On a daily basis, customers come in to check to see what sweet delights Miss Julia’s Bake Shop has for the day.
“Oh good, she still has red velvet,” a customer said to her companion. “We’ll be back.” But they better hurry, because when the cupcakes are gone, they're gone for the day.
“Red velvet is our best seller,” shop owner Paula Hienz said of the cupcake that’s mounded with cream cheese frosting and topped with red sugar hearts. “These are all my own recipes — some I’ve had for years, some I’ve adapted for the shop.”
The shop, open six days a week, is where Hienz and her bakers make any number of cupcake flavors topped with swirls of creamy frosting. Her cupcakes aren’t just cake batter poured into cupcake forms.
Bakers make six daily cupcake flavors, including red velvet, more than two dozen specialty flavors, and nearly a dozen signature flavors. The cupcakes are made with the highest quality ingredients, Hienz said. “I use imported vanilla, chocolate and cacao and the best butter.”
Vanilla Dream with vanilla buttercream frosting, Suzie Q — a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream, Tuxedo — a rich chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a ganache drizzle are just some of the varieties customers find every day.
Hienz also includes specialty flavors throughout the week. Any given day there could be carrot cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting, Peanut Butter Blossom — chocolate cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting and a peanut butter cup, Lemon Drop with lemon buttercream frosting, Coconut with coconut buttercream frosting, German Chocolate with coconut and pecan frosting and a ganache drizzle.
The shop alerts customers to special flavors on Twitter @juliascupcakes.
A life-long baker, Hienz was always the go-to baker in the family and with friends for get-togethers. And although she was a surgical nurse by training, Hienz has always loved the creativity of baking.
She started out small by selling her cupcakes at the Brookfield Farmers Market. “Every Saturday my cupcakes would sell out,” she recalled. Hienz’s daughter Julia thought her mother was on to something and encouraged her to think bigger.
At the time, the Brookfield resident was baking out of a shared commercial space in Pewaukee, but wanted something that felt more like her own. Hienz found a commercial kitchen in the Galleria West Shopping Center to her liking. There was just one small catch. If she wanted the kitchen, she had to rent the retail space too. It was a sign — sweet, delicious and covered in butter cream. In April 2010, Hienz opened Miss Julia’s Bake Shop — named for her daughter.
Specializing in individual decadence, the cupcakery is a bright, cozy spot — all pink, white and green.
Admittedly, the days are long. Hienz typically starts at 5 a.m., bakes until about 3 p.m. and leaves the shop around 8 p.m. “When you love what you do, the day just flies by,” she said.
Customers come in and take their time with their selections. Many leave with their treats packed carefully in a pink box. Some can not hold off their pleasure a moment longer and take a seat at one of the little white tables in the shop. Their delicious delight is evident. “That’s what I love about this business. The feedback is instantaneous,” Hienz said.
_____ Let’s Go! _____
Miss Julia’s Bake Shop
Address: 18900 W. Blue Mound Rd.
Phone: 262-797-7381
Website: missjuliasbakeshop.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday, closed
