Who doesn’t love a tasty cupcake?
In Boston we have more than enough options of where to find a single serving delight, but only a few rise above the rest to really provide us with delicious and creative cupcakes. One such of these recently made headlines in the national scene when the shop was showcased in the first segment of the first episode of The Food Network’s newest show, Kid in a Candy Store.
We are talking about Kickass Cupcakes, located in the Davis Square area of Somerville, MA, just outside the city limits. Owner Sara Ross has combined her exemplary baking skills with her love of cupcakes and creative prowess to come up with some unique combinations.
My personal favorites are the Cookie Dough cupcake which has a gooey cookie dough center, and the Green Monster- a tribute to our beloved Red Sox with a beer ganache center and a green beer chocolate frosting.
I recently sat down with Ross to talk about her business.
FC: When did you first become interested in baking?
SR: My family has always been big on sweets and baking but not on cooking... Kraft mac and cheese and homemade meatloaf was as fancy as it got. Some of my earliest memories are baking with mom, mixing up chocolate chip cookies-- and eating lots of cookie dough-- and helping out with my favorite birthday cake, angel food covered with chocolate whipped cream.. and licking the beaters of course.
FC: Best story from your childhood about your baking prowess?
SR: I loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries, and there actually was a Nancy Drew cookbook. I had a rather unfortunate experience trying out the fortune cookie recipe in it. I was a kid, but I knew they turned out terribly... triangle-ish shaped doughy blobs, not the thin crispy cookies we are all familiar with. But I insisted everyone try them. My Auntie was a real trooper and to this day still says they were the best fortune cookies she’s ever tasted.
FC: When did you decide you baking to be your profession?
SR: It was a midlife career change…I tried a lot of other things out. Not a bad thing in retrospect!
FC: Where did you study?
SR: I went to culinary school at the Southern California School of Culinary Arts but I really learned most of what I know from working with great chefs. I was fortunate enough to work with Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel of Campanile and La Brea Bakery, and Suzanne Goin of Lucques. Suzanne gave me my first shot at being a pastry chef.
FC: Why did you leave Sunny CA?
SR: My husband and I moved to Boston because we were tired of the West Coast... all that beautiful weather is so annoying! Seriously though, we wanted a change and more of the city life. When we moved here, there were no cupcake bakeries and I wanted to open my own business. After a few years here and getting to know the city there still were no cupcake bakeries and I was ready to open up my own business, so I went for it.
FC: What is your favorite Cupcake to make?
SR: Any cupcake that is a new flavor... coming up with new ideas and flavors for cupcakes is my favorite part of owning a cupcake bakery.
FC: What is your favorite type to chow down on?
SR: I’m so fickle... my classic go to is vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream icing and this is what I’ll always order at other cupcake bakeries to try-- but right now I am in love with our Key Lime cupcake. It’s a buttery graham crumb cake filled with key lime curd and it’s topped with meringue. Oh meringue, meringue meringue... I love you and I want to marry you! Corny I know but I really said that to my staff!
FC: There is a lot of buzz about the deep fried cupcake- how did you get the idea for that?
SR: When you name your bakery “Kickass” you better have some pretty kickass cupcakes to go with it. I wanted to make sure my bakery lived up to its name and that meant getting creative with the menu. I’d heard of lots of foods being deep fried, but never a cupcake and I thought if you could deep fry a Twinkie, a cupcake would be 100 times more delicious, especially when topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and ice cream.
FC: Where do you find inspiration?
SR: I read cookbooks, watch food shows, love to travel and go to restaurants and trade shows, keep track of what’s hot and what’s not, combine that with a variety of great experiences working for talented chefs and companies, stir it all up, throw in some cool ingredients and out come the ideas, seemingly from nowhere, but not really... the cosmic unconsciousness of cupcakes!
FC: Why should people, even out of towners, choose Kickass over the other cupcake bakeries around?
SR: Yoiks, you put me on the spot here... but I really believe it and so do all of my employees, because we are the best of course! And, we are the most unique cupcake bakery you’ll ever visit!
FC: What is upcoming at Kickass that I can tell the readers of Dine and Cook about?
SR: We just started selling gelato and sorbet by the scoop in our Dairy Bar by Giovanna Gelato. It’s a local company and the owner/gelato Eduardo Kreindel maker is a kindred spirit…we both have the same priorities when it comes to crafting artisanally and using quality all natural ingredients, being creative and throwing ourselves 100 percent into our businesses. On the menu, we have the Kick-a-lato…it’s a chocolate or vanilla cupcake, a scoop of gelato and a shot o’ frosting. The ultimate cupcake and gelato treat! The most exciting news is that we are having a food truck custom built…the Kickass Cupcakes-a-go-go Mobile so we can take our cupcakes on the road. This debuts this fall.
FC: Any plans for another location?
SR: We’ll be everywhere with our cupcake truck... taking requests starting now!
Kickass Cupcakes is located at 378 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA.
Fiona Coxe lives in Boston, you can read more of her writing at A Boston Food Diary.
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