TV icing on cake for young baker

Cupcake Wars participant Nicole Mora isn't sure where she got her entrepreneurial spirit, but she knows she's had it all her life. She's been messing with cupcakes for a long time, too.

"I remember making cheesecake cupcakes and taking them to my swim meets when I was 6 years old," Mora, 25, said with a grin. "I'd set up a card table and sell them to my teammates."

Cupcake competition

First aired on Feb. 8 and now showing on The Food Network in reruns, her episode of Cupcake Wars doesn't show how stressful and hectic filming in Los Angeles was.

"It was fun, exciting, but I worked under pressure," she said. "I think I did pretty well, but there were people and cameras all around you, and I kept bumping into them."

She didn't believe it when she got the phone call inviting her to the show.

"They asked if I could get an audition tape to them. I said, 'Sure,'" Mora said. "They said, 'OK, good, get it to us in the next day or two.' I was frantic."

She talked one of her brothers who works with videos into making her a clip and the next thing she knew, she was on her way to LA, bringing along her father, Federico "Fred" Mora, as an assistant and morale booster.

Fred Mora, 57, who lost his job as a buyer for ocean-going vessels to the recession, was in a position to help her, both financially and physically.

"Each show consists of four bakers creating cupcakes out of ingredients selected for them. Mora made it to the second of the three rounds.

"At first, I just wanted to make it to the next round," she said. "But then when I did, I thought, 'I wanna win this baby!'"

Her father said, "Baking is different from cooking. With cooking, you can taste and add a pinch of this or a pinch of that. Baking is very exacting, and measurements are crucial. It was a heck of an experience."

Plans to move

Mora's Frosted Betty Bake Shop, a small commercial kitchen, is behind 5806 Fourth St. in Old Katy, but soon may be moving to the Cinco Ranch area.

"We'll be moving to a Katy location which will be more accessible," she said. "Where we are now was never meant to be a commercial location. It was a catering kitchen, and it's really small."

Her father found the Katy location in March 2009 "and everything seemed right - the rent was reasonable, the time seemed right, everything. It was an offer I couldn't pass up."

"The name Frosted Betty Bake Shop was meant to convey a vintage air. Our logo is supposed to be a bit old-fashioned, and I like the name Betty. It seemed old-fashioned with a bit of 'pop' to it," Mora explained.

She opened a second location at 833 Studewood in the Heights.

According to Mora, most recipes are handed down from her grandmother and tweaked to her taste.

"We do everything fresh daily," Mora said.

"Even the frostings. Everything is made fresh every morning."

That includes her other products, like wedding cakes. "We're expanding our line. I'm always creating new flavors and new products." I've spent a lot of money experimenting. "

Her menu can be found online at her website, frostedbetty.com.