Cupcake Castle Makes Decorating A Royal Affair

When you hear the word "cupcake," a smile comes to your face right? Right?

That's Cupcake Castle owner Jean Covel's mission: to bring  smiles not only to children's faces, but to the whole family.

Stepping into the bakery, which will tentatively open on June 20, is like stepping into a castle. The walls are painted to look like stones, there's a huge wooden door and dainty tables and chairs.

Covel, who is the main chef, will bake gourmet cupcakes every day, and will also feature plain devil's food and white cupcakes for purchase. Parents can bring their children in at any time and put them to work decorating to their heart's content.

Covel also accepts party reservations.

"I've always loved to bake," Covel smiled. "I've baked with my kids and grandkids. It's a fun family thing and I saw a need for it in Ohio."

Covel, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, said all the cupcake establishments she's seen in the area aren't family based. She wanted to create a place where everyone in the family felt welcome and could participate.

"It's fun and you can involve everyone in it," Covel said. "I have a home bakery now, so I do showers and weddings and you get to create something really special. It's fun to see what a kid's idea of a cupcake is."

Cupcake Castle got it's name from the origin of cupcakes, Covel said. Cupcakes originated in Great Britain and used to be called Fairy Cakes because they were small. She tossed around using a name with "fairy" in it, but settled on Cupcake Castle because that's the name her daughter chose.

"I wanted something that would appeal to everyone," Covel said.

The price of Covel's cupcakes is $2.50 for a gourmet, decorated cupcake. The price of a child's cupcake is also $2.50 but they get unlimited access to decorating supplies.

A half dozen is $14 and a full dozen is $27. The cost of using the party room is $15 per child and that includes cupcakes, popcorn and cotton candy. However the price can change depending on how detailed a parent asks the party to be. Covel also wants to grow the operation to include home parties.

So what's Covel's favorite flavor cupcake?

"Chocolate kiss. It's devil's food cake, filled with fudge, chocolate butter cream frosting, drizzled with chocolate and a Hershey Kiss on top. I'm a chocolate freak and it's death by chocolate."