Article and Photography by John Morin | Owl Staff
Chocolate-filled Macaroon. Red Velvet. Raspberry Cream Brulee.
Mouth watering yet?
These are just a few of the delicious cupcake varieties that have made Flavor Cupcakery in Bel Air the go-to bakery when you’re in the mood to indulge your sweet tooth or cater an event.
“I always wanted a shop of some sort, to be around pretty things,” Shelley Stannard explains. “And, as a mother in the community, I realized we didn’t have a high-end baked good. So, I kind of put those two things together and at that point I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is something I have to do!’”
Jason Hisley, a certified pastry culinarian working in Baltimore, heard about the opening in his hometown and decided to check it out himself.
“When I tried the product, I knew it was a really, really amazing cupcake,” Hisley says. “These were trained pastry chefs, not just home bakers who wanted to profit off of a cupcake craze. This was a place that was going to stay around.”
Together they made a dynamic team, and it wasn’t long before the Food Network called about recruiting them for Cupcake Wars. As part of the process, they were required to create an audition video and sought help from two HCC film students, Everett Glovier and Zach Myers.
“They were awesome!” Stannard gushes. “They came over and helped pull the video together which was great…We would have floundered.”
For this particular Cupcake Wars episode, contestants had to battle it out in three rounds, mixing together ingredients and embellishments to capture the whimsy of the New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker.
“These were trained pastry chefs, not just home bakers who wanted to profit off of a cupcake craze. This was a place that was going to stay around.”
Hisley and Stannard triumphed in the final round, baking and decorating one thousand cupcakes for the opening of the Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center in New York. Since being crowned Season 4 Winners, business has been booming and the two have become something of local celebrities. “It’s true,” Hisley laughs. “I get stopped sometimes at stores, sign autotographs, or take pictures with kids and stuff. But it’s cool. It’s really great when someone from your local community goes and does something and then brings that back to the community.”
And Flavor Cupcakery doesn’t appear to be losing any momentum either. On April 12, Hisley made yet another televised appearance, this time on Sweet Genius. Although he didn’t win, he was one of the last two remaining contestants. They also opened a second location in Cockeysville on April 17.
“We get calls from far and wide, people saying, “Oh my gosh, we have nothing like this where I live. Will you come to my area?’” Stannard says. “We’re like, ‘Yeah, of course we want to come help you out!’”