Frosted by Nola a Chip Off Old Block
Seventh-grader Nola Shapiro is baking up a storm of sweetness.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Nola is a chip off the old block. Chocolate chip, that is. Atlanta Eats entrepreneur and foodie Steak Shapiro is seeing his home kitchen doing double duty as daughter Nola parlays her childhood passion for baking into selling rich, gooey delectables while helping hospital workers.
Nola, whose name stems from her parents’ Louisiana roots, said, “A family friend connected me to the nurses, working so hard at Northside Hospital. Here we are housebound wanting to show appreciation to them while I am baking for other people. So it made sense to put it all together,” said the seventh grader at The Galloway School.
“Putting it all together” means Nola is operating a pickup-delivery dessert business out of her house attached to her website, Frostedbynola.com, offering a variety of cheesecakes, cupcakes, brownies and cookies. Depending on the day of the week, Mom or Dad drives the goodies to areas around their Brookhaven home. Here’s the tikkun olam connection: for every two items Nola sells, one item is donated to nurses. “We actually let the nurses request what they want from our list ahead of time. Of course we can’t go inside the hospital, so we line up the boxes in the parking lot. Upon placing retail orders, we also ask customers if they would like to buy an extra item for a nurse. This is really a unique situation we are all in right now.”
Nola, who only bakes with turquoise tools out of a superstition tied with her success, has been making desserts since she was 5 years old. She uses her two siblings as taste testers.
Frosted by Nola is upping its game by improving packaging (turquoise, blue and pink), rolling out professional stickers and labels, and ordering more substantially structured boxes to allow for long distance shipping.
“I eventually want to go to culinary school, but in the shorter term, I have to decide how to fit all this in when school starts back in the fall.”
It’s also beneficial to have such an outgoing marketing dad. He handles the Facebook and social media and is helping Nola start a mini-series, “Baking With Nola,” using his Atlanta Eats website to drive awareness. She also has YouTube videos.
Nola promotes her best item as chocolate chip cookies made with a few secrets she won’t reveal. Tips she will share are: “Take your butter and eggs out before to get to room temperature. Also make the dough in advance so it can be chilled and hold its shape.” She prefers semi-sweet chocolate morsels as some customers find milk chocolate to be too sweet. Price is $12 for a dozen. “I use a family recipe for cheesecake, featuring the classic and key lime for $30 each. I strive for perfect cakes. Handling the frosting can be difficult. I’m a mocha girl. Mocha mousse, mocha cupcakes. I’d pick chocolate over vanilla, BUT I can do yummy vanilla things also!” she says.
If you’re not drooling by now, some other options are “Go Dawgs Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies,” “Sur la Table” almond cookies, customizable sugar cookies, chocolate layer cake (choice of two or three layers), “Ice Cream Cone Dip Cake,” and “Bless Your Southern Style Pecan Pie,” at $20. Everything is baked “with a special hug from Nola.” A fun one is “Diet Starts Monday Fudge Brownies” with the option of adding sea salt caramel and toasted pecans. The cheesecake is called “Fuggetabouit.” Bet Dad had a hand in that name!
Currently there is a $5 delivery charge to Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Buckhead. “We go about 10 miles from our home for delivery,” Nola says. “Can’t beat that!”
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