Samantha Eve has combined the best of both of her worlds as owner of Violette Bakeshop and executive director of the Alcazar Theatre in Carpinteria. 
Violette Bakeshop’s Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake features chocolate cake with homemade salted caramel, whipped caramel buttercream, sea salt, and edible gold dust. 
A perfect pairing. 
Looking for something to do on Halloween weekend? Take in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Alcazar Theater in Carpinteria.
Samantha Eve didn’t set out to be a baker, but the Santa Barbara native and next-generation entrepreneur has adapted to the role as the talented performer she is.
Eve took up baking just for fun while a student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she was studying musical theater. It was a creative outlet for her, and she often would bring cakes, cupcakes and macarons to share with fellow students.
After graduation, she embarked on her original career path, performing in New York City as a singer for Little Maestros, a popular rock band/music class for infants and toddlers. She also performed in summer stock productions at The Muny, a St. Louis amphitheater that bills itself as the “nation’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater.”
She moved back to Santa Barbara in 2010 to focus on baking, however, and started Violette Bakeshop, an American-style patisserie — but a virtual one instead of a traditional bricks-and-mortar store.
Recreating favorite childhood sweets with an elegant flair, Eve uses all natural ingredients, such as Madagascar bourbon pure vanilla extract, sweet cream butter, free-range eggs and Valrhona cocoa.
The small business venture was not an entirely new concept for Eve, an alumna of Kellogg Elementary and Anacapa schools. Her parents, Salli and Irwin Eve, have owned Occhiali Eyewear since the late 1980s.
But once a performer, always a performer, and Eve also founded Out of The Box Theatre Company to stage lesser-known contemporary musicals.
“My passion is still in the theater,” said Eve, who recently was hired as executive director of the historic Alcazar Theatre in Carpinteria.
She told Noozhawk that the Alcazar is a true community resource. The Rocky Horror Picture Show will be screening at 7 p.m. and midnight Oct. 30, with drinks, popcorn and interactive prop bags available for purchase. Costumes, of course, are encouraged.
Eve says she likes to keep busy.
“Working multiple jobs simultaneously has taught me a lot about business, time management, even things like social media and marketing,” she said.
That’s a good thing because of the unconventional nature of her business.
Finding City of Santa Barbara licensing requirements for a cupcake truck too restrictive, Eve went mobile with a large variety of cupcakes and cakes that can be ordered online 24-48 hours in advance.
She delivers her baked goods to homes, restaurants, bars, hotels and even parks, along with Summerland’s Farmer & The Flea farmers market on Sundays.
“There’s sometimes confusion with people who don’t understand that I don’t have a storefront,” Eve said. “But it’s becoming more common to see businesses that only deliver or schedule pickups through Instagram.
“It’s a new world, especially for the baby boomers like myself.”
Click here for a full list of cupcakes available from Violette Bakeshop.
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at news@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.