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The cupcake explorer

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 11, 2009 - Stefani Pollack, a freelance writer and cupcake blogger, agrees to sit down and talk cupcakes. And we'll be sampling cupcakes, she e-mails. "Are there any flavors that you don't like?"

"I love all flavors and all foods," I reply. "Except mushrooms. But I'm figuring that's not a problem."

It could have been. At first, Pollack misreads the e-mail and finds herself thinking, hmmm... mushrooms.

This is what it's like to be the hard-working servant of the cupcake muse. Inspiration strikes her anytime, anywhere. She gets a free sample from someone wanting a review on her blog, and that lucky product becomes a cupcake. She doesn't know quite how it happens, but cupcakes always result.

Pollack's blog, Cupcake Project, cupcakeproject.com, started out with pretty much the same whim of inspiration.

At dinner one night, the story goes, a couple she was friends with talked about wanting cupcakes at their wedding, but they didn't know where to find them and didn't want to spend a ton, either. "So I just said, 'Well, I'll do it.'" Pollack remembers. "I never expected them to say yes. I was totally shocked."

Pollack, originally from Long Island, came to St. Louis to study psychology at Washington University. She worked in corporate training for years, but never put too much time into baking.

"We're talking maybe every three months."

While her friends accepted, they were pretty shocked, too.

"I don't think we realized that she did a lot of baking," says Bryan Lewis. "And I don't think she did bake nearly as much as she does now."

Lewis and his soon-to-be wife, Cheryl Morton, also figured they'd have something simple, like chocolate and vanilla.

They were wrong. Pollack jumped in and started baking a new cupcake each week, sharing them with couple 1.0, as she calls them, and soon she set up the blog so they could keep track of all the flavors.

On Dec. 6, 2007, Pollack wrote: "With less than a month remaining before the big day, the Bride and Groom have chosen! They carefully evaluated each and every cupcake and they have selected their three favorites. I will be making eight dozen of each cupcake variety to serve at their wedding on New Year's Eve. This will be the most I have ever attempted to bake at one time. I'm nervous, but also excited about it. Will my hands get sore from piping frosting? Will I get sick from licking so much cupcake dough off the mixers? I'll be sure to let everyone know as the saga progresses."

For that wedding, she made soda fountain cupcakes, margarita cupcakes and gingerbread latte cupcakes.

And before too long, another couple she was friends with were ready for a cupcake wedding all their own.

Throughout the process, Pollack wrote about her experiments, posted recipes and tips and linked to other food blogs. And pretty soon, she had a loyal readership and advertisers willing to pay for a spot on her page.

Though initially the experiments were expensive (she buys all organic at Whole Foods), now, Pollack says, the blog pays for itself. New posts include Hamantashen cupcakes for Purim, Oreo cupcakes with a built in cup for milk, and pickle and ice cream cupcakes (Pollack is pregnant.)

She hasn't cupcaked any weddings since couple 2.0's, and doesn't plan on going into business.

"It's so much work," Pollack says. "I totally understand why these cupcake places charge so much. It takes so much time and energy."

For her, the fun comes in the exploring and testing, the sharing and writing. She's found not only a very willing community of friends and family ready for her newest creations, but a community of foodies online who share her love of food. In addition to her own blog, she also blogs for the Riverfront Times' Gut Check, and has won numerous awards like the most recent local Kick Ass Award. She also taught two classes at the Kitchen Conservatory, which were both sold out.

"Cupcakes are hot," says Ann Cori, president. "Cupcake classes in general sell really well for us."

But the appeal of Pollack's class, Cori thinks, is the same appeal of her blog -- creativity.

"She pushes the envelope on cupcakes," Cori says. "She's always doing something different."

Along with the awards and accolades, something else has grown out of the cupcake experiment, too.

In the beginning, Pollack's husband, Jonathan Pollack, took cupcake photos for his wife's blog. He wanted to get into photography, and the more he worked, the better he got.

Now, he has his own business, J. Pollack Photography , where he photographs food, events and weddings and has worked for Sauce Magazine and St. Louis Magazine.

Pollack thinks her husband's cupcake photos are a big part of her blog's success.

"He's somehow able to make them look so beautiful."

But she has something do to with it, too.

On the day of our visit, Pollack's bright yellow kitchen sits quiet, numerous gadgets lined up on the counters, resting for a bit. But she does have a new cupcake to share.

This batch, inspired by a sample of a coffee alternative, includes carob, dates, figs and chicory. She serves them up on a cupcake plate and we sit down to try them. Later, she'll blog about the new cupcake, which is moist and dense and, really, it's hard to focus on culinary details while gobbling.

After each wedding, and every now and then, Pollack's friends ask her, are you still going to blog about cupcakes? Aren't you getting bored?

But, so far, she's not.

And she still hasn't tried any recipes using mushrooms.