Kathy Riegelmann experiments with unusual flavor combinations at the new Katalina’s Bakery.
Fresh-baked vegan and gluten-free cupcakes have come to downtown New Haven. And cupcakes with wacky favors, such as lavender, and with unusual icing, like bubble gum. And whoopie pies. And vegan granola-ish bars and cookies.
Kathy Riegelmann, a former co-owner of Koffee?, has made a home for those treats at a new store on Whitney Avenue.
Katalina’s Bakery offers traditionally-flavored cupcakes, like vanilla and chocolate and red velvet with butter cream frosting, as well. Lots of them, with a rotating menu based on locally-sourced and seasonal ingredients.
Katalina’s Bakery opened on Nov. 4 at 74 Whitney Ave. with much fanfare from local officials. The store is bright and airy — designed for enjoying a sweet indulgence— more like an ice cream parlor than traditional bakery or coffeehouse.
Riegelmann had all but given up her dream of opening a cupcake shop in New Haven. New Haven already has a popular Cupcake Truck. Potential investors had thought the Cupcake Truck was too popular for a cupcake bakery to succeed.
Arguing that the desire for cupcakes, one of the hottest food trends of the last few years, has not yet peaked, Riegelmann found a backer for her shop. According to foodnetwork.com, which ranked the “the new cupcake” as the top dessert trend of 2001, “the cupcake has gone from fad to trend to icon… and the movement now is more around its evolution than its dissolution. Today we’re seeing cupcake fondue, un-iced versions, savory varieties, flaming cupcakes, and shapes that are fat, skinny and mini — even cupcakes on a stick.” It’s a trend that suits Riegelmann’s vision.
Vegans deserve treats, too.
Her work at Koffee? triggered Riegelmann to become interested in baking. She soon found a great passion — and talent — for making cupcakes. Riegelmann attended New York food shows to learn more about the art and new innovations in the baking industry, “At the time, cupcakes were in the process of being reinvented,” she said. “Bakers were experimenting with different flavors and textures, which sparked a cupcake frenzy throughout the country.” More recently, she said, she “learned to bake all of my cupcakes through cookbooks, online recipes, and donated techniques. I took this knowledge and made it my own. It takes a lot of practice to perfect a cupcake.”
In developing new recipes and determining the menu, Riegelmann relies on friends and employees to tell her what works. “Everyone has a favorite.” she said. “But I like to mix it up. So every day we make different cupcakes and experiment with textures and flavors.” A top seller is the red velvet cupcake, one of Riegelmann’s favorites as well.
Marcy and her son Jacob went for the vegan cupcake.
One recent day Marcy and her son Jacob scanned the cupcakes on display in his wheelchair and bought a vegan cupcake, which they called a “treat.” “We were walking by and saw the cupcake shop so decided to stop in,” Marcy said.
Ariela Martin is a student at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School.
Leave it to New Haven to embrace a trend now dead everywhere else. I give them 3 months, tops.