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When the Boyds opened their quaint, French-inspired eatery Mustard Seed Bistro, they underestimated the potential of Lara’s baking because it was her husband, Tim, who was at the culinary helm whipping up bison tenderloins or tomato risottos with mushrooms. But within the first year, Lara began to experiment with recipes and would bake a batch of 15 cupcakes every day.
Four years later, Lara now bakes almost ten times that many cupcakes a day and sells out before close. Sometimes, customers walk in and head straight to the bar to place an order of cupcakes without even glancing at the menu. Her husband, of course, playfully rolls his eyes at her cupcakes’ quick success and supports her completely.
Lara has received offers to appear on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and multiple cookbook deals. But Lara prefers to keep her cupcakes a hobby and not a career so that it stays fun and allows her plenty of time to take care of her four children.
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Tim and Lara Boyd have been married for 12 years. Tim has been a chef for 30 years and has traveled all over the country on his culinary endeavors until he and Lara settled down in a quiet neighborhood in Plantation to raise a family.
Since her husband is expected at the restaurant to cook, Lara wakes up early to take the kids to school by 7:30 a.m. After dropping them off, Lara stops by the eatery and conjures up three to five flavors of cupcakes she feels like baking that day.
The café opens for lunch at 11 a.m. and by 11:30 a.m., Lara and co-cupcake chef Allison King have made around 150 cupcakes.
“We make everything from scratch,” Lara says. “Now, one or two of our secret ingredients are store-bought, but that’s it.”
Lara is creative with her cupcake flavors. Her first and best-selling cupcake
is the pistachio. The recipe is premised off her sister’s mother-in-law’s pistachio bundt cake. Red velvet and the strawberry shortcake cookie cupcakes are also customer favorites.
According to Lara, there is no inventory of her recipes. Instead she peers into the kitchen’s pantry and improvises with the ingredients. Blue cobbler cupcake, banana chocolate chip cupcake, and coconut apricot macaroon cupcake are some of the more complex recipes. There is also the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cupcake, which is a take on the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor of the same name. Lara’s iteration contains Oreo cookies, chocolate chips, candy pecan, white chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookie, and caramel oozing in the center.
“Sometimes customers will come in to place an order and be like ‘Can I have the cupcake I had when I was here two days ago?'” Lara says. “And I won’t know what to say, because I really can’t keep all the recipes straight. I don’t remember. There are 12 different ways to make any of my cupcakes.”
Cupcakes are not the eatery’s main revenue even though all the baked goods sell out by the end of the day. Lara estimates that patrons might try one cupcake but then take a few home for themselves or family. But once they try one, they return for more.
But Lara says she would never branch out to the Food Network or launch a cookbook deal. She’s afraid it will disturb the happy momentum of her day-to-day life.
“I eat a cupcake every day,” Lara jokes. “But my kids don’t even care. They prefer Publix cupcakes. How can I compete with a cupcake that comes with a toy? But I’m cool with it.”
