Hot Mess Press!
Cupcake Wars!
HPCS is trying out for the Food Network's Cupcake Wars, which is a show where cupcake vs. cupcake! Each week, four top cupcake bakers compete in three elimination challenges to win a prize of $10,000 and to showcase their winning cupcakes.
HPCS has submitted their video to Food Network and is eagerly awaiting acceptance! View our intro video here >
Locals turning layoffs into business startups
Jody Carmichael, the owner of Hot Pink Cake Stand, frosts a client’s cake with buttercream on a June afternoon at her business on Wilmington’s Front Street that she opened after getting laid-off last year. (Photo by Jeff Janowski )
By Judy Royal at the Star News Online
What do you do when you're unemployed in a recession, when most companies are laying off, not hiring? The answer, for some, is to create their own work by becoming entrepreneurs.
Job loss opens door to dream come true
Jody Carmichael never hesitated about what she'd do next when she lost her job at Ethan Allen in February 2009.
“The first thing I did was I said, ‘I'm going to open my cupcake shop,' ” she said. “I went to my friend's house and celebrated.” Read full article >
After tough road, deserving couple receives dream wedding
By Amy Hotz, Star News Online
Valentine wedding for a marine
It was a romance made in Wilmington. And almost cut short in Afghanistan. Marine Cpl. Cory Mathis, 24, and his fiancee Marissa Silva, 28, will be married today at the hall, compliments of Wilmington business owners and Saint Thomas Preservation Hall.
....Verzaal's Florist, Hot Pink Cake Stand, Angie's Catering, High Performance Lighting, Eventz, Earthbound Salon and more than a dozen others donated items for the wedding. Read full article >
Hot Pink Cake Stand is one sweet cupcake shop
Hot Pink Cake Stand's handsome buffet and cupcake menu.
by Liz Biro, Star News Online
Customers’ mouths drop the minute they step inside downtown’s new Hot Pink Cake Stand – and they haven’t even seen the cupcakes. Owner Jody Carmichael has turned the former Zoo Toys & Trains building at 114 North Front St. into a sweet piece of eye candy.
Besides a self-taught baker and cake designer, Carmichael is an interior decorator. Her many talents are evident at the door, where visitors are greeted by a lovely, old buffet Carmichael scored at Wilmington’s Uptown Market Antiques.
A blackboard overhead lists the day’s cupcakes, which one day included red velvet, chocolate-mint, Reese Cup with frosting that resemembled whipped peanut butter (“That’s because there’s so much peanut butter in there,” Carmichael says) and coconut with silky coconut-lime frosting sprinkled with coconut (my favorite). Read full article >
Woman tries to open shop in tough economy
Reported by Casey Roman;
Posted by Lauren Thomson
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT)
In this tough economy, businesses continue to close their doors.
But one woman decided it was the perfect time to open a store and take a stand against the poor economy. Her plan is to make everyone's lives a little sweeter. When Jody Carmichael walks into her new business, she has a sense of pride and a major sense of urgency. "Hot Pink Cake Stand" was supposed to open "soon"... back in November. But Carmichael's "X-ed" out that idea and has set her sights on January 1st, because there's still paint instead of frosting on her counters.
"I thought this would be a simple thing. You pick out a space, you sign a contract, you throw in some ovens and you start making cup cakes!" says Carmichael. Not quite - she had to pop the lid off her 401k to fund the project after being brushed off for a small business credit line.
But the recession is actually the reason she's opening the shop. After losing her job, she rearranged her life, and her dreams. "The point at which you lose something you thought was secure, I mean, you sort of also lose your fear of the what if's, because you've already lost it, because now I have nothing so why not do what I've always wanted to do. I mean, the time is now. Read full article and view the video >
