Cupcakes to sandwiches
February 10, 2016
SWEET: A Cupcake Company will add gourmet sandwiches to its gourmet cupcake and specialty cake lineup beginning Mar. 1. “Just in time for spring,” says Kemperlyn Graham, who – along with husband Darian – has been operating SWEET since buying the bakeshop in Nov. 2014. “We want to be busy and serving our customers all day; not just after lunch or after work. But now with sandwiches, there will be more reason to visit our shop and, yes, also enjoy one of our delicious cupcakes or other treats.”
The new additions to the menu will include turkey club sandwiches, homemade chicken salad (and perhaps tuna salad), chips and iced tea. But Graham says, don’t wait until SWEET launches its sandwich offerings in a few weeks. The shop now serves nearly 40 different cupcake flavors, seven-to-10 of those flavors featured daily and alternated from one day to the next. They offer gluten-free cupcakes on Fridays and pupcakes (for pets) on Saturdays. And if they don’t have your favorite on hand, they’ll make it.
It’s not just cupcakes. SWEET also makes traditional cakes of all sizes, as well as truffles, macaroons, cake-pops, push-pops, Rice Krispy treats, cookie-sandwiches, and cheesecake brownies. And they serve coffee and a variety of sodas.
“I’ve always loved doing specialty and wedding cakes,” says Graham. “But cupcakes make people happy, and they’re a special treat you can indulge in everyday.”
Making people happy indeed. For well over a year – longer if including the previous owners – SWEET has donated literally thousands of gourmet cupcakes to ALWAYS FAITHFUL OUTREACH, a Christian ministry that delivers bread, pastries, and other food items to homeless shelters and prisons throughout central S.C. For instance, at TRANSITIONS, a 260-bed homeless-recovery facility in downtown Columbia, the deliveries are often greeted with shouts of “It’s the cupcake man!” by men and women who would not otherwise enjoy such treats.
“It’s important that we be a part of that,” says Graham.
SWEET is not the Grahams’ first or only venture into the gourmet cupcake business. The couple has owned and operated “Cupcake Paradise” in Irmo since Nov. 2011.
Interestingly, Kemperlyn earned a BS in biology (Francis Marion University) as well as an MA in Business (from Webster), whereas Darian holds an engineering degree from USC. Biology and engineering aside, the Grahams’ passion is cupcakes; and this weekend – Valentine’s Day weekend – will be an expression of that passion. “We’ll have a photo-booth to create sweet memories with your sweetheart, and we’ll also offer loveboxes, which will include four specialty cupcakes and a half-dozen roses,” says Graham.
SWEET is located at 480-6 Town Center Place in the Village at Sandhills. Visit SWEET: A Cupcake Company and Cupcake Paradise online at http://cupcakeparadise1.com.
