Cupcakery on Asbury offering a neat, sweet treat

Written by Claire Lowe Wednesday, December 21, 2011 01:00 am

Katie Wiegand of Galloway is the owner of Sandcastle Cupcakes on Asbury Avenue.

OCEAN CITY — Katie Wiegand opened Sandcastle Cupcakes on Asbury Avenue in April and has been keeping busy since pleasing her customers with creative, fresh flavors.

The 26-year-old from Galloway graduated the Academy of Culinary Arts just two years ago before stumbling upon her first business opportunity.

“I’ve always wanted to have a bakery,” Wiegand said, adding that her dream location was Asbury Avenue.

She admitted she got the baking bug “really late.”

“I left art school and I needed a new medium for being artistic,” Wiegand said.

Last October, she was walking along Asbury Avenue with her husband and saw the for sale sign on the door of what is now her bakery.

Just a few months later, Sandcastle Cupcakes was born. Wiegand is currently leasing the space. The name, she said, had to represent exactly what she was doing.

“I wanted to be beachy. I wanted to be obvious,” Wiegand said.

Wiegand makes sure she only uses fresh ingredients in her sweets, and likes to buy local.

“I try as much as possible,” she said. “I have a great connection through one of the girls that works with me.”

And she does all the baking herself. Being a business owner at such a young age is “crazy,” Wiegand said, but something she wanted for herself for a long time.

“I’ve always kind of known that I needed to be my own boss,” she said.

So, she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity when it presented itself.

“I knew somebody else was going to throw a cupcake shop up,” Wiegand said.

The cupcake trend has caught on in major cities around the United States, but has yet to reach the lesser populated shore towns in New Jersey. Wiegand’s shop is one of few “cupcakeries” in the area. She said it wasn’t the trend that inspired her to start her bakery, it was her need for creativity.

“The biggest reason I like cupcakes is not the trend. It’s you can literally make anything,” she said. “I just love that.”

Anything, and everything, is just what she makes.

From classics like chocolate and vanilla, a dye-less red velvet, butterscotch, seasonal choices of egg nog and chocolate peppermint for the winter, or fresh fruit flavors in the summer, and let’s not forget salted caramel; Wiegand is pumping out dozens of cupcakes each week.

Now that winter has rolled around in Ocean City, Wiegand has found a way to stay afloat. She is open on the weekends now through the end of the year, will reopen just for Valentine’s Day, and then again in the spring with limited hours until after Memorial Day, when she opens full-time again.

Despite having to limit hours due to the seasonal nature of a shore town, Wiegand said cupcakes and the beach work well together.

“This has been five years I wanted this shop and I think it works in a beach town,” she said. “People are really responding.”

For Christmas, Wiegand is preparing all holiday-inspired flavors. She said the cupcakes make the perfect substitute to traditional holiday fare, while providing the same familiar flavors.

“People are excited to have something different,” she said. “There’s little-to-no clean up and no waste.”

The no waste and ease of cupcakes is why Wiegand said she does a lot of kids’ birthday parties.

Customers can walk in and purchase cupcakes on the spot, or order in advance. She has 12 flavors available each day, but said she is willing to create any flavor someone can come up with, so long as they order a dozen. She also can create vegan and gluten-free cupcakes.

If you are curious to what flavor Sandcastle Cupcakes plans to have each week, check the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandcastle-Cupcakes/144176098981593?sk=wall or visit www.sandcastlecupcakes.com for more information and store hours.

Holiday hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 24, closed on Christmas Day.

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