Rosemary’s Bakezaria

I purchased this cupcake baking/​decorating class on Living Social. It was very well put together and the cupcakes came out very nicely. Rosemary has some a very lovely team members who made sure to move the class along. We got to make red velvet, vanilla, or chocolate cupcakes from scratch. Very fun :)

I bought this Groupon for myself and a friend of mine since we’ve had no experience with baking. It’s hidden in a strange part of Williamsburg but it’s a cute little spot.
We both enjoyed the class and yes the cupcakes are basic and easy to make but the point of the class is to enjoy making something fun with your friends! you won’t walk out of there and become a pasty chef! I loved the class, it was easy to follow and we had a young lady there (not sure what her name was) who helped us through every step. We even made friends with a group of other girls who were there and just had a good time. Again, this class is for you to enjoy with good company and just have fun making a mess!

I can’t even accurately review this as I’ve never been. I just want to warn people NOT to buy a Groupon to this place. I ordered the «Cake Pops for Two» class… and have emailed them 3 times (no response except for a bounce back that says to actually email the YARN café instead… no response) and can’t even leave a message for the place because their voicemail is full (which says «Please leave a message and we’ll get right back to you immediately. For faster service please email us at @…»
They may have the best baked goods in the world for all I know. Just don’t sign up for classes is you want one anytime in the near future.

Do not buy groupon or living social «deals». When I tried to redeem mine, the inbox on the phone was full, so I couldn’t even leave a message, and no one answered. I sent email, no reply. Living social won’t refund me either, so I spent $ 25 for a class I will never take due to poor customer service.

My friends and I bought a deal to attend a cupcake baking class at Rosemary’s Bakezaria. It was easy to get in touch with Rosemary– after calling and leaving a message on her voicemail, she called me back within minutes. Plus point. Due to high demand and limited space (so she said), she could not fit us in for a few weeks. Over email, we finally settled on a date which she explicitly confirmed and reassured that we could attend despite our coupons expiring. Another plus point. However, we were in for disappointment. My friends and I traveled from Queens and Long Island to Brooklyn only to find the yarn shop (yes, that is where the class is located) to be closed. No one was there. When I called Rosemary, she did not pick up. I double checked our email communication to confirm that I had NOT read wrong: I was at the right place at the right time. Needless to say my friends and I were not only disappointed but annoyed as well. It was a complete waste of our time. Class cancellations happen but notifying people coming from all over New York is just common courtesy. Rosemary’s Bakezaria is unprofessional, inconsiderate and frankly not worth the time. For those considering visiting it, I would say think twice or at least call beforehand to double check that the store is open. Who knows, she might actually pick up the phone.

Despite the reviews, I decided to give this place a chance and I bought a living social deal. Total mistake.
It is located inside a yarn shop, which doesn’t bother me, but the space is very limited. It was too crowded and we had to take turns to use the mixer which kills time.
–Rosemary went away so she left someone else to «teach» the class
–Cupcakes were made from scratch, not a cake mix box
–Everything was very unorganized
–I informed Rosemary that there will be one vegan student and she said that was not a problem. But it was when I got there. They had no ingredients for me.
–Additionally, the instructor was ranting on negatively about vegans
–When I spoke to her, she said she knew of vegan recipes off the top of her head. I can clearly see her googling on her smart phone vegan cupcake recipes…
The class:
So you walk in, put down your belongings, and pair up. Then you stand at a station, which are 3 tables. You choose what type of cupcake you want to make, and follow the recipe. Basically, imagine you are at home following a cupcake recipe from google. What’s the teaching part in this? Am I missing something?
Frosting time. The instructor tells us the recipe for a buttercream frosting. This part felt like a real class. She informed us of possible problems and how to fix it and alternatives to making it. We made this on our own too.
The instructor was nice toward the end but she was clearly not fond of her job and vegans
The fun: baking with your friends, decorating the cupcakes, eating the cupcakes afterwards

So, I purchased the cake pop making class over a year ago. My first attempt to book my class resulted in me being told that Rosemary, the owner, was in Africa getting married. She wouldn’t be back to a few months, but not to worry because the Groupon voucher would never expire. I thought that was cool.
Recently LivingSocial had a deal for a place called «Let’s Go Bead». I purchased it and decided to go purchase some jewelry making stuff. Low and behold, this supposed «Bead Shop» is located right in Rosemary’s Bakezaria. The beads were cheap quality. Lots were plastic and Pickings were extremely slim. I felt cheated when it came to the selection. But I sucked it up and purchased beads that she claimed came all the way from Italy. Doubt it tho.
While there I decided to make my appointment for my cake pop class. This was right before Christmas. Today is 1÷19÷13. I got there early. The class was supposed to begin at 10am and no one was there. A few of us were outside and another woman opened up shop and asked if we were waiting for her. We tell her that we are there for the cake pop class and she says there IS no class, because the owner is where? IN AFRICA AGAIN!
People had come all the way from the Bronx, as well as CONNECTICUT!!! Luckily I live nearby, but I felt terrible for the others. We were promised a complimentary class, but after reading the reviews, I’m not so sure I want to take this class. I’m a little offended by the fact that this class is so expensive, yet rather than baking from scratch, Duncan Hines mixes are prepared. I’m a Pillsbury girl myself ;) All jokes aside, I thought coming to this class I’d learn new techniques, but from what I’m reading, I seem to be quite advanced in the baking game.

