SHARE

Wanaque Cupcake Confectionary Bakes In Smiles

ORADELL, N.J. — No one can be angry or upset when there's a cupcake around.

Julianne Start

Julianne Start

Photo Credit: Lorraine Ash
Yum

Yum

Photo Credit: Lorraine Ash

Just ask Wanaque's Julianne Start, the creative force behind the Mr. Cupcakes stores in Oradell and Chatham.

Start, who retired after a quarter-century in the restaurant and hospitality business, can speak from experience.

“For years I worked in a business where everybody was miserable all the time," she said. "Who could be miserable here?”

Start, who’s been working since she was 12, never expected that she'd circle back in her mid-40s to the type of job she had when she was a teenager working at Baskin-Robbins.

Now she spends her days creating and decorating confections with names such as “Peanut Butterful Chocolate,” “Viva La Leches,” and “Boston Cream Party.”

Cupcake baking is unique, Smart said. For one thing, she doesn’t have to report to work in the wee hours of the morning.

“It takes pretty much a whole day to make them," she said.

"The second day is the best day for the cupcake because it’s nice and chilled,” Start said.

“We bake every day. No preservatives," she added. "It’s a nice, fresh two-dollar cupcake instead of costing five dollars for a cupcake and weird concoctions.

"We keep it simple. I like that.”

People crave simple, individual creations -- it's what makes lava cakes and petit fours so popular, Start said.

Of the 38 flavors that Mr. Cupcakes offers, Start's favorite is the Cookie Jar Cupcake -- featuring yellow cake with Oreos and chocolate chip cookies baked right in.

“It’s like cookies and milk,” she said. “So good.”

to follow Daily Voice North Passaic and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE