Saturday, March 3, 2012

Meringue Bake Shop's PushCakes are truly an original!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream PushCakes!

If you live in Orange County, California then you probably know all about the delicious PushCakes from Meringue Bake Shop. If not, don't worry, I'm going to tell you all about them.
Kristin Ausk is my friend, but more importantly, she is the owner of Meringue Bake Shop and the creator of the original pushcake.


As a baker and lover of cupcakes myself, I am envious of Kristin for following her passion and making a business from her love of baking cupcakes. I was thrilled when she agreed to be interviewed for this post - and even more thrilled to have met up with her last week to get some more yummy sweet treats!

Here is what Kristin has to say about Meringue Bake Shop and PushCakes ...

When did you first start baking?
I was 7 or 8 years old and living in San Diego, CA. The San Diego Union Tribune had a weekly contest for kids to enter recipes and I was always trying something new. I felt at peace in the kitchen.

When did you decide to make a business out of your love for baking?
In 2005 I was looking for a job and started baking more because baking helped reduce my stress. When I started working, I would bring what I made to work and test out recipes on my coworkers. They didn't complain. In fact, they started asking me to make cupcakes for their children's birthday parties. After a few years of filling orders for friends and coworkers, I got a business license in 2008. That is how Meringue Bake Shop got started.

Your cupcakes are amazing! Have you ever considered doing Cupcake Wars?
Actually, they contacted me during the first season. Back then there was no prize money and I didn't want to spend money or my time just for the title of winning something.  Cupcake Wars did contact me again, after they added the $10,000 prize, but I'm really not a fan of that show. It's just not my thing. I'm more of a grassroots baker - you know, like the desserts you would get in a diner. Why would I want to bake under that kind of pressure?

As the original creator of PushCakes, how do you feel about the copycats?
At first I was really upset with the businesses who were selling what I had created - they basically saw a blog post about me and stole my idea. When I first came up with the idea, the company where I bought my containers from had no idea what I was talking about. The containers were not easily found - they come from Italy!
Now, almost every food packaging company carries some sort of PushCake container.

Once I started seeing others that were using a different name I was flattered. Some would even post about their attempts on blogs and link back to me. That was cool. The worst part is when people use the word PushCakes and say they had no idea I had trademarked the name. Hello, did you even try to Google it?

What are your best selling flavors?
Birthday Cake (vanilla cake, chocolate buttercream with sprinkles), Queen of Hearts (red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting), and Orange Crush (orange crush cake, creamsicle buttercream )

Where can people buy your PushCakes?
At this time, we don't have a shop - we work out of an industrial kitchen in Fullerton. We are at the Orange Home Grown Farmers Market every other Saturday from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and we take custom orders for everything from media events to birthday parties to weddings.

Do you have plans to open a store?
Yes and no. We have thought about it, but it's a huge financial obligation. I work full-time and at this point we just don't have the funds - we would need an investor. I do have some great ideas for a store though ... (Kristin did share her ideas with me, but I'm not going to write about them - because they are just that good and I don't want anyone else copying her ideas)

What is your favorite part about selling PushCakes?
That's easy - when kids come up to the table at the farmers market and smile. I love watching kids eat PushCakes.

Ironically, when we went to visit Kristin last week my son did just that.



PushCakes sell for $3.25 each or $39 a dozen. Kristin will even customize the sticker on the PushCakes to match your event. I could go on forever about the fabulous cakes and frosting flavors (which you can find here) but let's get on to the good stuff.
Kristin has offered to do a giveaway of PushCakes to one of my readers. Yes, you read that right. You could have 12 fabulous PushCakes all to yourself - or you could share them with some friends.

To enter the PushCakes giveaway just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite PushCakes flavor is. It's that simple.

For additional entries: (please leave a comment for each additional entry)

  1. "Like" Life with Dylan on Facebook
  2. "Like" PushCakes on Facebook
  3. Follow PushCakes on twitter
  4. Tweet about this giveaway using @bchbby and @PushCakes


PushCakes Giveaway fine print:
Giveaway will end on March 18, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. Winner will be selected via random.org and has 3 days to respond to my email before another winner is selected. The winner will receive one dozen PushCakes in any original flavor. Winner may select one or two original flavors. Meringue Bake Shop requires 2 weeks notice for the order and will only ship to a US address. Winner has until August 31, 2012 to place the order. 




For more information on Meringue Bake Shop visit www.meringuebakeshop.com

49 comments:

  1. These look fabulous! I love stumbling upon small food businesses just like this. We have a question at Goodies For Gifts: Do you plan on shipping PushCakes nationwide? Our fans would love them especially the Birthday Cake!

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  2. I haven't tried one yet but they look delish!

