East Bay baker launches new dessert spots — psst, there’s more than cupcakes there

A Danville cupcake shop is now offering a wider range of desserts, and it’s got a new sister location in Pleasant Hill.

After five years in business operating as a franchise of Smallcakes in Danville, owner Nisha Kanakarajan of San Ramon made some big changes this year. In April, she spun out the bakery into her own brand, Batter ‘N Icing, and in May, she opened a second location in Pleasant Hill.

Kanakarajan, an engineer and former IT professional, had always been an avid home baker when she encountered Smallcakes in 2018.

“I was looking for an outlet to be able to feed more people,” she says. “I hadn’t gone to culinary school and … was looking for a brand that would help me get started.”

Now she’s striking out on her own, launching her own shops and expanding her dessert offerings.

“It feels like there’s more of me in it,” she says.

The menu includes the requisite cakes and cupcakes but also blondies, brownies, cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels, fruit tarts and more. There are also daily signature cupcakes – one for each weekday – and monthly cupcake specials. August’s special flavor is strawberry lemonade.

“It gives me a bigger palette to paint with,” she says.

As a baker who believes in letting her customers “eat with their eyes first,” the desserts are carefully decorated, each cupcake topped with precise, delicate frosting swirls.

While cupcakes and other desserts are available to walk-in customers, cakes are made-to-order. (Place those orders at least 48 to 72 hours in advance; for busy weekends, one to two weeks out is preferred.)