If you love cake decorating like I do, then you probably also love making cupcakes. But if you’re a professional cake decorator you may devote most of your time to loftier decorating – fondant covered wedding cakes and such.

If so, you may just want to consider adding more cupcakes to our repertoire! Take Magnolia Bakery for example: $40,000 a week, just from cupcake sales!

To say the modest Magnolia Bakery in West Manhattan’s Greenwich Village is busy is an understatement. The ovens are going all night, the day staff is hustling to serve customers, and the customers are busy enjoying the famous eatery’s aromatic coffees and famous old-fashioned desserts, including of course, the cupcakes.

Still, you’ll find lots of socializing going on here in this landmark eatery. There’s something about the cupcakes, great staff and the home-style decor that make this a very friendly eatery.

The Magnolia Bakery legend began in 1996 when Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel opened a modest, storefront bakery at 401 Bleecker Street, near the corner of West 11th Street in the heart of New York’s quirky Greenwich Village.

While the founders opened shop with the intention of offering 1950’s style desserts, they hadn’t yet put cupcakes on the menu. This idea sprung from some left over batter being poured into muffin tins instead of down the sink. The cupcakes were placed in the window and quickly sold out.

Along with its award-winning cupcakes, Magnolia offers a down-home, Southern atmosphere, which makes it a comforting spot for weekend night owls to socialize and munch after a night on the town.

The bakery had to quit catering though to the breakfast bunch, just to free up time to replenish its cupcake trays. Thousands of cupcakes must be baked and iced – on a daily basis! On average, 20,000 are sold per week.

The Magnolia Bakery has enjoyed further popularity thanks to the best seller, The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipes from New York’s Sweetest Bakery, written by the original owners before Jennifer Appel left to start her Buttercup Bakery.

It’s even made the big time on television.

The Magnolia Bakery storefront was featured on Saturday Night Live and the Sex in the City girls filmed here, devouring one pastel iced cupcake after another.

I wonder what Ozzie and Harriet would have thought? (Memorabelia from their wholesome 50’s television show is part of the Magnolia Bakery’s decor.)

Besides the cupcakes, the bakery’s known for its old fashioned pies, cakes and trifle style banana pudding.

In fact, many of the desserts at Magnolia Bakery are even better than the cupcakes – they’re just not as trendy.

Menu favorites include old-fashioned bread pudding, lime pie (with a gingersnap crust!), nectarine cobbler, and their lovely Hummingbird Cake (yellow cake with banana, pineapple and pecans, and a cream-cheese filling).

Then there’s Magnolia’s signature Southern style Peanut Butter Heath Bar Blondie. This consists of layers of a scrumptious cross between peanut butter cookie and peanut brittle; a satisfying, buttery cake; and a crunchy caramel toffee topping.

Speaking of old fashioned desserts, check out our article on pound cake. Now, this cake’s been pleasing crowds for centuries!

By the way a scrumptious cream cheese pound cake is one of many of the great classic recipes from our “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Video Books.

Here’s what one Southern cake decorating entrepreneur said about our Video Books when asked what she would want to tell others about them:

“Well, I do admit I am very tempted to want to keep the secret to myself and be able to take all the praise and glory from the cakes that I will be making and yet it wouldn’t be fair to keep such a wonderful thing all to myself.

So, I would have to sing your praises and make them understand that you make it easy enough for anyone to do a beautiful job and that if they don’t understand it the first time then all they have to do is rewind and replay and keep on until they get it right and that they wouldn’t find any better deal than the one they would get from your video books.”

Sherry Growns, Perryville, Arkansas

And last but not least. If you’re going to be in New York City and want to check out Magnolia Bakery, it’s located at 401 Bleecker Street, near West 11th Street and across from Bleecker Park in Greenwich Village.