Not long ago, one of the Journal Star photographers asked me where she could get a decent cupcake.

She didn’t want the grocery store variety — she was after the kind found in a bakery, preferably made from scratch.

I was at a loss.

Now, I have the place for her — Red Moon Bakery on South 11th Street, near Duggan’s Pub.

Owners Lovena Platte and Anne Hintz opened Red Moon on May 7 and are making their baked goods available at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso.

Of course, they have an in at Meadowlark. Anne’s husband, Adam, co-owns the popular south Lincoln coffeeshop.

It’s the reason why she’s in the baking business now.

Meadowlark originally served baked goods from another local baker, but was forced to look elsewhere when the baker became too busy, which, of course, is good for the baker, but bad for Meadowlark.

Anyway, Hintz and Platte had toyed with starting their own shop. Platte has a degree from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

“Adam hadn’t found anything anywhere else,” his wife said. “We thought we should provide it.”

They have started slow. They bake in the evenings and sell their goods for a limited time in the mornings at their small shop decorated with paintings by Platte’s mother, Leora.

Meadowlark is their only wholesale account so far. They also have a table at Jazz in June on Tuesday nights during the monthlong concert series. 

“We want to pay off our debts and stuff before we go full time,” said Hintz, who also works at Ruskin Place Apartments and is a mom.

In addition to the gourmet cupcakes — I recently enjoyed a frosted chocolate cream cheese one — Red Moon bakes muffins, brownies, cookies, cinnamon rolls, dessert bars and cakes.

Prices range from 75 cents to $1.25. Items cost about 50 cents more if purchased at Meadowlark.

The cupcakes are good, but I’m especially fond of Red Moon’s muffins. I purchased their zucchini vegan and coconut muffins from Meadowlark.

The coconut one was a big hit. It was big, moist and not overwhelmed with the coconut flavor. I got a thumb’s up from  one of the newspaper’s interns who doesn’t even like coconut.

Of course, Red Moon’s baked goods go nicely with Meadowlark’s coffee.

For the bakery to make it, it will have to pick up some more accounts. It also will have to expand its retail hours.

Having an “in” at Meadowlark is a good start. Word of mouth from there will go a long way.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.