Ericka Frank has icing in her blood.
That's not to say she's frosty - she just has a knack with frosting.
She started baking when she was 12 years old. She made her first wedding cake when she was 14. She started baking for friends and friends of friends using other people's kitchens and church kitchens.
In March 2005, Frank, 34, of Dogtown, opened the Cakery at 1420 Tamm Ave. Earlier this year she took on a business partner, Nicole Panepinto, 35, of Webster Groves, and they opened the Cupcakery at 28 Maryland Plaza in the Central West End.
"It had truly been my dream since I was very young," Frank said. "I had to decide (before opening the Cakery) did I want to go full force into this or do a desk job. The business had gotten so large that I had to find a commercial space."
Frank envisioned her shop would do mostly decorated cakes and cookies with an emphasis on wedding cakes, but she noticed cupcakes' increase in popularity over the past few years. The people that run the development company for Maryland Plaza sampled her cupcakes and approached her about opening a second location that would specialize in cupcakes.
She stops short of calling her cupcakes gourmet. She calls them something between homemade and gourmet.
"They are like the ones you've always wanted to make at home," Frank said. "They are not super fancy, but they are delicious. Everything is always made from scratch. We don't use shortening. We use pure vanilla extract. It's a very comfortable cupcake."
Panepinto was living in Atlanta for her job with a commercial insurance firm, when Frank asked her to move back to St. Louis and be her business partner. Panepinto liked the firm, but it wasn't a hard decision to return to St. Louis.
"I was a very committed customer before I became a partner," she said. "I was excited to be a part of something I believed in."
Before the Cupcakery opened on July 3, they provided cupcakes for an event called Central West End Art Fair and Taste. Panepinto said the business cultivated its first regular customers with the event and word of mouth has created a buzz. There are some times of the day when a line of customers stretches out the door.
While the Cakery specializes in orders and not walk-up business, Frank said it has also been busy. During the wedding season, which runs spring through fall, cake orders often must be made three weeks in advance. Frank has considered expanding the space at the Dogtown location.
Frank moved 12 years ago from Memphis to St. Louis to do an internship at Saint Louis University. She is a registered dietician.
Cupcakes might not be a recommended part of someone's diet, but Frank advises people can eat them.
"Everything in moderation," she said. "Who can live without cupcakes? Certainly not me."
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