Like most people, I have a fondness for baked goods.  In fact, my husband and I used to own a bakery many, many years ago.  We specialized in cheesecakes and created over 40 flavors at our shop.  We still put our aprons on every now and then and I can practically bake a Mocha Toffee Crunch cheesecake in my sleep.   I feel very at home in a bakery and can appreciate the time and effort that goes into baking.  From the use of quality ingredients to the beautiful garnishing’s, I love it all!  So, it is no wonder I was excited to visit the darling cupcake shop used in The Sweetest Heart.

From Hallmark:

“Maddie is doing everything she can to save her cupcake business. With the help of a handsome investment banker, Maddie’s luck begins to turn around in all aspects of her life. However, when her first love Nate unexpectedly returns home after 14 years, she will have to choose between a new romance and the man she never stopped loving”.

After watching the movie, I reached out to Jennifer at Frosting Cupcakery in Langley.  She has been managing the shop for the last 3 ½ years and is super easy to chat with and was very forthcoming with info on filming of The Sweetest Heart.  I couldn’t wait to see the inside of this shop because it was so inviting on screen.  And it is really cute in person!  From the bright colors and large framed wall art to the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the sweet aroma of freshly baked cupcakes…..sigh!

 

The shop has been open since 2009 and in its current location for the last six years.  They make everything from scratch, not a mix, and the cupcakes are perfectly moist, delicious and loaded with frosting.  (is there any other kind?)  I sampled several mini-cupcakes, which included Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Vanilla, and Cotton Candy. They were all yummy!

But my FAVE item has got to be the Cheddar Chive Buttermilk Scones, which are absolutely a-ma-zing!!!  Seriously, they are SO, so good and I have a lot of love for cheddar scones! They also serve sandwiches, cold beverages, and coffee drinks and even offer gluten-free cupcakes!

As I have mentioned many times before, Langley is a very popular filming area.  Jennifer says it is not uncommon for location scouts to drop by the shop and have a look around.  And like everywhere else I have interviewed, sometimes you hear back and sometimes you don’t.  For The Sweetest Heart, location scouts walked in one day, followed up again the next day, and the shop was chosen as the location for the movie.  Boom!

The film crew was there for about a week and Jennifer says they really could not have been nicer.  I love hearing comments like this because I think production crews typically have a rep for being demanding and perhaps a bit difficult to work with.  Since I have been interviewing for the stories here on my blog, I have heard such positive and wonderful things about film crews, and this one was no exception.  Jennifer shared that the crew called staff by name, and even invited them to have a meal at craft services every day.  She and two other employees shared the role of film liaison and the days were incredibly long and sometimes repetitive, not uncommon during filming.  It is even more remarkable that under that kind of strain, the cast & crew remained respectful and friendly, even joking around with the staff.   And I continue to hear this every time I interview.

Jennifer was very surprised when I reached out because she wasn’t aware the movie had even come out yet, because Hallmark Channel isn’t available in Canada.    So she and store employees looked it up on YouTube and I hear everyone was pretty excited to see it.  I couldn’t help but tell her my own personal story about the filming.  You may recall, a couple months ago, I wrote about meeting Lori Laughlin during the filming of an upcoming Garage Sale Mystery movie.  Afterwards, I headed over to the set of The Sweetest Heart because I had REALLY wanted to meet  Andrea Brooks, Julie Gonzalo, and Tammy Gillis. (hey girls!)  Sadly, it was literally pouring buckets of rain when I drove by, so much so that I couldn’t even get out of my car OR roll down the window to snap a quick set pic!!!  True story!  It was awful. 🙁

One of the “sweetest” things I heard about the shoot, was something Julie Gonzalo did.  I’m told she personally hired a coffee cart to come to set and treated everyone to coffee, including the bakery staff.  What an incredible gesture!!!  Jennifer also shared with me a few little fun, behind-the-scenes details, which of course I just love!  The menu board we see in the movie is the actual one on the wall at Frosting Cupcakery.  But crews used the backside of the menu board to create their own, using the movies ‘Cupcakes & Coffee Café’ name and logo.  Since the backside was already blank, it was the perfect size without having to have a new one made just for the movie.

In the movie, shop owner Maddie wants to expand her café.  In reality, this bakery is quite roomy, so production built a wall to make the place smaller.

And they placed paper in the windows to make part of the building appear vacant, as in the storyline, and hung ‘For Lease’ signs on the windows.  But regular patrons of Frosting Cupcakery saw the signs and began calling the store, concerned they had closed down.  Jennifer fielded several of those calls herself, she recalls with a chuckle.

Another fun thing to look for in the movie is the shelving that holds framed photos.  If you look closely, you will see that several of the photos are actually duplicates that were printed in different sizes and framed.

Some of the wall art and glass domed pedestals that adorn the shop are from filming.  And the adorable hot-pink cupcake signs on the doors are also leftover props.  And SO, so cute!!!

Special thanks to Jennifer for her time and great company for this story.  Frosting Cupcakery is located at 20411 Fraser Hwy in Langley, BC.  They are open Tuesday thru Sunday and are closed on Monday. Best sellers include the Red Velvet Cupcake and the Blueberry Scone.  Play it safe and get both.  And when you’re there, tell them you’ve scene it on Hallmark!

The podcast I was recently a guest on can be heard here.  We discussed the Hallmark movie, Home by Spring.  Many thanks to The Bubbly Sesh for the invite!  It was a fun experience!!!

This Saturday, don’t miss the all new Hallmark Spring Fever movie, Once Upon a Prince.  And on Sunday, there is a new episode of WCTH.  Thank you so much for your support each week and for stopping by today.  I will be back next week with another Hallmark film location!

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