Every year, Americans reportedly eat more than 770 million cupcakes. That comes out to be about 2.2 cupcakes for every person, which makes sense when you consider the many millions of cupcakes people cut into “just for another bite” before leaving the rest for someone else to cut into.
While the cupcake might feel like it was a creation of the 1980s and 1990s — an era when quick and convenient bites were all the rage — the pint-sized pastries were actually invented (or at least popularized) by author and cook Amelia Simmons way back in 1796. Simmons wrote “American Cookery,” which is notable for being the first cookbook ever written by an American. (That’s actually the shortened version of the title. The full title was the mouthful “American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.” Of note, however, the word “cakes” was the most prominent on the cover).
Like most baked goods, the recipe — titled simply, “A light cake to bake in small cups” — called for sugar, butter and flour, along with a glass of wine (no mention of what type, although Madeira was quite popular in that era), nutmeg, cinnamon and currants. One can imagine Simmons’ cupcakes looking quite plain — it was the 18th century, after all — but it certainly was a good enough recipe to inspire a dessert that is still popular today. One thing is for certain: it probably didn’t look anything like the colorful confections made by Stephanie McIntosh of Mountain Mamas Cupcakery in Coram.
McIntosh has been wowing friends and customers with all sorts of baked goods that look as good as they taste. And while some might believe a cupcake is too small of a pastry to be intricately decorated, McIntosh proves that even the tiniest pastry can look amazing — whether they’re decorated with a mountain vista or a funny face. Flathead Living caught up with McIntosh to learn about what exactly a “cupcakery” is, her favorite dessert and the challenges of baking on an old homestead on the edge of Glacier National Park. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
FLATHEAD LIVING: So, what got you into baking?
STEPHANIE MCINTOSH: I grew up north of Toronto and I went to an arts high school. I took a lot of architecture and design classes because, at the time, that was what I thought I wanted to do. I also took a cooking class just to fulfill a course requirement. But I just fell in love with cooking. It was always easy and fun for me, and there was a lot of comradery among those in the class. I just loved it. After high school, I briefly went to nursing school and, after a year, decided that was not for me, so I went to culinary school. I went to Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. I did that for two years, and after that, I worked at an Italian bistro. But by the end of the summer, everyone else there had quit, and I was running everything. I was making all the coffee, I was doing everything in the kitchen, I was making pasta, making cannolis and working the deli. It was a hot mess.
After that, I was offered a job at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park in 2012. When I got there, they had this sort of bake-off among all of us who had been hired and I was the only one who could make a scone. They said, “Well, you’re the pastry chef.” I was there for three years.
FL: When you were in culinary school, did you want to focus on baking?
SM: I really enjoyed baking, but most of my classes were focused on cooking in general and managing a kitchen. But I excelled at baking.
FL: What’s a day in the life of being a pastry chef at the Prince of Wales Hotel?
SM: The hotel is up on a bluff, and all the staff live in the town below. So we would walk up to hill to work every day. My morning would start by making scones and all the desserts and finger sandwiches for the afternoon high tea. Then, I would spend the rest of the day making desserts for the restaurant. We made a lot of desserts with Saskatoon berries, which are very popular up there. They’re kind of like that area’s huckleberry.
FL: What brought you to the Flathead Valley?
SM: I met my now-husband within a few days of arriving at the Prince of Wales Hotel, and he was from here. Once we started dating, I got a job at the Park Place Lodge in Fernie, B.C., during the winter so I could be a little closer to the border. All the border-crossing guards knew me after a while. Eventually, he proposed and we filed all the paperwork for me to move down here to an off-the-grid homestead in Coram. We had no electricity. We had two solar panels and we could charge our laptops and our cell phones. We could have lights, but only when it was sunny enough to power the panels. If there was no sun, we didn’t have a lot of light, especially in winter. We eventually got electricity, though.
FL: So what made you decide to open up a cupcakery? Did I pronounce that right?
SM: It’s a made-up word. I made it up [laughing].
FL: It is?!
SM: Yeah, I wanted to make cupcakes and I thought “cupcakery” had a nice ring to it instead of just calling it a bakery.
I was working at Backslope Brewing when we had our first daughter and I hated leaving her to go to work. I wanted to be home more. Then, when she turned one, I made her a smash cake for her birthday and I realized that I hadn’t baked in so long and I remembered how much I loved it. So I started dabbling in baking again, and then I just got obsessed. I started baking cakes for friends, I started telling people at the brewery. I just really put myself out there and started baking a lot. I also started working with wedding photographers and making elopement cakes for people who are getting married in Glacier National Park. Getting involved with weddings was a big help for my business, especially on social media. Every year, it’s just grown and grown.
FL: What are the challenges of running a bakery on a homestead? I assume you have to stock up on a lot of supplies, and it’s not easy to run into town every time you need a cup of sugar.
SM: I do a monthly Costco trip, and that is always expensive because I buy tons of sugar, butter and flour. And I have to drive a lot because I live in a pretty remote spot, so sometimes it’s just a lot easier to drive people’s cakes right to them.
FL: What’s the strangest request you have ever gotten?
SM: I’ve gotten some interesting cake requests for bachelor and bachelorette parties and I usually don’t share photos of those ones on my Instagram [laughing]. I also have to make sure that I work on those after my kids have gone to bed. So those are kind of weird.
FL: If you were making your own birthday cake, what flavor would it be?
SM: Honestly, I’m kind of tired of cake [laughing]. But I think if I had to pick, I’d probably do an espresso cheesecake or something like that. But honestly, I can’t even eat cake now. Sometimes, I have my kids do quality control and have them taste it to see if it’s good or not.
FL: What’s best for most events: Cakes or cupcakes?
SM: It all depends. For a kid’s birthday, I highly recommend cupcakes. They’re easy, cleaner, everyone gets one, and you don’t have to cut anything. Honestly, even for weddings, I recommend making a small cutting cake for the couple and then cupcakes for everyone else because then you don’t have to cut this giant cake.
Also, cupcakes are so much fun, and you can do so much with them design-wise. You can do some amazingly detailed things with frosting, and there’s a wow factor involved. I love it when people see my cupcakes and go, “Oh my god, this is amazing; it’s too pretty to eat!” I just love that.
FL: What’s the process of frosting some of your more elaborate scenes, like the mountain-scapes?
SM: Most of my cakes are three-tiered, and I always freeze them for 10 to 20 minutes to help solidify them so I have a solid surface to work on. Then, I put on the crumb coat, which keeps everything sealed. After that, I start doing my designs. I usually have a bunch of little mixing bowls, or I use a painter’s palette, and I use little palette knives to mix different colors just like you would acrylics.
FL: How did you master the mountain-scapes?
SM: A lot of trial and error and a lot of late nights. Sometimes, I’d hate what I made, so I would just scrape it all off and start over. Thankfully, you can fix anything with buttercream. You can scrape off your mistakes and re-crumb coat it, re-freeze it and start again. And I did that so many times in the beginning. I’m not a perfectionist, but when it comes to cakes it has to look like what I was thinking in my brain.
FL: Have you ever made something you were so proud of that you didn’t want someone to eat it?
SM: Never. It’s meant to be eaten.
FL: What do you see in the future for the business?
SM: Working out of my house with two kids and a husband is tough. There is not enough space, and it’s tough to work and then have to put everything away to make dinner for the family. So, I’d love to have my own workspace. Then, I could also have a place where people could pick up cakes.
For more information, visit mountainmamacupcakery.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook at @mountainmamascupcakery.