Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Cake-in-a-Cup Bakery to Open Kips Bay Outpost

 Bee's Knees Baking Co. is opening an East Side location with new offerings including wine and tapas.
Bee's Knees Baking Co.
View Full Caption

KIPS BAY — The bakery that brought cake-in-a-cup to the West Village is opening a Kips Bay location, where the menu will expand to include wine and tapas as well.

Bee’s Knees Baking Co., which launched four years ago as a café and wedding cake catering business, hopes to draw a nighttime crowd at its new outpost at 347 Third Ave. near 26th Street, said co-owner Marco Stucky.

“We want it to be a dessert lounge hangout spot,” said Stucky, who plans to open the new cafe in May. “We have catering during the day, but we wanted to get something off the ground at night as well. We have the space now where people can sit down and catch up while enjoying a nice glass of wine.”

Unlike its West Village location, the Kips Bay branch will have an onsite kitchen, rather than a satellite baking space. That will allow Bee's Knees to produce breakfast pastries, brunch and tapas for the first time, Stucky said.

But the mainstay of the menu at the 850-square-foot cafe will remain Bee's Knees' signature cake-cup. The dessert is made up of individual pieces of cake assembled in a clear plastic or glass cup — which is available by special order as well as for sale by the cup-slice, said Stucky, who owns the company with chef Billy Mayer.

The cake-cups cost $4 apiece for walk-in retail customers.

The cakes come in 30 different flavors, only a selection of which are available to walk-in customers, including chocolate salted caramel, spiced chai, honey bourbon and red velvet.

Catering customers are welcome to make their own creative requests. For instance, one client asked for cake-cups sprinkled with blue sugar rocks that resembled crystal meth for a "Breaking Bad"-themed party, Stucky said.

The cake-cups are also available for brides and grooms who don't want a traditional wedding cake — and they're tastier, Stucky said.

“Traditional American wedding cakes are beautiful to look at, but they’re covered in fondant” icing, a thick glaze that looks better than it tastes, said Stucky. “It’s beautiful to work with, but doesn’t really taste good. Our cake-cup doesn’t require fondant and is completely customizable.”