Art and Success: Having Her Cupcake and Eating It, Too

“I’m a food artist, I’m all about unique expressions and food is one of the lesser known expressions of art,” said founder of “Hey! Cupcake Girl,” Nicole Emmons.

Emmons is a freshman at Hudson Valley and is a Graphic Design and Fine Arts major. She started her cupcake business as a senior at Albany High School.

The peak of her business so far was an appearance on News Channel 13 on Jan. 12, when she introduced her Winter Polar Bear Cupcakes.

“I thought I was going to be nervous, but it turned out better than I thought it would,” Emmons said.

Emmons has always had an interest in art and being creative. However, she never had any cooking experience prior to baking cupcakes.

“I have never cooked before this. I’m actually a terrible cook,” said Emmons. “I’m an artist and the cupcakes are an easy way to show art.”

“Baking is relaxing and fun and you can be creative and you can really taste your imagination,” Emmons said.

Emmons expresses her imagination with a variety of creative cupcakes. The most popular among her customers is the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake.

“There is a jelly filling and I frost it with a peanut butter-butter cream frosting with a dab of jelly on top. A lot of people like those,” Emmons said.

The base for her business includes five flavors: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, red velvet, and rainbow cake. But for Emmons, making the cake is the easy part.

“Some of them are very elaborate. Sometimes it takes me 10 minutes per cupcake,” said Emmons.

Why does it take so long? Emmons’s cupcakes are not just cupcakes with frosting. Her creative use of ingredients is what really takes the cake.

“I’ve used gumdrops, donut holes, coconut, pretzel sticks, graham crackers, sugar glass, I do some that have high heels on them with cookies, I’ve used just about everything,” Emmons said.

Patience is another key in the quest to create a perfect cupcake.

“If it’s not what I envisioned in my head or something that is quality, I don’t bring [it] out to the public,” said Emmons.

“Hey! Cupcake Girl” used to do service with a small café in Rotterdam Square Mall, but now her business goes through social media.

“I have a Facebook page where people place their orders and message me,” Emmons said.

Social networking has helped Emmons with her business, but she refers to it as something different.

“It’s not so much of a business as it is an art project,” she said.

Emmons hopes this “art project” will make her what her cupcakes are – rich. “Eventually I would want to open up my own store and the real goal would be to end up on the Food Network. That’s the dream,” said Emmons.

However, if Emmons were to ever make it big, she aspires to give a lot of it back in honor of her grandfather who passed away in October. “I love volunteering and donating my time. A lot of the money I make, I’d love to donate to cancer research and other things,” she said.

Emmons will have another segment on News Channel 13 in March, showcasing another creative cupcake creation.