I was looking forward to sampling Jen’s cupcakes…

I zip over to Jen’s house on my scooter thinking, “I’m looking forward to this interview.” Not only will I get to chat with Jen, who recently moved to Nosara, but I’ll also be sampling freshly baked cupcakes, a double win.

Jen greets me with a big smile and welcomes me into her kitchen. The first cupcake, named Pure Life, is a coconut cake frosted with passionfruit, with toasted coconut sprinkles on top. My sweet tooth calls and the cupcake responds.

Pure Life Cupcake

Next up is the cupcake Jen has named Serendipity. It is made with honey, lemon, and rosemary for the cake and topped with a ginger and turmeric frosting. The perfect combination of savory and sweet, I feel energized and relaxed after a few bites. Which doesn’t surprise Jen one bit.

Jen’s Serendipity Cupcake

“While working at the Zen Cafe, two customers came in the same day, one complaining of body pain and the other suffering from a broken heart. I made them each turmeric, honey, lemon, ginger tea which is an anti-inflammatory and very soothing. And I thought, I should make a cupcake like that.” And so Jen’s Serendipity Cupcake was born.

Like many who come to Nosara, Jen is an eclectic mix of interests. She was raised in Montreal, had a chocolate shop in Vancouver, studied ecology, permaculture, and and then chemistry. “I became obsessed with the chemical serotonin, which produces joy in the human brain,” says Jen. She sees baking as a mix of chemistry and art. You must succeed at both parts for the cupcake to work.

At this point, Jen offers me a Aztec Brownie. I take a couple bites. I’m happy. Jen is happy. We chat a little longer. In the future she may like to have a small bakery. “I’m not interested in mass production,” says Jen. “I love the experience of seeing that joy when someone eats my food.”

Jen Kalman, baker and creator of Jen’s Cupcakes

Jen uses creative ingredient combinations, such as Mango/Avocado cupcakes or Banana/Chocolate Cake with salted peanut butter frosting. Her cupcakes are also gluten-free, and she’s managed to prevent them from being too dense or heavy like some gluten-free products. Why gluten-free, I ask? “I learned to bake gluten-free to accommodate my own digestion, and now in Nosara many customers request gluten-free as well. If my products can be more accessible to a wider range of people, that is awesome for me.”

We chat a bit more about ingredients and chemical reactions, what happens in the human brain and body when one consumes sweetness, when serotonin is released. “I enjoy seeing people’s emotional reactions and also physically affecting them,” says Jen with a grin. I can’t say for sure what happened chemically, but I do leave Jen’s kitchen definitely feeling better than when I arrived.
~

Get some cupcakes!
Jen can be reached at serotonin.cupcakes@gmail.com, or on Facebook here.

Follow Oriana Photography on Facebook.

See Erin & Kalob’s Costa Rica Wedding Post

See Pilates Nosara video post

Copyright ©2012 Oriana Fowler / Oriana Photography