Raleigh’s first (!) cupcake shop/boutique bakery celebrates a milestone birthday.
Want a piece of this? Sara Fitzpatrick has proven you can (literally) have your cake and eat it too, as her treasured The Cupcake Shoppe celebrates its 16th anny this year. After spending ~seven years in the corporate world, Fitzpatrick felt a lack of fulfillment in her career—and craving creativity/passion in her profession, she began tapping into the possibility of a sweeter gig.
“At the time, I was living in Florida and felt very interested in Raleigh,” says Fitzpatrick. “I wanted to get back to my home state and bring something to the area that seemed to be lacking. It was a combination of a love of beautiful sweets and wanting to start something of my own.”
And she truly baked her business up from scratch. After compiling a business plan, testing recipes, doing research on the DTR sector and drawing inspiration from bakeries in other cities, Fitzpatrick stumbled upon her storefront during a visit home one Thanksgiving.
“I discovered this space with its really big windows,” recalls Fitzpatrick. “The appeal for me was the idea of the neighborhood bakery. I wanted a quaint cozy cafe where people could come enjoy a pastry with a cup of coffee—but could also serve what I felt was an untapped market: the custom cake and specialty dessert niche.”
Before transforming into the cake concept it is today, the Glenwood South digs housed an old furniture refinishing warehouse, The Highsmith Interior Building. “The space was not anything you see today,” explains Fitzpatrick. “We had to transform it from the dirt up. When we saw the space, I knew I was ready to take the leap—and that was the spark that ignited the fire for me to jump in.”
To boot, building and maintaining a small biz is no piece of cake. Fitzpatrick attributes passion, commitment and community support to her sweet spot’s success over the shop’s 16-year tenure. “The biggest thing is, you have to be in it for the long haul,” she says. “Some years are easier than others… and there’s no handbook.”
So what makes Raleigh’s first custom cake shop so sweet? “We bake fresh every morning,” Fitzpatrick maintains. “The motto behind the product is you eat with your eyes, but it also has to taste really, really great.”
“Since we are a small-batch bakery, another special joy for us is that we are able to take requests from customers—and they bring us great ideas,” adds Arlen Mabe, the shop’s front-of-house manager. To add icing to the cake, the menu stays up-to-date with fresh dessert selects (in addition to its always available list of fan faves!).
To signify its sweet 16, the shop is debuting a special menu next month (from July 27–29), feat. fun flavors and added flair. Think: funfetti blondies, sprinkle cookies, sparkle lemonade (made with edible glitter!), and double chocolate brownies topped with giant swirls of frosting and fun sprinkles, to name but a few.
Cake connoisseurs can also keep an eye on Instagram throughout the week leading up to the big day for throwback pics and trivia Qs (winners score gift cards!)—plus, swing by the store July 27 to see a chalk mural by Peak City Chalk outside the shop and a selfie station/balloons inside.
“We are so proud to be able to tell people we’ve been open for 16 years,” says Mabe. “We sometimes feel like an unassuming storefront—but we stay true to what we do and I’m glad to see that it keeps drawing people in.” Cheers to many more years of sweetness! thecupcakeshopperaleigh.com
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