Amanda Wright has always had a passion for baking.
When she was 17 years old she made cupcakes for her brother’s birthday, and her brother told her he always wanted her to make his birthday cakes.
“I thought they were silly because I always create a story on my cupcakes,” said Wright, originally from Waupaca.
She eventually moved to Los Angeles to go to school to fulfill her dream of working in the fashion industry.
She secured a job in the industry and traveled the world. She also continued baking, bringing cupcakes to work to share with co-workers.
“There is something about it. People just jump up and down, squeal and get so excited when I create them, this little edible piece of art,” Wright said. “I kept doing it, and more and more people kept asking me for orders.”
After seven years in California, Wright returned to Waupaca after her mom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and her dad also became very sick.
“I needed to come back to my roots and get my balance. It was supposed to be a temporary thing,” Wright said. “Right before I left, my boss told me, ‘Amanda, I see you opening up this cupcake business more than anything else. Delivering cupcakes to the world; driving your cupcake mobile and wearing a little apron.’ It was one of those moments that inspired me.”
Wright said after she moved back home she just started baking. She baked cupcakes for people who were ill to make them feel better.
“It turned into a charity thing where I baked things to make people happy,” Wright said.
Little did Wright know, but these events were the beginnings of what would become her sole job and business – Amanda Cupcake.
“I look at it as, I still work in fashion but I dress cupcakes instead of people,” Wright said.
She got her food processing license and started renting the kitchen at Cronies in Waupaca. Amanda Cupcake was born in May 2011, and Wright was in Wisconsin to stay.
“It just shows you that no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can make anything happen as long as you dream it,” Wright said.
Wright said she has made almost monthly appearances the last two years on the Cooking with Amy show on WLUK in Green Bay.
She was also asked to audition for the TV show Cupcake Wars, which is aired on the Food Network. Unfortunately she wasn’t asked to be on the show.
“It was still a big honor that they called in the first place,” Wright said.
Wright got her big break last spring when she was selling her cupcakes at the WDUX Home Show in Waupaca. She met Jane Mulroy, owner of Irish Acres just outside of New London on Highway 45.
Wright said Mulroy had wanted to start her own business in the farmhouse located at Irish Acres, but never did.
“The second she saw me she knew what she wanted to turn her farmhouse into,” Wright said.
Wright and Mulroy came to an agreement that Wright would operate Amanda Cupcake out of the farmhouse.
“I call her my fairy godmother because she granted me this wish. I’d been praying for a long time that something would come …. I was at the point where I needed something, someone to come through for me,” Wright said.
The grand opening for Amanda Cupcake in the farmhouse, which Wright calls “Cupcake Mansion,” will be, Saturday, Oct. 20.
“I want this place, even though it’s kind of off the beaten path, I want it to become a tourist attraction in Wisconsin,” Wright said. “I’m going to do some creative stuff in here.”