I bought a groupon months ago, but due to class cancellations, hurricanes, and the limited schedule they offer. I couldn’t redeem it until yesterday, months after I purchased the groupon. The place is kinda located oddly in Williamsburg, but I happen not to like Williamsburg so I’m bias.
My instructor was Fabio, she was very great and personable. Nothing to special about the class, the learning of cake pops was simple to make. I could have did a YouTube video at home instead of paying for a class, but ts worth a creative shot.
Fabio also has a side business called «fabipops» she showed me and my coworker all the work she has done, her work is pretty cool. Long story short, the class was not worth it but Fabio was great! I wouldn’t go again though but I would definitely purchase custom cake pops from fabio’s business.

I came here with my best friend for the cake pop class which was an Amazon Local Deal. We both had a great time learning to make the cake pops and eating them of course after (they were delicious). The day that we went it was a very small class other than us roughly 10 people in total. For the price I paid It was a great deal. Rosemary was very friendly and invited us back to future classes advising us that they continue to have deals on Living Social. I plan on going back!

I went to both the cupcake baking class and the cake pop class here. I would give the cupcake baking class three stars and the cake pop class four stars. Just left it at four stars because Rosemary is really nice (she owns the bakery and teaches the classes).
Both classes are taught in a yarn shop which doesn’t really bother me. The only thing that is a little annoying is that it’s kind of cluttered. I think she overbooked the cupcake baking class. It would have been better with just a few less people.
The cupcake baking class didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know. I may not be an Iron Chef but I do know how to follow the directions on the back of a Duncan Hines box and make some cupcakes. It would have been nice to prepare the cupcakes from scratch.
The thing I really didn’t like was that we shared our cupcakes. To be honest, I made an effort to choose the cupcakes that my sister and I made only. I really didn’t get that part. I made the cupcakes, I’d like to eat my cupcakes. Maybe I’m just being uptight but I was not a fan of that part.
The best part of the cupcake baking class was decorating the cupcakes. We made the frosting from scratch (buttercream and cheesecake icing). She had a bunch of different food colors which was nice. I made a pretty blue icing and my friends made pink. Then she had a bunch of different types of sprinkles for the topping. The cupcakes came out looking really pretty and they tasted good. It’s just that I could have prepared them on my own at home without paying 20 bucks for a class.
The cake pop class was a lot better simply because I actually learned something. I had no idea how to make cake pops and she went through each step. You start with an already prepared cake which I have no problem with. Making cake pops is a long process, having to make the cake as well would be too much.
Thankfully with the cake pops we didn’t have to share them with the rest of the class. Making cake pops is very hands on so I would really have a problem with that. The best part about making cake pops is decorating them. She has a huge assortment of food coloring and sprinkles. She also had different molds we can use for our cake pops (a cupcake shaped mold and a heart shaped one).
Rosemary is really friendly and accommodating. She is willing to answer any question you have. I don’t recommend the cupcake baking class but the cake pop class is worth a shot.

To be fair, my cupcake class was overcrowded because a lot of people purchased the same LivingSocial deal, but I assume this would’ve been considered beforehand. To her credit, Rosemary was extremely nice and accomodating, but there were some problems with the class.
To start, nobody was encouraged to wash their hands before beginning. I’m not a germaphobe by any stretch, but I felt weird knowing that everyone was encouraged to share their cupcakes with each other at the end.
I have to admit I feel like I didn’t learn anything. Each team of two people got a box of Duncan Hines mix to make their cupcakes with — not exactly what I was expecting out of a cupcake baking lesson. This led to a few difficulties. Since no two groups standing next to each other had the same box, each group’s ingredients and instructions were different, but nobody seemed aware. This led to confusion as to which groups should put how much of each ingredient in.
This would be a recurring theme that came back while making the frosting. Rosemary assigned each group a different type of frosting at random and started haphazardly handing out ingredients to everyone, not explaining what they were or how much of each ingredient there was. This created minor chaos after Rosemary announced some groups should not use milk or butter, only to find out that those groups already used milk or butter due to lack of instruction. Little more than 48 hours has elapsed, and I don’t remember how we made the frosting anymore.
The real value is in the recipes that Rosemary promised to e-​mail us, but those have not come in the mail yet. I’m hoping they will, because at the very least this class has motivated me to try out some recipes. It would’ve been nice, though, to actually get first-​hand experience at trying out recipes «from scratch» during the class. I can walk to the store any day to buy Duncan Hines mix.

