First Day in Business

Whew!  Thanks goodness the first day jitters are over!  I had no idea what to expect from so many different aspects.  I couldn't imagine how much to bake, what areas I should visit, how long to stay at each location, or what items to offer.  Since red velvet isn't my absolute favorite, but apparently everyone elses, I sold completely out of red velvet cupcakes pretty quickly, even though I made more of those than anything else!  I sold out of other items, which in my book, makes Brown Sugar Cafe's opening day a success! 

Here's the menu I decided on:
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Classic Cupcakes
Cherry Kiss Cupcakes
Vanilla Cupcakes
Hummingbird Cupcakes
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Iced Cake Cookies
Coffee
Bottled Water

Here's a picture of me with my first customer. 

I'm so excited to begin another week!  I'm so thankful for the customers I had!

Brown Sugar Cafe: Dessert Truck Press Release (9/26/11)

New dessert truck Brown Sugar Café to hit the streets!

Chicago, IL – September 26, 2011 – Brown Sugar Café is scheduled to launch a dessert truck on September 30, 2011.  The daily rotating menu will include lip-smacking desserts such as cupcakes, cookies, brownies and a variety of other pastries and delights!  In addition to daily truck stops, the Brown Sugar Café dessert truck will also be available for private parties (birthdays, showers, etc.), corporate delivery orders, and in-home catering/delivery.

At Brown Sugar Café, everything is baked from scratch with high quality ingredients.  Many of the recipes are based on the owner’s southern roots.  Her classics will leave you reminiscing of grandma’s cooking, while her updated treats will simply leave you begging for more!

After over 20 years of baking, Eunice Jackson has decided to launch her bakery in the mobile form - via a dessert truck.  Brown Sugar Café's owner and primary baker is Eunice Jackson.  Eunice has been baking since her grandmother told her to pass the brown sugar so that's about age 6.  She grew up in Chicago while spending her summers in the south. 

Visit the Brown Sugar Café website, http://www.thebrownsugarcafe.com/, for truck schedule, truck menus and catering menus. 

Eunice Jackson

thebrownsugarcafe@hotmail.com

http://www.thebrownsugarcafe.com/

P: (708) 212-4532

Twitter (twitter.com/brownsugar_cafe)

Facebook (facebook.com/BrownSugarCafe)
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownsugarchicago/show/)

Our Road Trip Adventure Part II

So all the fun pictures and games are over...We had a blowout in the middle of Kentucky! 



Yes those are my brother's shoes...

My brother changed the tire and after all of that we find out it was the wrong spare!  I called my sister to get the number to the Kentucky State Police for assistance.  The officer came and had to call in a special favor to his friend that owns a repair shop.  To make a long story short, this whole process added six hours to our road trip. 


Getting tired of waiting on the tow truck



All of this on 4 hours of sleep.  A 13 hour trip turned into a 19 hour trip!  However we made it home super tired, as you can see below, but in one piece. 



Finally home at 4am



Our Road Trip Adventure Part I

I live in the Chicagoland area.  Big city living right??  Why are there no businesses that work on creating custom food trucks within driving distance? So I ended up working with a company in North Carolina to get all of my work done.  Yes I could have had my baby shipped on a flatbed, but I wanted to go get her myself! 

ROADTRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me and my brother went and got my baby. When I first saw my baby, it was love at first sight!  She was just like all the emailed pictures I'd receieved...only better because I could now hold her.  However to get her home would not come out some labor...get it..baby..labor..lol 

Here are some pictures of when we first saw my baby.


Just having some fun!




Can you tell he loves the van!  All smiles.



Stay tuned for part two of our adventure...

Update on Van Progress

Here are some pictures of the progress on my van.

I'm undecided about the placement of  that big goofy generator.  It's such an eyesore, don't you think?

I'm Opening a Dessert Cupcake Van!!!

My dream has always been to have my own baking business.  I never was thrilled about a storefront because of the associated costs and quite simply the fact a storefront requires set hours.  I'm not the set hours type of gal!  My solution...open a dessert truck. I've been baking all my life so I'm passionate about more than the latest cupcake craze.  My truck will feature a variety of treats just like a real bakery.  However, we will of course also have yummy cupcakes!  My style of baking really comes from deep in my southern roots.

Here is what I'm hoping the van will look like. 

 I'M AM SOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!  I hope to open for business October 2011!

New Brownie Needs A Name

So I have tweaking my brownie recipe for the last few weeks.  I wanted something rich, chocolatey, gooey; something that you could tell just from looking at it that you are going to LUV IT! 
Meet my newest brownie, layers of pecan brownies with a gooey caramel layer in the middle with a sprinkling of sugar on top! I think I finally got my recipe right, it has a 100% success rate with my group of testers. 

Now I need to decide on a name..based on reviews of this brownie, I've gotten Seduction Brownies, Orgasmic Brownies, Amazing Brownies, Fie Brownies.... any suggestions or comments? C'mon help me out!

Great American Bake Sale @ PepsiCo

PepsiCo hosted a Great American Bake Sale with all proceeds going in support of the No Kid Hungry Program.  The program does some great work!  Here's a link to their site GABS Homepage
The Brown Sugar Cafe was happy to make donations of baked goods to support the bake sale.
Every item sold can make a huge impact:

• $1 can help provide a hungry child with 10 healthy meals.
• $4 can help provide a child facing hunger with a backpack full of healthy food over a weekend when school meals are not available.
• $9 can help connect a child with healthy lunches during summer when school is out.
• $35 can help a child care center provide free afterschool snacks & suppers to at-risk children all year long.
• $65 can provide a grab-n-go breakfast cart to an elementary school so that every student starts every school day with a healthy meal.

Here are pictures of some of the items we donated that were a sellout in the first hour:
Snickers Cupcake

Cookies & Cream Cupcake

Hummingbird Layer Cake Slices

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there, especially to my Daddy, Grandfather and Father-in-law! You make the world a better place!

In honor of my father (who loves a moist cake) I made him a batch of Coconut Cupcakes. They have coconut in the cake & in the creamy frosting, with shaved coconut on top. He loved them...and so did my Mom LOL!

Welcome to The Brown Sugar Cafe Blog!

Welcome to The Brown Sugar Café Blog!  Thanks for checking us out!

Our mission is to bring some sweetness to your life with our delightful handcrafted desserts.  We create classic old-fashioned homestyle desserts along with some newer creations. Many of our recipes are passed down from the generations of great bakers in my family, from my great-grandmothers to my grandmothers to my mom to me. 

The Brown Sugar Café is your Chicago area bakery that creates the absolute tastiest cookies, cupcakes, poundcakes, layer cakes, and other desserts.  Quite simply, The Brown Sugar Café transforms fresh, simple ingredients into delightful desserts. 

This blog will used to share newly launched items, test items, pictures, decorations, activities, and other things we find interesting or note worthy.  We encourage your comments and interactions!

So c'mon get yourself some of this brown sugar sweetness!