EATS

THE SPORTS DOCTOR

Owner Kara Schnaidt has baked up something sweet with her cupcake store Kara Kakes, which cooks up one-of-a-kind confections every day.

Located in Franklin Lakes, Kara Kakes was opened in 2015 when Schnaidt was 20 years old. The storefront was a recently closed cupcake shop that was located in the same shopping center her mother had also had a storefront at for almost 30 years. To Schnaidt, it felt meant to be, she said. Her bakery is so much more than a cupcake shop.

“It’s a specialty boutique bakery; we specialize in cupcakes,” Schnaidt said. “Most of our business is cakes; we do a ton on the weekends. We do, on average, 75 cakes a week, and they’re all different – from a smash cake for a baby to a wedding cake. You can also come into the store every day during the week and our flavors change every day. We’ve had over 600 flavors since we’ve opened. We’re constantly changing things and making things better. You can also find other treats. We do cake pops and cookies; there’s no set menu so that keeps it fresh. It’s always a surprise, and you never know what you’re going to get, and I think that keeps customers coming back. And it’s a very clean, girly store. It’s every little girl’s dream. It’s the type of place that belongs in NYC – it’s very pretty and happy.” While this is her first storefront, Schnaidt truly began Kara Kakes at 15 years old when she started selling cupcakes to family and friends. She had always loved baking, and when things began to expand for her business, she enrolled in the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City in both culinary management and baking and pastry. A year and a half later, she officially opened Kara Kakes.

This bakery is more of a “cupcake experience” than a typical shop. For each cupcake, Schnaidt is constantly trying to outdo what she has created before and is constantly brainstorming unique cupcake creations. And for her, no cupcake is complete without a “wow topper,” which can include mini cheesecake slices, pies or even mini cupcakes to top a regular cupcake.

how much better I can do.” “Whatever you can make fit on top of a cupcake, and it’ll stay up standing, I do. My flavors always must have a good design,” she said. “When I see something do really well, it motivates me to think

Kara Kakes flavors shift every day, with six that rotate regularly and a flavor of the month that’s available on the weekends. A gluten-free flavor of the month is also available. The newest addition to the shop has been doughnuts, which are available Sunday mornings and are baked “as fresh as they can get.”

They are baked first thing that morning to ensure customers are receiving the freshest baked goods possible. And it is this freshness, in addition to their originality, that Schnaidt says sets Kara Kakes apart.

“We’re just different all around,” she said. “You can’t find what we offer anywhere else. Everything is baked super last minute and fresh, which is stressful, but we bake it all fresh. We don’t use preservatives, and everything is from scratch. Between the product and quality, we offer, it definitely makes us stand out.”

After almost 10 years of business, Schnaidt said the proudest moment for Kara Kakes took place on Mother’s Day of 2020. With COVID, Schnaidt had one other employee and they had only been taking preorders and had been walking out cake deliveries like a drive through, like many other businesses. For Mother’s Day, Schnaidt opened up preorders and received about 400 orders total. Even with dedicated pick-up times set up, the customer demand put the town in gridlock. “Even though it was so chaotic and I’m pretty sure I cried at one point, I will never forget that because it was like, ‘Wow, look at what I did,’” Schnaidt said. “I was so stressed, and I hadn’t slept in like 2 days, and someone yelled out from their car, ‘You got this; keep going!’ and even though it was such simple words it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, my hard work is being recognized right now.’ Everyone was cheering us on as if we were running a marathon. I couldn’t believe how many people showed up for my product. I will never forget that day. I was so tired at the end, but I couldn’t even sleep because it was like, ‘Look what I did.’ So that was probably the most amazing day of being in business for me.”

In addition to Kara Kakes, there is also The Kake Studio, located at the same address as the bakery. The Kake Studio hosts a variety of birthday parties for children and teens that gets the partygoers involved in the cupcake decorating process. Since it opened in 2017, the venue has held over 700 birthday parties.

“I’ve been fully booked on birthday parties for months now and just seeing the calendar fill up is so rewarding to see my business bounce back so much,” Schnaidt said. “It makes me thankful and grateful I was able to tough it out and hold the fort down while we had to wait it out [during COVID]. That was my second baby. It was a huge risk and I had opened it two years after opening my first business. And within the first two years, as with any business, you’re still making your money back that you put into it, so it was a long period where we didn’t see profit because we were paying back for the years of reopening and rebuilding and I put a kitchen expansion on, so it was tough for a while, and then COVID happened. So, for a while we didn’t get a break, and after seeing how our business has grown since the pandemic and seeing the studio make such a comeback, I feel so thankful.”

Moving forward, while Schnaidt would one day love to potentially open a second location, she is focusing her time into Kara Kakes as it is now.

“I want to continue to see where we’re moving now,” she said. “We’re continuing to grow every single day and I’m happy with that.”

More information on Kara Kakes can be found at www.kara-kakes.com.