Cupcake shop opens in former bakery
By Ken Abramczyk • Observer Staff Writer
February 5, 2009
Pam Turkin's marketing jobs required her to travel over the years.
And being a marketing person, she keeps her eyes open to her surroundings and to new ideas.
"I did a lot of traveling on my previous job, and I saw that cupcakes were trendy," Turkin said.
Turkin loves to cook and bake so she and her husband, Todd, started baking cupcakes. The demand for the Turkins' sweet little treats grew quickly and after just two years, they thought that if they wanted to start a business, they needed a larger kitchen.
In early January, the Farmington Hills couple opened Just Baked with Pam's mother, Adele Rosen, as a business partner in the former Burkhardt's Bakery at 33309 Seven Mile, just east of Farmington Road.
It started with family, then friends. "They would taste them and say, 'These are the best cupcakes I've ever had,'" Todd said.
Pam first tried new flavors on their five teenage children and their friends. "They're always hungry and they'd say, "We want a new cupcake,'" Pam said. The first one she developed was the S'more cupcake.
"I just kept making and creating cupcakes, and kept trying to do them better," Pam said. "I tried to hone my skills, and there were weekends where I would spend the whole time baking."
"She started coming up with different flavors," Todd said. "People started asking, 'Can you make some for my party?'"
"The demand started growing. We needed a kitchen to rent. We were not intending to open a retail store, but then we fell into this place."
Bob Burkhardt still owns the building. Todd said. "He spent decades here. He wanted people (here) who lovingly prepare food."
Todd unabashedly praises the cupcakes. "My wife has developed the recipes for the best cupcakes ever," Todd said.
And, well ... he might be right.
The Oreo cookie cupcake features a cookie crumb bottom with a devil's food cake topped with melted marshmallows, milk and semisweet chocolate and Oreo cookie crumbles.
The apple pie cupcake is highlighted by a shortbread bottom crust below an apple spice cake topped with fresh apples and a cinnamon crumble topping.
The business is a big change for Todd, the former chief of operations at a company that specializes in embroidered T-shirts. He said he worked for a "wonderful family" there until the company was sold. His wife works in marketing for a company that is a licensee for M & M products.
"We wanted to build something that's ours instead of working for someone else," Todd said.
Todd bakes the cupcakes and operates the store. His wife helps on weeknights and weekends and sometimes one or two of their five children help out, too, "(Pam) has to make sure the recipes are right," Todd said.
Regular buttercream cupcakes cost $1.50 each and the gourmet cupcakes are $2 each.
"We think the buttercream is excellent," Todd said. "And she also started to create toppings other than the buttercream."
To help celebrate Valentine's Day, Just Baked is creating a small chocolate cake baked inside a heart-shaped dish that can be used for candy once the cake is finished. The heart-shaped cake costs $9.95.
The store owners love the neighborhood. "The neighbors are so nice," Pam said. "They are so happy that someone is in business here. The kids come in here and press their faces on the glass."
The store also sells caramel corn at $3 a bag and granola at $4 a bag. Scones and brownies are also on the menu. But the store is all about cupcakes.
"How can you have a bad day when you have cupcakes?" Pam asks rhetorically.