Our story
A small bakery that grew up slowly.
The Cupcake Desire began in 2012 with a secondhand oven, six flavors, and the firm belief that a good cupcake should taste like someone’s grandmother made it. We’re still that small bakery — just with a better oven.
Boxed with care
Every box, hand-finished.
From the display case to your door — each dozen is hand-frosted with soft buttercream and packed so the swirl still looks like it left the piping bag five minutes ago.
A letter from the founder
On the first cupcake we ever sold.
In June 2012 we rented a 200 sq.ft. kitchen behind an old bookshop in Narre Warren. The oven was secondhand, the menu was six flavours, and the only marketing we had was a chalkboard out front that said “cupcakes today.”
The first cupcake we ever sold was a red velvet to a woman named Margaret on her way to her granddaughter’s birthday. She paid in coins, asked us to write “happy 7th” on a sticky note, and said she’d come back if it was any good.
She came back the next week. So did her daughter. So did her daughter’s book club. Six years later we’re still in Narre Warren, still hand-piping every swirl, still writing names on sticky notes. We never wanted to be a factory — we wanted to be the bakery your friend recommends.
That’s the whole job. Thank you for ordering from us — whether it’s your first time or your fiftieth.
Rupal
Rupal Mahajan · Founder & head baker
The counter · 352 Princes Hwy, Narre Warren
What we live by
Four ideas we’ve never budged on.
- 01
Freshness over scale
We cap each flavour at sixty cupcakes a day. Once it’s sold out, it’s sold out — tomorrow brings the next batch.
- 02
People over process
Every order is touched by a person, not a packing line. If something’s off, a real human reads your email and answers it.
- 03
Quality without compromise
Real butter, single-origin vanilla, farm eggs, Belgian chocolate. If we can’t pronounce an ingredient, we don’t use it.
- 04
Care in every detail
From the hand-piped swirl on top to the ribbon on the box — we sweat the small stuff so you don’t have to.
Inside the kitchen
A day at 352 Princes Hwy.
Some bakeries bake before close. We bake before sunrise — here’s how a regular Wednesday goes.
- 4:00 AM
Lights on, ovens up
Rupal is in first. Coffee, playlist, ovens pre-heating to 165°C. The dough that was prepped last night comes out to soften.
- 5:30 AM
First batch in
Today’s flavours go in by category — vanillas, chocolates, signatures — on rotation. Browned butter starts foaming.
- 7:00 AM
Frosting
Italian meringue buttercream gets whipped in the Hobart for twenty minutes. Cherries pitted, berries hulled, mint picked.
- 8:30 AM
Piping starts
Every swirl is hand-piped — no two cupcakes ever look identical, and that’s the point.
- 10:00 AM
Boxing the day’s orders
Today’s online orders — placed three days ago — get hand-boxed, ribbon-tied, and labelled for their drivers.
- 2:00 PM
Couriers roll out
Vans head out across Melbourne. Custom event boxes for weddings and corporate gigs are routed first.
- 8:00 PM
Prep tomorrow
Last delivery van returns. Dough for tomorrow gets mixed and rested. Counter wiped, ovens off, lights low.
The no-go list
Six things you won’t find in our kitchen.
We’d rather say no than say yes badly. Here’s where we draw the line.
No powdered cake mix
No artificial colouring
No premix frosting from tubs
No day-old cupcakes
No "we’ll make it work" custom orders we can’t actually do well
No corner-cutting on dietary versions
How to order from us
We’re an online-only kitchen.
There’s no walk-in store at the kitchen — every box is baked to order and routed straight to your door. That keeps us tiny, careful, and able to say yes to custom event work we couldn’t do over a counter.
- Lead time
- 3 days minimum
on every order - Custom events
- Allow a week
for weddings & corporate - Delivery
- Melbourne metro by our own couriers. Victoria-wide for event orders on request.
- Customer support
- Mon — Sat, replies within a working day. WhatsApp for quick questions.
Order today, bake
Day +2
fresh from the oven, never from a shelf
- Day 0You place the order online
- Day 1We bake the sponges, whip the buttercream
- Day 2Hand-piped, boxed, on the road to you
Custom events follow a separate planning timeline
Now that you know us
Try the cupcakes that started it all.
Six flavours on opening day. Today, twenty-four — with one new release every season. Start with a classic.