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  3. I have never had a PushCake, being as old as I am and having traveled the world, you would think that there is nothing out there that I have not at least sampled. Now I find out about PushCakes, and the write up about them have me very upset that IO was not able to savior at least one while I lived there. I now live in Washington State, and we have great seafood and even the best Dim Sum to be found, we have no PushCakes. How can we as a food loving State tolerate this? I say Ney Ney, we can not. We must therefore, obtain a winning entry in order to have a sample of this delectable treat sent our way and thus allowing us to have the honor and bragging rights of winning this illustrious treat. If I should fail in my attempt, there of course would be nothing left to live for. I have done it all, explored all, sampled all, except that last elusive item, The PushCake.

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  4. My kids LOVE this idea! I explained the concept and they thought is was OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD! Cannot wait to try.

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  5. I met her at the Birthday Party Bootcamp this past weekend and these are so cute! i loved the banana split flavor but I'm really not picky :)

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  6. PushCakes are the best dessert idea ever! I'm coordinating with a couple other girls to go try them at the Meringue Shop stand @ the farmers market and hopefully place an order for my little girl's 1st birthday! BTW, my favorite flavor is Queen of Hearts!

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  7. PushCakes are the best dessert idea ever! I'm coordinating with a couple other girls to go try them at the Meringue Shop stand @ the farmers market and hopefully place an order for my little girl's 1st birthday! BTW, my favorite flavor is Queen of Hearts!

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  8. PushCakes are the best dessert idea ever! I'm coordinating with a couple other girls to go try them at the Meringue Shop stand @ the farmers market and hopefully place an order for my little girl's 1st birthday! BTW, my favorite flavor is Queen of Hearts!

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  9. PushCakes are the BEST dessert idea EVER! I am coordinating with a couple other girls to visit the Meringue Bake Shop stand @ the farmers market within the next month! I can't wait to sample these goodies and hopefully place an order for my little girl's 1st birthday. BTW, Queen of Hearts is my favorite flavor!

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  10. Queen of Hearts all the way!!
    I love your blog tagline, 'Surviving my life with Dylan...' I just had my first a few months ago. It's been amazing, but I'm in total survival mode!

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  11. Kristin is awesome! I have had the pleasure of eating her cupcakes, but haven't had a PushCake yet. The Orange Crush flavor is out of this world!

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  12. Kristin is awesome and so are all her baked goods! I haven't had a chance to try PushCakes yet, but the Orange Crush cupcakes are unbelievably delicious.

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  13. I already Like PushCakes (and Meringue Bakeshop) on Facebook. :-)

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  14. And I already follow PushCakes on Twitter, too!

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  15. I discovered PushCakes when I was in Chinatown at the Chinese New Year parade. They are amazing. I have been craving them ever since!!

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  16. I discovered PushCakes in Chinatown after watching the Chinese New Year parade. They are amazing and I have been craving them ever since!!

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  17. my fave is the queen of hearts, of course! i follow PushCakes on facebook, which is how I got here in the first place :)

    Sandie (isandie AT yahoo DOT com)

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  18. Orange Crush is by far my favorite, but my kid likes the chocolate one. Nom nom nom.

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  19. I already like PushCakes on Facebook (mostly so I can drool over the pictures).

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  20. I already follow @pushcakes on Twitter (I'm pretty sure I'm stalking Kristin).

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  21. Just tweeted ;) https://twitter.com/#!/roxannima/statuses/179274471637659648 (can you tell I really want these pushcakes?)

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  22. Love the Queen of Hearts but it's the only one I've had!

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  23. Tweeted about your blog & Push Cakes @leopardcherry

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  24. My favorite flavor would be Birthday Cake, I just know it in my heart. <3

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  25. I adore Kristin's pushcakes! My favorite flavor is birthday cake.

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  26. I would love Banana Split.

    ccboobooy at gmail dot com

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  27. "Like" Life with Dylan on Facebook

    charity s

    ccboobooy at gmail dot com

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  28. "Like" PushCakes on Facebook

    charity s

    ccboobooy at gmail dot com

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  29. tweet


    https://twitter.com/#!/ccboobooy/status/179398971586916354

    ccboobooy at gmail dot com

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  30. My fav is the Queen of Hearts... I tried them at an event and they were delicious.

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  31. I follow on Facebook (Living Mi Vida Loca).

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  32. My favorite flavor is Banana Split.

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  33. I "Like" PushCakes on Facebook

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  34. I Follow PushCakes on Twitter

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  35. Red Velvet, Red Velvet Red Velvet. Obsessed.

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  36. I love PushCakes and Meringue Bake Shop. Orange Crush is the best - reminds me of when I was a kid and would stalk the Good Humor Man for his ice cream!

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  37. We had a red velvet and the kids were cuckoo for it!

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  38. I follow you Push Cakes on twitter.

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  39. PushCakes rock! Bananas Foster for me........

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