Cake decorators have taken what started out as a hobby to a whole new tier

Vicki Fielder was just starting on her very first cake on her first day at a new job, when the baking supervisor from corporate headquarters happened to be visiting the store and recognized her potential right away.

“He came up to me and said, ‘How many cakes have you decorated before?’” Fielder said. “I told him this was my first and he said he recognized my potential as a cake decorator and told the store director to put me in a cake decorating class for associated food employees.”

That was four years ago at Dan’s Foods in Olympus Cove. Now Fielder is the cake decorator for Macey’s Food and Drug in Tooele and has turned out up to 69 cakes in one week.

Fielder said cake decorating has been a hobby she’s enjoyed for most of her life.

“I’ve just always done it,” the Stansbury resident said. “I’ve always made my kids’ cakes when they were younger using box kits from the store.”

At Macey’s, Fielder takes orders for wedding cakes, birthday cakes, specialty cakes, and just about anything anyone can think of, according to Jolene Thurgood, the Tooele store’s director.

“Her special orders make her stand out,” Thurgood said. “Someone can bring in a picture of something and she can turn it out. Arby’s was having a celebration about a year ago and she made a cake that looked like a cheese melt, fries and a shake. They kept it in a freezer to show customers and wouldn’t actually eat it for about a week.”

Fielder said she enjoys decorating all kinds of cakes, but particularly wedding cakes.

“Wedding cakes are a challenge,” Fielder said. “The details can be a little nerve wracking but fun.”

Fielder works eight hours a day. Starting at 7 a.m. she’ll come into the bakery of the store and decorate some “backup” cakes for quick pickup orders, and then start on her ordered cakes and any other decorated items she needs to use to fill up her display case.

“It takes 30 to 45 cakes to fill a case, and besides cakes I also decorate cupcakes, cookies and brownies,” she said. “I typically fill my case three to four times a week.”

Fielder said there’s not a particular busy season for cake decorating, because cakes are something people love to enjoy year-round.

A few miles down SR-36 on the north end of the valley, a set of cake decorators say the same thing.

“Our busiest time of the year is probably right around May, June and July,” said Radell Donnell, co-owner of Bayshore Cakes in Stansbury.

“And that’s because more people tend to get married then, but overall there isn’t a huge increase in a certain time of year.”

According to Donnell, starting up a cake decorating business wasn’t entirely intentional.

“My wife, Rachel, who is also my business partner, was going to the store to get a box cake to decorate our own kids’ cakes,” Donnell said. “But she decided instead to look online for ideas and decided she could do just as good of a job without having to buy the box kit.”

After decorating cakes for family and friends for a number of years, the Donnells decided to display some cakes at a bridal fair held at the Stansbury Clubhouse, where they received a lot of attention.

“We just started getting a bunch of orders and decided to start a business out of our house,” said Donnell.

The Donnells started their in-home business, which they named Bayshore Cakes, two years ago, and had to apply for business licenses and conditional-use permits for their home.

Currently, the Donnells are in the process of moving and aren’t making any cakes until they have reacquired the conditional-use permit for their new home, which states the house has been inspected by a health official and is approved for cooking and selling goods.

Donnell estimates the two invested $6,000 to $8,000 into Bayshore Cakes to buy pans, frosting tips, airbrushing equipment, and embellishments for their products. Operating from home helps them save money on other baking needs, like an oven.

“We don’t turn down any cake for any reason,” Donnell said. “But in order to accommodate that you need pans in heart shapes, rectangles, circles, and so many different sizes for each shape so you’re not restricted when someone comes to you with an idea.”

One of the most unique cakes the Donnells have made was an airplane-shaped cake built to scale, ordered by the marketing director of Real Salt Lake when the soccer team started a partnership with JetBlue Airways.

Bayshore Cakes used to turn out 14 cakes a week, but have now cut that number in half to spend more time with their family.

Donnell said he really enjoys working with his wife and the two make a great team.

“It’s the same amount of work for both of us, and we’re able to step right in and take over if the other one has to step out for a little bit,” Donnell said. “I’ll do a lot of the carving stuff and she’ll do the piping, the swirls and zigzags of frosting around the cake. We’re just a really good team.”

The turnaround from the start of baking a cake to decorating it can range from three to five hours depending on what kind of cake they are working on, according to Donnell.

“A birthday cake might take around three hours from start to finish,” Donnell said. “But the crazy thing is, when you get to a wedding cake it’s only four to five hours because you have just as much detail.”

The biggest cake the Donnells ever made was an 11-tier wedding cake for a family member’s wedding.

Besides making and decorating cakes, Donnell also delivers the cakes. He estimates 90 percent of the his business comes from outside the county, and so they offer free cake testings in Salt Lake a few times a month for those who might not want to make the trip to Stansbury.

While Donnell acknowledges there will always be a market for those who want decorated cakes from local grocery stores, he said there’s something special about being an independent cake decorator.

“There’s not a lot of independent cake decorators in the county, and we’d love to do more in-town work,” Donnell said. “The residents in the county don’t need to travel to Salt Lake. We’re geared toward making custom orders and so you don’t have to stick to what’s in a book and has been sitting in a freezer for a few days.”

ntripp@tooeletranscript.com