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Home sweet home.
Cupcake DownSouth was founded in the spring of 2006 by Kristin Kuhlke Cobb, who had just returned to Charleston after a year in New York City to open a scrumptious specialty bakery. USA Today was one of the first to notice, relating Kristin's story to its universe of readers. "When I told people I was leaving my job in New York and coming home to open a cupcake store, it was pretty much the same reaction: 'Uh, good luck with that,'" Kristin told the paper. Happily for us, she didn't listen—and neither did her father, who worked side by side with her preparing Cupcake DownSouth’s flagship store (then called simply “Cupcake”) on Charleston’s famous shopping boulevard, King Street. National acclaim Martha Stewart Living Radio followed, interviewing the our team and savoring its cupcakes live on the air. Then The Ellen Show joined in, lauding our Rocky Road cupcake, a concoction of rich dark chocolate cake, chocolate-marshmallow icing, and chopped almonds on its Ellen Across America site. Budget Travel magazine was next, listing Cupcake DownSouth among the 25 reasons it loves Charleston. MTV paid a visit with its camera crews, televising birthday preparations at our King Street bakery for a Super Sweet 16 episode. Two years after we opened our doors, Budget Travel was back, regaling its readers with the tale of two friends on a mission to find the perfect cupcake. They found it at Cupcake DownSouth, and it was a toss-up between praline and red velvet. Southern Living joins in Not to be outdone, the venerable Southern Living magazine listed Cupcake DownSouth among its favorite shops in Charleston, and National Geographic Traveler named us one of the top cupcakeries in the nation. “Cupcake [DownSouth] is love in flour and icing,” the magazine wrote, spotlighting our Cookies & Cream cupcake. Fox Business was next. In 2011, the news network profiled our downtown Columbia store, as impressed with its Cinnamon Swirl, Lemon Blueberry, and Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes as it was with its sales success. Later in the year, Kristin was profiled in the book Single. Women. Entrepreneurs., where Cupcake DownSouth’s story caught the attention of the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal followed, highlighting our French Toast and Peppermint cupcakes. “Cupcake [DownSouth] doesn’t skimp on the frosting—or the flavors,” the paper reported. Skip to the end of the WSJ's slideshow and you’ll see a Cupcake DownSouth baking expert in action: clad in one of our signature aprons, she drizzles molten chocolate across a tray laden with rich Dark Chocolate Coconut cupcakes. Fresh Southern Red Velvet cupcakes await their icing at her elbow. But you're the one we love The love affair continues! Thousands of Cupcake DownSouth connoisseurs across the country follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and hundreds receive birthday cards from us each month, offering up a free cupcake to celebrate. Brides dazzle their rehearsal dinner, bridal shower, and wedding guests with tiers of mouthwatering wedding cupcakes, and UberEats roams the streets, delighting surprise gift recipients and office workers alike with hand-delivered pink boxes of fresh cupcakes. And nearly a hundred nonprofits have benefited from Yesterday’s Cupcakes, the thriving program Kristin created to give back to our communities, where the heavenly scents of our bakeries' freshly baked cupcakes fill the air. Today Kristin is married to Charleston architect Darryl Cobb. Their son Bodie adores his mother's line of business, and Kristin continues to operate Cupcake DownSouth's three bakeries with her best friend and vice president, Jen George, together with an incredible team of smiling South Carolinians they've deemed the Sprinkle Squad. Life is sweet! |
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