BabyCakes is a sweetheart of a business

It's that wonderful time of year when greeting card racks throb pink and red, teddy bears leer from seasonal merchandise displays and long-stemmed roses prick customers in checkout lanes. Ouch.

Given the assignment of producing something Valentine's Day-related, this incorrigibly unromantic reporter set out in search of a business to write lovingly about. A tip from Brown's Bakery (a subject of a previous column) set the car on a course for 153 Patchen Drive, home of the locally owned and operated, full-time cupcakery called BabyCakes Cupcakes.

Stop in the name of love: OK, so the space is cute and cozy and smells good. That's lovable. There's a board listing the day's special cupcake flavors: hot chocolate, pink lemonade, cherry vanilla vodka ... Mmmm. Here comes the proprietress from behind a curtain. She looks happy.

Cupcake hostess: Tricia Clemons introduces herself as the owner (with her husband) and driving force behind BabyCakes. On this visit, it's the end of many hours in the kitchen, and she settles onto a stool to talk. "I haven't sat down all day," she says.

Crazy love: Hoping to find a kindred spirit, I immediately dig deep, encouraging Clemons to spill her true feelings about Valentine's Day. "I love Valentine's Day. It's the only day all year that's focused on love," she says sweetly. Darn! She adds that this will be her first Valentine's Day at the shop, which opened last April, and "I hope it gets crazy."

All play and no work: It's late in the afternoon when Clemons can finally relax — "the ovens go off at 5" — after getting started about 7 a.m., four hours before the shop opens. On Saturdays, when there are special events on top of the regular cupcake production, her day begins around 4 a.m., she says.

Clemons does it all — cooking, decorating, washing, taking orders. But most of all, she plays. "I'm still 5 when it comes to making things," says the 33-year-old entrepreneur. "I can't think of anything more fun than making cupcakes all day long."

For love or money: Clemons' working life hasn't always been so fun. The Western Kentucky University marketing and computer major used to do accounting at a local real estate company. "But as you get older you realize that money isn't everything," she says, and "I had wanted to start my own business once I entered my 30s."

True confessions: So did this idea spring from an early love affair with an Easy-Bake Oven? "I never learned to cook until my mid-20s," she confesses. Was there an excessive fondness for Hostess products as a child? "My dad had a serious addiction to Little Debbie cakes, and my grandmother made no-bake cookies that I was absolutely addicted to," but Mom could make anything out of nothing, she says, so the house had plenty of home-baked treats.

That same mom and dad helped turn the rented space into a bakery, building cabinets and painting, so Clemons says she feels the love every day she comes to work.

Counting only the happy hours: Exactly how much fun can one woman have? "I usually bake between 100 and 200 cupcakes on weekdays, and more on weekends." Clemons makes everything fresh from scratch each day, so you'll never get a day-old cupcake. The last hour Tuesdays through Thursdays is Happy Hour, when any remaining unsold cupcakes are half-price. Depending on the day, you might even get a bourbon or margarita cupcake for a dollar.

The jury finds this pleasure less guilty: What is it about cupcakes lately? When did they go from being mainly called into service for classroom birthdays to having their own show on the Food Network? "Cupcakes grew up," says Clemons. She attributes their popularity to their petite proportions. "There's not a gigantic cake sitting on the counter making people feel guilty. Instead of a huge cake you get a variety. You can do more flavor combinations." Customer favorites include red velvet — "It's just heaven," says Clemons — white chocolate raspberry and cookie dough.

Mushy stuff: One look at her Web site, www.bb-cakes.com, and it becomes painfully clear: Clemons is an incurable romantic. There are cupcakes with names like Autumn Love Affair, Poconos Pleasure, Fairytale Romance and Elvis and Priscilla — banana cupcakes topped with peanut-butter buttercream icing.

"My husband and I like to argue over the names," she says. "He calls that one The King."

And for an extra quarter each and a day's notice, she'll decorate the tops with any design or figure, sculpted from fondant, a mushy, marzipanlike mixture. She's created sexy-fairy cupcakes, French maid cupcakes, pink teddy (not the bear) cupcakes, turtles, hedgehogs — even a set of True Blood-inspired cupcakes.

Cupcakes conquer all: Would Clemons be willing to humor a member of the anti-Valentine's Day set by topping a cupcake with, say, Cupid shot down by an arrow, or a wilted rose?

"I would totally do it, but I hope that everyone has someone they love," she says, whether it's a significant other, a significant mother, brother, friend or dog. (BabyCakes cooks up treats for canines, too.)

In other words, even if all the Valentine's Day hype has you longing for a saucy little guy named Jose Cuervo, there's somebody out there who'd just love to hear you say those three little words: Have a cupcake.