I took a cookie decorating class here, and it was great! I expected that the cookies would already be made and that we’d have to follow her design, but we each made a full batch of cookies, using whatever cutters we wanted, and iced in whatever colors we wanted! She explained the difference between her cookie recipe and others (and why she likes her). She taught us how to store extra dough, cookies, and icing. She could have tried to sell us lots of expensive tools for decorating but used a very simple method and wasn’t pushing any products.
There were only 3 of us in the class, and she stayed almost an hour extra so that we could finish what we were doing. And, she sent us home with any leftover dough, cookies, and icing. I was very impressed.
I didn’t mind at all that we were in her yarn shop, since we had plenty of space and all of our workspace was very clean.
Highly recommended!

I took the cupcake baking class here on January 20^th, 2011. I purchased a Groupon for the class — $ 40 for two people, a supposed $ 100 value.
It wasn’t even worth the $ 40.
I took a friend of mine. The class took place in a yarn shop, which seemed odd for a baking class. When we walked in, we noticed there were Duncan Hines boxes on the tables. Each pair was given baking equipment and a box. Rosemary taught the class, and she said we would be baking from a box in order to learn the fundamentals of baking. I thought, okay, maybe this will work out.
But no. There wasn’t much teaching done, and we were instructed to follow the directions on the box. We had to keep track of the baking time on our own, and were given very little guidance. We also had to use cupcake liners that were too small for the cupcake pan. We were told we’d be making three types of homemade frosting, so I hoped that the majority of the class would be focused on that. It ended up that each pair stood in front of a KitchenAid mixer as Rosemary made the frosting in front of us, and told us to fill the bags and pipe the frosting ourselves. Again, very little instruction.
We baked 24 cupcakes each, but were only able to take home 12. We’re not entirely sure what happened to the rest of the cupcakes — there were quite a lot left.
Rosemary promised to email us recipes, but as of today, that hasn’t happened. She did hand out recipes at the end of the class, but they were completely different from what we had done in class. She said that learning to bake from the box should make baking a cupcake from scratch much easier. I don’t think that’s the case, given that we were not taught much of anything during the class.
We had a great evening because we were able to joke around and laugh with the other people taking the class. It was a fun time, but as a cupcake class, it falls terribly short.
I did email Groupon support, because their description was extremely misleading. They offered an apology and said they would pass my message on to «the right people.»

Probably of the most unimpressive cupcake baking classes in NYC, and in the middle of nowhere. We really couldn’t make sense of why there were 17 people crowded into a room full of yarn and knitting/​crochet equipment. Plus we were double the number of people that they had equipment and supplies for, so we were broken into pairs and only one of us really got to do most of the hands-​on work. The owner got really angry and snapped at me when I asked for a cup of water to clean my spatula? I was with 3 girlfriends and we tried our best to amuse ourselves anyways. Then the kicker… The owner Rosemary made us use cupcake mix out of a box you can buy from your neighborhood deli for $ 3 and asked us to follow the directions on the box? And that’s basically what we did. Really? If Betty Crocker mix was what I needed, I could do that at home and skip the 45-​minute train ride! Thank Goodness I had my girlfriends with me so we could laugh at our ridiculous situation. Then we were asked to share the cupcakes we made with other people in the class and take some of theirs but people had put their hands all over the cupcakes and the icing with no gloves or hand-​washing and that just seemed a little unhygienic to us. The girls next to us were complaining about the exact same things and didn’t even bother to take their cupcakes home and Rosemary then tossed their 24+ cupcakes in the trash which was really annoying. Such a waste. There’s a few things that Rosemary needs to do to try and get us to come back:
1. Don’t overbook your class and invite double the number of people you have space/​equipment for. Offering a free cake-​pop class to make up for it isn’t helpful. Most of us wouldn’t come back here even for a free class.
2. Don’t be rude or snap at your customers when they ask you for something as simple as some water in a cup. You’re just ruining the fun of a group activity, and ruining chances of getting some word-​of-​mouth publicity.
3. Do not have people use a cupcake mix from a box and ask them to follow instructions on the box. We don’t need to take a $ 50 class to learn that. (Even the $ 25 we paid for it online wasn’t worth that)
4. Actually teach us something new that we came there to learn. Like how to use the icing/​decorating bag. Just giving us a bag and asking us to figure it out was a disaster for most people.

