Gourmet Cupcake Bakery Opens In New City

“Caked Up” opened its doors on Saturday and about 150 people showed up for the grand opening.  Owner Denise Byrnes said the response was totally unexpected and a great way to start out her new business. 

The lifelong New City resident said she has been baking specialty cakes for about 20 years and decided when requests for cakes came from more than family members and friends, and the popularity of cake shows on television escalated, it was time for her to expand.

Now she bakes in a pink and white themed shop at 40 South Main Street in New City. 

“I get great joy from baking,” she said.

Caked Up offers a variety of gourmet cupcakes daily. Byrnes said she bakes 20 different types and plans to select a new cupcake assortment each day such as Coffeecake, Milky Way, Red Velvet, Apple Cobbler and Lemon Drop. There will be seasonal choices like pumpkin and apple and candy themed ones including Mallomars and Snickers and breakfast cupcakes such as coffee cake and French Toast made with egg whites. 

Her specialty cakes demonstrate her art background and experience working in a French Patisserie in New York City. Byrnes graduated from FIT and always liked to draw.  Her creations include cakes with fondant, Italian meringue, or buttercream icing designed to resemble a unicorn, wine bottle, pink poodle and penguins playing Frisbee and wearing graduation caps. 

You’re making a sculpture out of a cake,” she said. 

Byrnes, 49, said the designs for custom cakes come from photos customers provide or ideas they have. The price is based on the size of the cake and intricacy of detail but she emphasized she tries to keep the price of the often elaborate cakes affordable. In fact, Byrnes thinks that is why she is attracting customers from the Bronx and Manhattan. 

Cupcakes sell for $2.75 each or a dozen assorted mini cupcakes for $15.   Caked Up also offers a variety of coffees and cold beverages. 

Byrnes said she expects to open Caked Up seven days a week 9 a.m. till 6 or 7 p.m. She was not expecting to open on Sundays but was baking a wedding cake and people were coming in.  She decided if she is baking then the shop will open. Her son, George, and one other employee, Colleen Salgado, are currently working with her. 

“George, Colleen and I do all the baking and decorating,” she said.

She wants to get involved with New City events and open up the bakery for various programs. 

“We want to get into the community and have fun with it,” she said.

Her ideas include holding Halloween baking parties for kids, ladies night out, and 3 p.m. cupcake runs for offices. Take a look at some more of Caked Up’s creations at https://www.facebook.com/Cakedupcafe or www.cakeupcafe.com.