Maya McFadden Photo
Katalina Riegelmann is looking to whip the flavors of New Haven into a tasty cupcake to bring light and airy fun to locals amidst the continuing difficulties of Covid.
Her Katalina’s Bakery and Coffee Shop at 74 Whitney Ave. is looking for the perfect New Haven Cupcake —and asking the public’s help.
Riegelmann (pictured) is looking to introduce a cupcake that represents the city with the help of New Haveners themselves to come up with the recipe.
Bakers are asked to submit their cupcake recipe with an explanation about their choice of flavors, frostings, or toppings and how they represent New Haven via this email address.
Thirty entiries will be accepted for the contest by Oct. 18. Riegelmann will narrow the applicants down to 12 contenders, then bake 100 cupcake kits with samples of each. The kits will be distributed for free out of the shop on Oct. 24 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
Voting for the contest will end on Oct. 25. The winning cupcake recipe will be added to Katalina’s menu, and the winner will get one free New Haven Cupcake each week for a year.
This will be Katalina’s third contest since its start nine years ago. In its first year, Riegelmann hosted a “Yale Bulldog Cupcake” contest for Yale students. During that contest Riegelmann received more than 30 submissions. The winning cupcake, which is sold daily in the shop, is made with cayenne pepper, raspberry filling, and Nutella frosting.
In an effort to welcome back the Yale campus community after the hectic summer, Riegelmann recently hosted a “Boola Boola Brownie” contest. The winning Yale student’s hazelnut brownie is made with an espresso infused cream cheese frosting, swirled with chocolate hazelnut. It will be introduced at the shop this month.
For the new contest, Riegelmann hopes to see flavor combinations from all parts of the city, she said — from Yale’s international students to city staff to neighborhoods families at learning hubs.
Like many other small buisnesses, Katalina’s closed for a while due to Covid-19. Riegelmann is still working on getting business back to normal.
“I’ve worked too hard for this disease to take me down,” she said.
When New Haven’s Covid cases peaked and her shop was closed, Riegelmann decided to continue baking and supplied a entire floor of Yale hospital workers with homemade, warm breakfast treats each morning.
When Katalina’s returned with a soft reopening one day a week, Riegelmann recalled serving many customers who were picking up some sweet treats for friends and family who needed a pick me up.
“I remembered this is exactly what I started all this for, to bring happiness and smiles,” Riegelmann said.
As of Wednesday Riegelmann has recieved four submissions, with some having to do with residents’ Italian heritiage and another highlighting New Haven’s pizza.
“This is creating community, one cupcake at a time,” Riegelmann said.