Fire shut down the House of Cupcakes last March. But after the neighboring Ferry House restaurant went out of business, owners Ron and Ruthie Bzdewka were able to move one door down, to a space twice the size and with kitchen equipment that would allow them to add another specialty pastry to their repertoire: donuts.
They reopened seven months after the fire with new treats on offer, including pies, gelato pops and a variety of deluxe donuts, including maple bacon, salted caramel, peanut butter and jelly and the “doughsant” — their mouth-watering version of the trademarked NYC croissant-donut sensation, the cronut.
“My wife always wanted to do donuts,” Ron Bzdewka said in an interview last month. “We had a lot of the toppings already. They do a lot of the same things. It’s just another option for people who don’t want cupcakes.”
One might think that donuts sell in the morning and cupcakes at night, but Bzdewka said donut desire has proved not to be time sensitive. “People come in now and order them for dessert. It’s been great so far,” Bzdewka said.
Bzdewka is up and making donuts every day at 5 a.m. Most are proofed in a special proofing machine, using heat, but because of the high butter content in the doughsant, those have to be allowed to proof overnight. The finished products are filled with Bavarian cream and glazed.
Bzdewka said some varieties are regularly featured and others come and go, but they are listening to customers to find out which styles are most popular. “If someone comes in and says, ‘Oh, you don’t have that?’ That’s how we know that’s a keeper,” he said. 32 Witherspoon St., Princeton. Web: houseofcupcakes.com.
–Joe Emanski
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