Cupcakes benefit people in need

Wed, 07/22/2015 - 12:00pm

Judy and Roger Milinowski’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Szele, comes to Boothbay Harbor for four to six weeks each summer with her parents and sister and brother to visit her grandparents. While here, she sails at the yacht club, racing one designs, and plays tennis competitively. And she makes cupcakes.

Elizabeth is in the business of making cupcakes. The 10-year-old entrepreneur, from Greenwich, Connecticut, makes her cupcakes and sells them to benefit Haitian children and others in need of a little assistance.

“I give money to St. Jude’s Hospital; to a place in Greenwich for disabled seniors; and to the group of Haitian children who come to Boothbay Harbor each summer,” she said. “I started my business two years ago, but I've always cooked and made stuff.”

Elizabeth said she came up with her idea at school. “There were a couple of disabled kids at my school and I loved helping them. They would bring me to their special events when they had them. They were so sweet, so I try to be as nice as I can to them.”

The first time she actually made and sold cupcakes was two years ago when a group of Haitian children was performing on the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library lawn. The Hope Haitian Choir is made up of Haitian children and young adults, ages 7 to 15.

“I just went up to them and said, 'You guys did a great job and I hope you keep coming every year because I love your dancing,” Elizabeth said. Last year she made $40 to present to the group.

Elizabeth said she also got inspiration from her mother, Tanya, who has a catering business in Greenwich.

The young entrepreneur said she sells her cupcakes out of a store in Greenwich, among other places. “My friend Maggie's mom has a store called Pasta Vera. She's a really great cook. On St. Patrick's Day, I set up a stand in front of her restaurant during the parade.”

“I sell them all over the place, like sometimes I go to the park. It depends on where I am.”

The name of Elizabeth’s company is Seasonal Treats, and she has her own business card, which she designed, of course.

When she's in Boothbay Harbor, she goes down to the public dock with her covered cupcake container. “I make cookies too, so I take cookies or cupcakes down there and sell them.”

She said her brother, Georgie, who's seven, helps out. “My little brother always goes, 'Sir, ma'am, would you like a cupcake?’”

Her sister, Victoria, 14, helps out too, on the cooking end. Elizabeth said she sometimes uses boxed mixes, but has made up several recipes that she makes from scratch. “I made up a coconut one, and a different strawberry one that involves a lot of ingredients. It depends on what occasion they're for.”

Elizabeth has made cupcakes for a wedding and a baby shower too. The 50 she made for the baby shower were topped with little fondant baby bottles.

She said she knows what she wants to do when she grows up. “When I'm a teenager, like around 16, I want to have a cooking show for teenagers, because that's when they start having a responsibility to cook.”

She is already planning recipes to use for her show. “My dad is Hungarian, so there are lots of good Hungarian treats that I want to make.”

On July 17, Elizabeth was making strawberry cupcakes. They were pink cupcakes with strawberry compote filling, and strawberry frosting made with fresh crushed berries, and topped with a fresh strawberry.

She said she might take them down to the dock to sell.