Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes

The first Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes were made at Maureen and Keith’s restaurant, The Petite Cafe in Nutley, NJ, starting in August, 2005.    Now sold throughout the Tri-State area, Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes are growing fast! Creators Keith and Maureen Jaret aren’t your typical cupcake-inspired foodies. Keith graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and gained valuable experience at Windows on the World, La Mirabelle, La Petit Auberge and Mortimer’s Restaurant before taking the helm of Hilton International’s 180-seat Café 43. That’s where he met Maureen, who worked on Wall St. and Executive Search in NYC. It was love at  first bite, and these two cupcake-baking New Yorkers tied the knot in 1987. Their love for each other (and quality food service) soon launched catering company A Savoire-Affaire.  The Jarets have developed a style that fuses European techniques with American ingenuity. It’s this style that turns their creations into popular culinary delights. 2001 was a big year for the Jarets. They moved to Nutley, NJ  and opened The Petite Cafe, where they served Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch and Catering.   The little cafe made a mark in the town of Nutley, and Maureen and Keith loved their new home and especially their customers.   Maureen made a Chocolate cake that was a hit with their customers.   For some reason, no one would order a cake.   She asked them why, and their answer was that “the cakes though delicious, are not decorated with flowers, writing like Happy Birthday, so they went elsewhere”. Undaunted, Maureen took a cake decorating class at Nutley High School and learned the basics to creating “pretty cakes”.   She felt that she needed to dramatically show off her new “talent”, and serving a cake cutting it into slices, would not give her customers the full impact of what she could now do.   She decided to give them cupcakes, and to add a twist to “STUFF THEM”.   Keith’s favorite candy is the Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, and with famous Maureen’s Chocolate Cake, she decided to join the two.   She decided that Sunday brunch had the best captivating audience, so with 200 customers coming in, she thought she would surprise them. On Sunday August 7, 2005, Maureen and Keith presented the first “Stuffed Cupcake”.   Maureen was decorating cupcakes at 5am so that every single person would get to not only sample the delicious sweet treat, but also see how she she is now a “cake decorator”.   After handing out the Stuffed Cupcakes, Maureen announced to everyone that she can now decorate cakes for any occasion, but her customers said, “Forget the Cake, What is The Flavor tomorrow”??  The Flavor Tomorrow??? She turned to Keith and said, they want a flavor, tomorrow, his response was, “Okay, we will give them a flavor tomorrow….” In early, 2008, their Landlord passed away, their building was sold, and they had to move out.   They found a new location where they thought they could reopen their cafe.   However,  problems arose with placing their equipment that they had that for cooking in this place, and it became clear they would not be reopening the cafe for breakfast, lunch and dinner.   But a very interesting thing happened, even though they were not officially opened, people kept coming in asking if “while you are figuring things out…can we get cupcakes?”.   It became evident that the cupcakes were so popular and that they needed to make a decision.  Maureen’s thought was, “Can we make a living making just cupcakes?”  They decided that if cupcakes were going to be the business, then they were going to make sure that their cupcakes were the best they could be.   So with their trademark quality and integrity…Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes was born!