Cupcakery uses power tools on delicate dessert

CHESAPEAKE

At Carolina Cupcakery, the kitchen is stocked with all of the baking essentials - cake pans, fresh ingredients and of course, power drills.

No, really... power drills.

"Our trademark is our drills," owner Dawn Eskins said.

Using natural ingredients is very important to the bakers at Carolina Cupcakery. Butter, however, gets very hard when refrigerated.

After burning up several hand mixers, Eskins decided it was time to get serious, so she bought a power drill.

Eskins attached her beater to the drill handle and turned her raw ingredients to batter in record speed. The rest is cupcake history.

"Using an actual mixer, it's almost like it's outdated," said Kylie Hulett, a two-year employee of the shop. S he would likely buy a power drill before an "old-fashioned" hand mixer for her own kitchen.

The novelty certainly toughens up the bakery's image. They've even started selling T-shirts that read "Real Men Eat Cupcakes."

Carolina Cupcakery, 237 Carmichael Way in the Edinburgh Commons Shopping Center, is also an innovator in terms of flavors. The 155 cupcake flavors range from the traditional Vanilla Bean or Red Velvet to the more exotic Fuzzy Navel and French Toast Fanatic.

Their "spiked" cupcakes, in fact, earned the bakery a mention in Modern Bride Magazine earlier this year.

Because they do not use preservatives, Eskins explained, the bakers think up every way possible to extend the shelf life of their product. Alcohol, it turns out, does the trick while adding a risqué flair to the treat.

When the bakery first opened, Eskins was surprised at the amount of business she gets from customers on special diets. Carolina Cupcakes caters to those with allergies to foods like nuts, gluten or milk products.

Some clients, she said, have never been able to provide a birthday cake for their child with extreme allergies. Often, Carolina Cupcakery is able to modify its recipes to make the child's birthday a special one.

"That's what's really rewarding to us," Eskins said.

Carolina Cupcakery is gaining fame around Hampton Roads and beyond. In addition to being featured in Modern Bride, the bakery donated more than 3,000 cupcakes to workers on the hit TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition last year when they visited Jamesville, N.C.

Last November, the TLC Network began speaking with Eskins about the possibility of hosting their new "Cake Boss" spinoff about cupcake decorating. The contract ultimately went to Georgetown Cupcakes in Washington, D.C.

But it's not over yet. In the spring, Eskins was contacted by the Food Network about appearing in the second season of the reality show "Cupcake Wars." The final decision on her appearance has not been made.

Carolina Cupcakery also has a cupcake counter at Five Points Farm Market in Norfolk. Or sugar addicts on vacation may swing into their Outer Banks location in at the Village Cork and Bean in Kitty Hawk.

Just don't ask for a calorie count; even the bakers don't want to know what they are eating.

Samantha Koon, (757) 222-5217, samantha.koon@pilotonline.com