Essex Eats

The walls are three different shades of pink. A mural by local screen printers New Duds depicts smiling desserts. To complete the cute overload, when My Little Cupcake [1] opened in the Essex Town Shopping Center last week, visitors found plenty of little cupcakes.

Michelle Trudell [2]’s baked goods have been farmers-market staples for two years and are hard to keep on shelves at Burlington-area gourmet groceries. When fellow baker Stephanie Lacayo emailed Trudell with the idea of starting a My Little Cupcake store together, it didn’t matter that the women had never met. They founded a business that Trudell says is now booming.

“It’s been crazy. Amazing,” she says. The pair has been working 15-hour days to keep their own store and wholesale clients stocked. Each day, shoppers find 12 different flavors of tiny cakes from among Trudell’s 60 varieties. Maple-bacon — only available Saturday — and salted caramel have been the runaway hits. The store also has full-size cupcakes, whoopie pies and cookies in flavors including peanut-butter-bacon. French-pressed coffee from Black River Roasters keeps sweet tooths warm. Trudell says she hopes to invest in an espresso machine by spring.

Essex foodies have something to look forward to after dessert. The committee behind the Five Corners Farmers Market will debut its “Winter Sustainability Series” [3] on January 13 with local food samples and a discussion of Michael Pollan’s Food Rules. Upcoming events include next month’s localvore dinner prepared by Chef Courtney Contos [4] and a discussion with Ben Hewitt, author of The Town That Food Saved [5], in April.