On Monday 11/24 we went to the Irvine Spectrum with three tasks to attend to. 

1. Have lunch (we went to the new Veggie Grill which also had a grand opening)

2. Visit Sur La Table (they had a grand opening on Friday, 11/14)

3. Decorate some cupcakes at the new SweetSpot Baker’s Workshop 

The SweetSpot Baker’s Workshop (SSBW) had their Grand Opening on Monday, November 24th in the Irvine Spectrum! The day before they had a soft launch for family and friends and everyone was excited. 

SSBW was an idea that partner Chris Brown and friends Will Warne and Janette Chabria. They came up with the idea at a family gathering and the three of them were reminiscing about baking with their grandmothers. For the three of them, it was a memory that has stayed with them to adulthood. Chris Brown said “We wanted to replicate this experience for people like ourselves who are very much interested in creating memories and strengthening families in these increasingly impersonal times.“ So 2 years ago, the seed was planted and they have come together to bring you the baker’s workshop.

SweetSpot is located in the space that was formerly occupied by Sweet Lorraine’s Cupcake Shop near the Ferris Wheel. The shop is bright and airy and the staff was happy and greeted you with a smile. You can smell the cupcakes in the air and the store had a group of kids waiting to decorate their cupcakes. As you enter you are greeted by the “bakers” and a glass case full of pre-decorated cupcakes that you can purchase for $3.25. But we were there to decorate our own cupcakes! There are three cupcake flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate and Red Velvet.

Tim and I ordered 1 cupcake each. He had Chocolate and I tried to order a Red Velvet, but they were in the oven and would need time to cool down - so I opted for the vanilla cake. You have several different icings you can use: vanilla, chocolate and about 4-5 other “neon” colors. You also get access to a wide array of toppings to go on top of your icing. All the same things you can think of in a yogurt bar: sprinkles, confetti, coconut, m&m’s, gummy bears, wafers, the list goes on. Finally you get a wooden icing spatula (tongue depressor).

We started our decorating spree! Tim opted for the “yellow” icing with his chocolate cupcake while I did chocolate for my vanilla cupcake.  While I was taking pictures of the new place, the red velvet cupcakes had just finished cooling and they gave me one of those to decorate as well (thank you).

For a child, this place is fun. You get to pile on as much icing as you want and then add as much topping as you’d like. The topping choices aren’t too my liking as an adult, but for a kid, it’s awesome! The fun part is getting to eat eat your creation when you are done making it!

I think it would be fun if they had a lowcost polaroid or even get a photoprinter and camera and take pictures of the kids’ creations and put them on the wall or something. Everychild is an artist and would get a kick of seeing their cupcake and them on the wall.

The adult side of me wished they had more options for decorating. I’d like to be able to pipe things on top and use different icing colors. To get even more sophisticated, maybe some precut shapes of rolled fondant as opposed to the candy gallery of toppings. As for the icing, maybe not so neon and more options like cream cheese icing. Just some thoughts.

Of the three cupcake flavors, the best was the chocolate. It was moist and airy. I like it like that. Unfortunately, the vanilla was a bit dense and lacked any real vanilla flavor. It’s their first day, so they may be still be refining their master batter. Sadly, we come to the Red Velvet cupcake. This cake was the least authentic. There was no hint of chocolate in the batter. Usually you add some cocoa powder to your batter along with the red food coloring. As for moistness, it was moist, but it was just out of the oven and still “warm” so it crumbled to the touch. I have a fondness for red velvet and maybe I will return in a few weeks to try the red velvet again.

Because of the nature of what they offer, you can imagine that cleanup will always be a daunting task for the bakers at the SweetSpot. But as a family left with their decorated goodies, they cleaned up after them with a smile and big thank you and a come again.

I like the idea of the self decorating and it definitely sets them apart from Sprinkles and the other cupcake boutique shops that have been popping up in LA and The OC. The holiday shopping season and the traffic being close to the ice skate rink and ferris wheel will give them the foot traffic they need. It will be interesting to see if they can perfect the decorating process to be less wasteful on toppings (the size of the cups they give you for toppings lend you to want to fill it before you bring it to the table) and if they can offer additional icing and piping capabilities. They could expand to cake decorating as an add on and even cookies.  Me personally? I would offer cake and cake decorating classes in the store for groups of 6 for a true hands on experience on how to make, bake and decorate a cupcake!

Congrats SweetSpot on your Grand Opening and you’ll see me again soon!

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SweetSpot Baker’s Workshop
Irvine Spectrum near the Ferris Wheel
83 Fortune Drive #225
Irvine, CA 92618
949-754-9004
www.sweetspotbakersworkshop.com