[Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: ANDREW KEELAN/Senior Staff Photographer James Gray of Dozen Cupcakes bakes more than 3,000 of the frosted treats every week. The Squirrel Hill store boasts a slew of exotic flavors and titles. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: ANDREW KEELAN/Senior Staff Photographer Dustin Perry, a Dozen employee, prepares and packages the miniature creations with utmost care. [Click to enlarge]

Dozen Cupcakes
1707 Murray Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
412-420-5135

Everyone knows cupcakes - those tiny, frosted muffin-like treats wrapped in wax paper. Yet, while anyone can pick up a box of Duncan Hines cake mix and bake a batch, nobody really understands cupcakes like James Gray. After all, ever since Gray opened Dozen Cupcakes in Squirrel Hill less than a year ago, he's been baking thousands per week.

"I bake every single day that we're open," says Gray, sitting at one of the three tiny tables in his minimalist bakery. "In an average week, give or take 3,000 cupcakes." Gray never imagined that he would be baking the most popular confections this side of Manhattan's Magnolia Bakery. For a while, he thought he'd given up baking for good.

While attending The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, James Gray wanted to become a chef. After several post-graduation stints as a baker, however, Gray decided he was finished with the fast-paced world of kitchen work.

The Chicago native moved to Pittsburgh for a change of pace, planning on using his master's degree in education to become a teacher.

"I had no intention of getting back into the restaurant business," he admits, but says he fell back on his culinary training "really just because I couldn't find a job." Gray didn't waste any time, either; he took about six weeks from the conception of his cupcake bakery to opening the doors for business on Murray Avenue, in a former incense and Eastern imports shop.

On its first day open, Dozen sold out within two and a half hours, and business has hardly slowed down. "It just sort of snowballed…we developed a reputation really quickly," Gray says.

After sampling Grey's work, it's easy to understand Dozen's instant popularity. The flavors, which rotate daily, range from the traditional to the elaborate. In the same day, one can sample the immaculate Vanilla Vanilla - creamy vanilla frosting on a vanilla cupcake, Gray's own favorite - and The Elvis, a Nutella-filled banana cupcake topped with peanut butter buttercream frosting. From Rocky Road to the cocktail-inspired Cosmo, each unique combination of flavors is the creation of Gray and his staff, a collective group of innovative minds whose creativity Gray encourages. A girl behind the counter jokes that they're working on a bacon-and-eggs flavored breakfast cupcake, and while one fellow staffer laughs with her, another takes a moment to seriously consider the possibility of such a treat.

Gray understands that there is more to Dozen's success than the cupcakes themselves. He strongly values the Pittsburgh community, particularly Squirrel Hill. After scoping out locations across the city, he chose the neighborhood for its high traffic and proximity to local universities, and he has a deep appreciation for the youthful energy that gravitates toward his shop.

"Pittsburgh is going through a renaissance…an environment has to be created that is exciting for young people to stay," he says. As Gray has found, his hip bakery is a step in the right direction. "It's an experience for people … getting a group of friends together and coming to the bakery and choosing your favorite or trying something new," Gray says. "It's exciting, and it's fun for a lot of people, especially young people."

To show his appreciation for the local students who have helped Dozen thrive, Gray is having a back-to-school sale on Wednesday, Sept. 5. Anyone with a valid student I.D. can buy one of Gray's gourmet cakes for $1, less than half the usual price. There's no better time to head to the corner of Forbes and Murray; you can try a Tiffany-blue, lemon-flavored Emily cupcake or even Asteroids!, an astronomical blast of chocolate topped with Cocoa-Puffs in vanilla frosting.

Dozen's popularity is well-deserved, so don't expect these discounted delicacies to last until closing time. If you miss out, worry not; Gray plans on opening a second location soon, making his miniature masterpieces even easier to find.

"I definitely want to expand in the Pittsburgh area…it will be a much bigger operation," Gray says with a laugh, glancing around the curiously compact shop. "But you don't need a ton of space." Clearly, if anyone knows, it's him.

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