Three years ago, management senior Kyle Anderman sought to fill a hole in Baton Rouge’s gastronomic culture. In a city filled with new restaurants and adventurous culinary endeavors by young, upcoming chefs from New Orleans, he found there was no place where people could find baked goods outside of seasonal king cakes and cakes made for special occasions.
To resolve this issue, Anderman developed the concept of a gourmet bakery specializing in cupcakes in a variety of flavors and collaborated with a law professor to make his dream a reality. The result: Frosted Gourmet Bakery, located on the corner of Nicholson and West Lee drives.
“In one class, we were discussing different ideas for Baton Rouge,” Anderman said. “I noticed that there wasn’t really a big cupcake scene here yet. I thought the LSU area is perfect because there’s a ton of college students. We could put it right in the middle of there and they would eat it up.”
Since starting the enterprise in February 2012, Anderman has seen steady business growth in his shop. Frosted employs mostly student workers as counter clerks and bakers to concoct the signature treats. All of the shop’s cupcakes come from original recipes that Anderman created with the help of a team of food professionals.
“I actually didn’t have any experience baking coming into it,” Anderman said. “My biggest thing was just the business aspect of it all. I had good ideas for marketing, good ideas for what the logo should look like, all of that kind of stuff. The baking part was all after that. We hired a team of culinary experts around Baton Rouge to help us design our menu.”
Anderman decided to add the popular flash-frozen ice cream Dippin’ Dots to the menu. Though not an original idea, the snack’s recognition helps get customers in the door. From there, Frosted caters to the baked goods side of decadence. In a stroke of marketing sense, Anderman figured the ice cream would conjure feelings of nostalgia to his younger clientele.
“I knew that Dippin’ Dots was going to be a huge thing,” Anderman said. “People our age, it kind of brings back memories from our childhood. When you go to fairs or whatever, there were always Dippin’ Dots everywhere. I knew it would be a big hit in the college age range, especially since there’s nothing in Baton Rouge that sells Dippin’ Dots.”
With Halloween landing on Friday, Frosted has seen its annual spike in sales of themed cupcakes. The same goes for the other holidays, like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Anderman has taken a page from American marketing, releasing pumpkin-flavored cupcakes in concurrence with the fall season.
“The store will change,” Anderman said. “We’ll put little ghosts up on the screen [digital menu], and then we’ll put little ghosts on the cupcakes and decorate them for Halloween. The same thing for Christmas. We always like to be very festive as the seasons come along.” 
Unlike most bakeries and confectioneries, the shop is open seven days a week with closing times ranging between 9 and 10 p.m. These late hours mean more nighttime customers, specifically students, can still enjoy the gourmet treats after a long day at school.
“Coming into it, I knew that everybody would come here for dessert,” Anderman said. “I used to go get ice cream and yogurt late at night. That’s kind of what college kids do. I wanted go grab that attention and apply it to a cupcake store.”
Frosted provides large-order options for occasions like birthdays, weddings and corporate meetings as well as typical in-store business. Along with the cupcakes and Dippin’ Dots, Anderman recently partnered with popular New Orleans dessert boutique Sucré to offer a selection of petite macarons.
 As far as Frosted’s future is concerned, Anderman has some ideas about expanding into the chocolate market. Currently in talks with Baton Rouge chocolatiers Chocollage, Anderman hopes to bring his customers more sweets with a cocoa character. Specifically, he sees a rise in male customers coming for more chocolate-oriented gifts around Valentine’s Day.
“I don’t want to confirm it yet, but our next thing we’re going to do is deal with Chocollage,” Anderman said. “We’re going to bring custom, chocolate-type desserts to add to our menu. What I mean by that is chocolate-dipped Oreos, pretzels dipped in chocolate with M&Ms wrapped on. I think that will draw in a different crowd.”
One of Anderman’s biggest aspirations is to one day find a place for Frosted closer to the University’s campus. Currently situated on the far end of Nicholson Drive, Anderman hopes to move from America’s cupcake fad to its food truck obsession.
“One of the biggest things is getting onto LSU’s campus,” Anderman said. “Right now, we have really no relation with LSU. I really want to talk to the guys in charge over there and get our cupcakes or cake balls or something on the campus. Something I’ve thought would be really cool would be a little stack of them in the dining halls.”
Under the direction of Anderman, Frosted Gourmet Bakery brings an assortment of original recipes and twists on old favorites. Two of the shop’s biggest sellers are “Proposal,” a wedding cake cupcake and “Royale Rouge,” Frosted’s take on red velvet. Anderman’s personal favorite is his cookies and cream flavor, which features an entire Oreo cookie at the bottom.
You can reach Gerald Ducote on Twitter @geraldducoteTDR.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Karen Welsh

Frosted Cupcakes Gourmet Bakery located at Nicholson and West Lee drive offers a variety of cupcakes and treats.