One thing that Hamilton has always lacked is a cupcake shop, but residents do not need to look any further.
Tan’s Tasty Cakes Cupcakery, located on George Dye Road, opened on July 5, and owner Shatan McRae-Thompson said business is already booming.
“It’s been really good,” she said. “A lot of people say that they were just driving by, and they saw the cupcakes and rushed in. Hamilton has everything else, but we didn’t have this, so I said, ‘Why not?’”
The business was previously web-based under the name of Sweet Delights Confections. McRae-Thompson said she started to look for a physical store in September.
“The commercial kitchen we were using was an hour away, so I didn’t want to keep commuting back and forth,” she said. “We started looking for a storefront last year so I could have my own kitchen instead of using someone else’s.”
McRae-Thompson, a Hamilton resident, wanted to stay within the township. She said the current property was the first location she looked at, but she ended up going elsewhere. That fell through, so she ended up staying on George Dye Road.
“I was kind of excited about it because I love this little area,” she said. “I think this is the best place for my business.”
She had been an amateur baker for about 10 years before she decided to turn it into a profession. McRae-Thompson previously worked in the medical field.
She said she loves to talk to and get to know people, and this gives her the perfect opportunity to do that.
“I love being a small business,” she said. “I think in big businesses, that interaction is sometimes lost.”
McRae-Thompson keeps up with her customers through the store’s Facebook and Twitter pages. She often posts special deals online that customers can claim in-store. For example, she posts a secret word that gives customers a discount if they say it in-store.
In addition to online promotions, the store offers coupons and a loyalty card.
Besides McRae-Thompson, there are only two other employees. Because of this, she said they are constantly baking.
“We try to have 10 to 12 varieties every day,” she said. “We make about four dozen per flavor, but we’re thinking of doubling that for the morning batch. Everything is baked on premises and made fresh daily from scratch.”
McRae-Thompson said the shop is not limited to cupcakes, though. She takes special orders for cakes, cookies and more, even if it’s a dessert that she is not familiar with.
“I try to accommodate even if you’re under a time constraint,” she said. “I had a customer ask me about a raspberry delight cake. I had never heard of it, but I told her I could make it if she told me what’s in it.”
She said she also had a customer come to her on his son’s birthday. They forgot to order a cake, so McRae-Thompson whipped one up that day.
“He called me the next morning thanking me,” she said. “Now, his wife wants me to do her birthday cake.”
McRae-Thompson said she hopes to have a grand opening event sometime in the near future. She also hopes to add specialty drinks and other desserts to the storefront within the next month.
“I just love to make people happy,” she said. “Cupcakes make people happy.”
Tan’s Tasty Cakes Cupcakery is located at 29 George Dye Road. Phone: (609) 528-0603. On the web: tanstastycakes.com.
Tan’s Tasty Cakes features sweets like these banana pudding cupcakes at the business’s George Dye Road location. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