My review is for the cake pop class. I purchased the Groupon deal for the 2 hour cake pop class for 2 ($ 35 total, the value is supposedly $ 100). The bakery is located in a kind of secluded area of Williamsburg but it is nested within this «shop area» which also has a café, yoga place, etc. Rosemary herself owns the bakery and a yarn shop where the class is held. To me it wasn’t a big deal that it was in a yarn shop as it was pretty cozy & there was plenty of space for us to work within.
I have tried making cake pops before many times & there are several ways to make them. One is by mushing up cake that is already made with frosting & another way is by purchasing a cake pop machine & baking the mini cakes before dipping them.
Rosemary taught us the 1^st way by mushing the cake she had pre-​made for us. We got to choose from golden, chocolate, red velvet & strawberry. Each person/​team got a half sheet of cake. I know some of you were disappointed that you didn’t do the actual baking but to be honest if it included baking the class would have been like 4 hours. I feel like with these kind of Groupon deals, the purpose of the classes are to have fun while learning a bit but if you want to seriously learn the craft, I would take a class at like the ICE Culinary Institute.
We had about 12 other people in our class & the class was more hands on. Basically she told us what to do & you would do it. (mush the cake, roll the pieces, decorate, etc) answering any questions we had along the way & giving us tips as we moved along. I know some of you mentioned that she uses Duncan Hines for the cake/​frosting & it is true but if you look at how people make cake pops on youtube, etc this is the easiest way. She also taught us how to make mini cupcakes with a mold & put it on the stick.
Some of you mentioned that you did not receive the recipes she promised to email. I did receive them the night of the class. You can also find them on her website but I didn’t see the point of sending us recipes since we used pre-​made cake. I think it would have been better if she sent us the instructions/​tips she gave us on how to make the cake pops from the class.
Everyone in the class had a great time & left with their own creations! We took home about 18 delicious cake pops! For $ 35, I’d say it was worth it. I wouldn’t recommend paying the supposed value of $ 100 for it though.
In terms of the bakery, being the place is in a kind of secluded area, I am questionable as to how fresh the food is there. She also serves pizza in the bakery as well but I didn’t see any. Maybe they are made fresh to order?

I took a cake pop class here. I really would give one stars but the second was because Rosemary was nice.
There was no baking done. It was already done goodness knows how long in advance and it was a box cake.
It was held in a yarn shop.
I did learn a few things but nothing that I have not subsequently found via google.
I would however return for a crochet/​knitting circle as they had a lot of ca-​ute patterns and yarn on display, in the yarn shop, where I decorated cake pops…
The idea is fabulous and I hope one day the retail space allows it to be handled differently.

my friend and i took a cupcake class there. it was a total waste of a sunday afternoon. do not waste your money or time.
–we «baked» from duncan hines boxed mix. and then she went on to make 3 frostings which was rushed considering she explained the instructions on the back of the box for an hour. it was ridiculous.
— handing us sprinkles and telling us to decorate how we want is hardly learning anything.
— she asked us to write our email address and said we would get an email with the frosting recipes by «tomorrow»… 3 weeks later… still waiting.
the place we skeevy and not to mention in a yarn shop. very weird. i wouldnt even eat the cupcakes i took home…
i would not recommend this «class» to anyone

I probably go here about once a week. The cupcake baking class from Groupon was a great deal and I am so glad i found this place

I really like this place! It’s super cute and the people who work there seem very friendly. Their cupcakes are always a big hit with my coworkers. I have not taken a class, but I definitely enjoy their baked goods.

The strange thing is that I am almost positive that I have seen someone Unilocal about this business before but I cannot find it! Anyhow, I bought a Groupon to take a cupcake baking class here. There were definitely pros and cons:
Pros:
1– Rosemary is very friendly and tries to make the class fun and understandable for everyone
2– You can decorate your cupcakes anyway that you want to and you have a wide arsenal of frosting and cupcake «accessories»
Cons:
1– When I walked in the classroom (which is a yarn shop/​café) there were Duncan Hines boxes everywhere… I was thoroughly confused about how we could call this a baking class using a mix. So then I thought OK maybe she is just going to focus on teaching us how to decorate the cupcakes. But nope that wasn’t the case either. She gave us the tools and we got to figure it out. I can’t really say that I learned anything in this class.
2– The class was very over-​crowded so most people didn’t actually get to do many of the things (again not really a learning experience).
3– Rosemary said that she was going to email us the recipes (and no I don’t mean what was written on the back of the Duncan Hines box) but I never received anything.
Hey what do you expect for $ 25… well actually I did expect a little bit more.