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Photography by Jonathan Pollack
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Origins: Stefani Pollack develops dessert recipes—for cookies, brownies, candies, and ice cream, but mostly for unusual cupcakes, with 250 recipes on her blog, Cupcake Project (cupcakeproject.com), which she established in 2007. Queried about the blog’s widespread success, she credits “good timing” and “extreme content.”
Recognition: Her pickle–and–ice cream cupcake, created while she was pregnant, appeared in People. Her waffle cones made Saveur’s website; the lasagna cupcake was in Self; the Cupcakewurst (a cupcake inside sausage casing) was in Bon Appétit. Her Buffalo-chicken Super Bowl cupcakes hit CNN.com, and she regularly has recipes published in Parade online.
Homework: Since Pollack doesn’t sell her products, her baking is done at home, a few times a week. Unlike many home creatives, Pollack has an unclut-
tered dining-room table, but the kitchen counters are “just the opposite.” Her 4-year-old son, Myles, prefers cupcake batter—as in licking
the beaters—to eating actual cupcakes.
Traditions: “I very rarely make a cupcake more than once, but I like to do sufganiyah [filled drop donuts] during the holidays,” she says. “That recipe came from my nursery-school cookbook.” And many projects have benefited charities: For instance, only donors to FilterPure initially got her recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hat cupcakes.
An Unusual Combo: When ABC-TV’s The Chew noticed Pollack’s chocolate-chip-cookie grilled-cheese sandwich, she sent photos and instructions. “It’s just cheese melted between two chocolate-chip cookies,” she confessed, “but that combination is surprisingly good.” Co-host Mario Batali called it “delicious…it’s really good.” Pollack says it’s even better with Pavé du Nord, a deep-flavored, quick-melting cheese.
