Just Baked to Open in West Bloomfield Today

Monday morning represents a homecoming of sorts for Farmington Hills native and current Franklin resident Pam Turkin, owner of cupcake specialty shop and bakery Just Baked. The Livonia-headquartered chain, which Turkin started at home, will open its ninth location in West Bloomfield. To celebrate, Turkin is giving away 150 cupcakes.

"This store is special," said Turkin, who opened her first shop in 2008 with her husband, Todd. "We koshered our kitchen here through Kosher Michigan and , a first for us. We plan to eventually have a baklava cupcake flavor, which we've never done before.

"I just think we're the neighborhood bake shop, and we're always evolving and innovating."

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Although the baklava cupcake may not be available Monday morning, you'll have to forgive the Turkins — they only recently found out they had an opportunity to open before the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. The location at 6663 Orchard Lake Rd., just south of Maple Road, was occupied by until late November, when it moved down the street to Farmington Hills.

Turkin said she had anticipated opening Feb. 1, along with six additional Metro Detroit locations she hopes to open by the end of the first quarter 2012 in Bloomfield Hills, downtown Detroit and the downriver area. Once she "got that call" that Bake Station was ready to move, Turkin hustled to open the store.

"It's very intentional to open around the holidays ... we want to be part of people's celebrations," she said. "Your kids are out of school. My kids are out of school. A bunch of kids are home from college and all of their friends, so we knew we could employ the store pretty easily. Four of my five kids will be working in this store, in West Bloomfield, all (this) week."

What drives the cupcake trend

Turkin said the goodies are loaded onto trucks each morning from her company's headquarters in Livonia, and trucks depart at 7 a.m., delivering the freshly baked goods to each location. 

The store will offer anywhere from 25-45 of its specialty cupcakes each day, she said. On slower days, typically those at the beginning of the week, the store will offer a smaller selection that will grow as the week progresses.

All ingredients are natural, Turkin said, such as real butter, real sugar and so on.

She said the real trend responsible for driving the popularity of the treats comes from the interactivity and individualism offered by each cupcake. In addition to controlled portions, the variety of specialty cupcakes gives people an opportunity to share and discuss their favorite snack.

"A customer can pick — their daughter likes this and their husband likes this, their neighbor likes this," Turkin said. "People love to put them down, cut them up, share them and talk about them. It's fun."

More than cupcakes

In addition to specialty cupcakes, the bakery offers special-order cakes, cupcake towers, cookies, brownies, cake pops, dog treats and more. Coffee will be offered eventually — if not by Monday — and come spring, Just Baked will offer ice cream with original, handcrafted toppings.

Just Baked planned to open at 10 a.m. Monday. For those who miss being part of the first 150 customers, cupcakes sell for $2.95 apiece. For now, anyone wishing to contact the store is asked to call the company's main number at the Livonia headquarters, 734-367-0729.

Sara Eaton Martin contributed to this report.