baked by melissa our story

Big Passion, Tiny Cupcakes

I live for food, but it hasn’t always been what I do for a living. 

 

Growing up, I was (and still am) a take-charge kind of girl—especially when it came to taking over my parents’ kitchen. For me, baking something for a friend’s birthday or to celebrate a special occasion is the ultimate expression of love. 

 

Love covered in icing and sprinkles, that is. 

 

I didn’t go to culinary school, and most of my recipes are dreamt up by the 16-year old I still am on the inside. I mean, what kind of fancy adult keeps Marshmallow Fluff and Nutella in their pantry at all times? (Hint: I do!)

 

Home baking is still where my heart is; it’s how I bond with my kids and think up new, crazy flavor combinations that haven’t been done before. People don’t bake unless they want to. It’s an intrinsic drive to be creative, experimental, and enjoy the process. And, of course, sample the goods.

 

I was lucky enough to incorporate my love of rainbow-colored, bite-sized mini cupcakes into my everyday life, but I still think of myself as a home baker first.

 

The rest of the Baked by Melissa story is sort of a happy accident.

A Push from the Universe

 

I like being good at things. I think we all do! But there’s one thing I wasn’t very good at: working in a New York advertising agency. I wasn’t passionate about media planning, but I did LOVE bringing cupcakes into the office. 

 

Then—spoiler alert—I got fired.

 

The day I was let go, my super talented brother Brian (who co-founded an interactive website agency) encouraged me to make a business out of my hobby: baking cupcakes. He said to come up with three other flavors, though, of course, we started with our now famous tie-dye. 

 

I went back to my tiny apartment in Murray Hill and got to work, inventing my take on s’mores, cookie dough, and peanut butter cup. 

 

If I hadn’t gotten fired, Baked by Melissa would have never existed. 

 

Fake It Till You Make It

 

Once we had our first four flavors, we pretended we were a full-fledged business. In reality, I was baking out of my apartment, sending cupcakes to my friends’ offices to spread the word, and suffering from a mild case of imposter syndrome. 

 

But I kept baking. 

 

We came up with a name and a logo. My brother helped build our website, and we got our foot in the door doing tastings at events across the city. Eventually, we decided every cupcake should perfectly encapsulate a single flavor, so you could try tons of flavors guilt-free. 

Baked by Melissa Today 

 

Through a lot of hard work and a sprinkle of luck, Baked by Melissa turned into something real. 

 

In the winter of 2008, Danny Omari took a chance on us and gave me kitchen space to sell cupcakes at the Union Square Holiday Market. We sold out every single day. 

 

In 2009, we opened a pop-up, pick-up-only window in Soho. 

 

By 2012, we were building out colorful in-store experiences in Manhattan.

 

Today, we have 14 brick and mortar stores and we ship our bite-sized treats nationwide.

 

A lot can happen in twelve years. Personally, I started a business, got married, wrote a cookbook, had two beautiful kids, and became CEO of Baked by Melissa in 2019.  

 

(Whew. More on that later.)

 

Just like one change in your life can alter your entire trajectory, changing one ingredient in a recipe can reveal entirely new possibilities. So go ahead—swap milk chocolate for dark in your next banana bread bake. Invent an over-the-top new flavor of icing. Tie-dye everything! 

 

To paraphrase my parents, “You’re amazing and you can do anything.”

Did you make this recipe? We want to know! Tag us in your baking creations on instagram @bakedbymelissa!