Having Her Cake

Something about cupcakes makes people feel young again.

"They turn into 5-year-olds," observes Colleen Bell, owner of Sticky Fingers Cupcakes. "People just go nuts."

Maybe it's the frosting, or the guilt-free serving size of a mini-cupcake. Or maybe it's the quirkiness of having a dessert named after a song, like Colleen's Key-lime-pie flavored Margaritaville or her mint-chocolate-chip So Fresh and So Clean.

Colleen, who graduated from Johnson & Wales in baking and pastry arts, started the company in January by selling online (www.myspace.com/stickyfingerscupcakes). She got plenty of help from friends and family, who were all too willing tasters as she developed recipes. They were a bit hit, and what Colleen thought would be a weekend business has expanded into a full-time job, with a new store inside Amate tea lounge.

As much as she enjoys making the pint-size desserts, Colleen seems to have just as much fun naming them, particularly since it allows her to blend her two loves: food and music.

Always experimenting with new flavors, she recently created the Latin-inspired alfajor cupcake. The name: Don't Cry for Me Argentina.

-NATALIA MALDONADO
PHOTO BY: LULU AND PETUNIA