BOLDFACERS

Sweet Tooth Cravings

Courtney has a wicked sweet tooth. “For that, I stalk Sugar Heaven,” she tells us. Malt balls, jellybeans, Gummi bears stock the shelves. “Bon Jovi is blaring and it’s impossible to leave without buying some treat,” Courtney says. Well that’s the point, right?

Sugar Heaven
218 Newbury Street
Boston
(617) 266-6969
www.sugarheaven.us

Great Gift Cards -- and more

The first floor of Louis might as well be a candy store. Luxe pillows and sculptural lamps and a too-cool-for-school DJ bar satisfy any shopper’s must-buy-something-now craving. For Courtney, the stationery by Mrs. John L. Strong is irresistible. “The stationery are little treasures,” she says. “The packaging is gorgeous.” She’s in good company: world leaders and celebrities alike are said to be huge fans of the hand-engraved, hand-dyed stationary.

Louis Boston
234 Berkeley Street
Boston
(617) 262-6100
http://www.louisboston.com/

Best-Dressed

Courtney occasionally writes a fashion column for Boston Common magazine, spotlighting some of the city’s best style finds. One of her favorite boutiques is Dress on Newbury Street. “The owners are always super friendly and honest,” Courtney says. “They are great at picking out functional clothes with a twist.” Vena Cava, Phillip Lim and Vanessa Bruno are some of the shop’s most popular lines.

Dress
221 Newbury Street
Boston
(617) 424-7125
www.dressboston.com

Cult of the Cupcakes

Keywords: Epicurean

Entrepreneur

Business

Chef

Courtney Forrester walks into our photo studio wearing a lavender sheath highlighted by her pale yellow hair. Nice look, we think. Simple. Elegant. She opens a box of her freshly baked cupcakes: lemon and periwinkle frosting top dainty vanilla cake. Simple, we think. Elegant. Then, it hits us:

My God, she is the human form of one of her cupcakes.

Sweeeeeeet. And Sweet, the name of her new ladylike cupcake shop on Massachusetts Avenue in the Back Bay. Forrester is new to the bakery trade, but a veteran in all things sophisticated and refined. The Minneapolis native arrived in Boston to study communications at Boston University and quickly applied her skills in the public relations departments at some of the city’s swankiest institutions: Winston Flowers, the Boston Ballet, the Four Seasons hotel and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. With each move came a promotion, along with a critical understanding of the importance of quality and customer service.

Off-hours, Courtney and her husband, Michael, an investment banker, would entertain. The entrée? Easy. The dessert? Not so much. Courtney couldn’t find a decent cupcake. Couldn’t buy one. Couldn’t make one. The girl was almost becoming sour about this conundrum until she realized she’d struck a bitter truth about Boston: cupcakes were missing in action. So, in the ultimate public relations move, she solved the crisis by opening up her own shop.

Lace-embellished peach, purple, ecru and mocha frostings; chocolate and vanilla cakes; bumble bees and monkey motifs—Courtney cooked up a world of cupcakes, along with the help of head baker Jennifer Warshaw and decorator Karen Venezia. Though it’s only been open to the public for a few days, Sweet has already supplied delicacies for private parties at Harvard University, Ralph Lauren boutique and proper children’s parties in Beacon Hill. Her shop offers same-day deliveries, custom orders and wedding-favor designs. If you pop in, you’ll see Courtney, dressed in a whimsical confection, big smile on her face, and sweet as can be. Just like her cupcakes.

Sweet
49 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston
(617) 247-CAKE
www.sweetcupcakes.com