because Americans love cupcakes. They’re your own little private cake and they’re exclusive for you,” explained Lloyd.
During the last six to eight years the cupcake frenzy has grown exponentially. However, the number of these specialised businesses is starting to decrease. “Cupcakes are fun, there your own individual cake. At Magnolia we have around 20 different combinations of flavours, but when you combine it with the icing, the number could be infinity,” joked the baker.
At Magnolia, they import some products like sugar and flour from the US. “There’s a possibility we will also teach people ‘cupcake basics’ here like we do in US stores,” said the CBO.
On her part, Lindsay Walker, Head Baker at Red Velvet Cupcakery, established at Katara Cultural Village in 2011, added that “the cupcake trend reached Doha a couple of years ago, approximately when we opened the store.”
Even though the business revolves around cupcakes, they also serve coffee and milkshakes, with their bestselling product being the traditional Southern bell: the Red Velvet cupcake.
“We make between 300 and 400 cupcakes daily and we find all our ingredients in Qatar. Everything is freshly made and we have 11 different flavours,” said the baker.
Among local customers, one of the favourite tastes is the Carrot Cake, which has a lot of spices. Red Velvet Cupcakery offers cupcake decorating classes for kids and also caters for weddings and corporate events.
From the experts to the amateurs or beginners; in Doha many mothers and bakers at heart do it at home to share with the family.
For Silvia, a Spanish national, sweets in general and cupcakes in particular are a passion she shares with her daughter. “We often bake together, it’s something I did with my mother before as well, when we didn’t live so far away from each other,” she said.
“I also get together with a couple of friends once in a while to hold baking parties. We search the net for new recipes and try new ingredients whenever we can,” added the mother of one. “It’s a nice way to get together and chat,” she added.
Even though her cupcakes are “pretty good”, Silvia doesn’t consider selling them or doing it professionally; “I have a full time job,” she said. However, she shares photos of her work with friends on social networks and enjoys finding information online about new tricks and recipes.
