Robicelli’s: A Love Story With Cupcakes
Which neighborhood do you live in?
I’m born and raised in Bay Ridge, just like my parents and grandparents. Matt moved here back in 1982 when he was one, so he’s got transplant status. As for how I like it: like most lifers, we bitch about this place incessantly. Yet we’re still here, and we’ll fuck up anyone who talks shit about Bay Ridge. It’s the classic Brooklyn self-loathing relationship. We constantly talk about getting out, but I don’t think either of us knows how to function outside of here.
How’s the post-writing process been? Getting ready for publication, plotting publicity, etc.
Insane. Simply insane. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. There were weeks where I didn’t see the manuscript at all, followed by weeks where I was working on it 12+ hours a day. There was editing and proofing and more proofing, and I’m certain there will still be errors upon printing, regardless how many times we’ve been over it. I always wondered how so many of the cookbooks I love could contain errors or misprints, and now that I’ve survived the process myself, I’m shocked they don’t have MORE errors.
I turned the first draft of my book into Penguin back in January. Since then, I’ve had that feeling in my stomach you get when you’re in the first car of a roller coaster, just dangling over the first hill, knowing there’s a huge drop in front of you but all the cars behind you aren’t ready yet. So you’re just hanging there, waiting, scared out of your mind, praying you survive. I can’t wait for the book to come out, but I’m also scared to death.
Are you at all worried because some people have been saying that “the cupcake trend” is dead now?
“Trends” don’t last 20 years. Cupcakes are disappearing just like donut or ice cream shops are. As long as people want something sweet, maybe a cup of coffee, and a place to sit down and chat with a friend, they’re not going anywhere.
I’ll put it another way: when we started making cupcakes all those years ago, we also were making a lot of other stuff, too- brownies, whoopie pies, etc. No one wanted to write about those. We still make lots of other products, delicious products, but the media can’t sell a story, or a book, about brownies the way they can about cupcakes. And people have been asking me about “the death of the cupcake trend” since day one. If cupcakes are truly are over, then what will all of you write about being “dead” every six weeks?