Walking into this Carmel, Indiana, restaurant felt as though I was Alice walking into Wonderland.
The Cake Bake Shop is a whimsical, fairy tale-esque restaurant draped in Swarovski crystal chandeliers, grand French doors, and fiber optic glowing mushrooms planted outside.
There is a restaurant space, a bar and a bakery area, which serves several different flavors of Cake Bake's towering, signature layer cakes, plus pies, macarons and other desserts.
Kayla and I came to check out the sweets. And, there is certainly no shortage of them. They list over a dozen beautifully layered cakes, so I had to get a slice of one.
RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE CAKE: Three layers of fluffy vanilla cake brushed with a French champagne simple syrup, filled with our Raspberry Pixie Jam and fresh raspberries. Frosted with our champagne vanilla buttercream and topped with fresh raspberries.
Talk about decadence. This was indulgence stacked on indulgence topped with indulgence. But it was done so well - just a slight sourness from the raspberries kept the sweetness in check.
Then, there was the Magic Bar.
"Bring back a childhood memory with our Magic Bars. Our European all-butter graham cracker crust is topped with sweetened condensed milk, walnuts, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, and fresh coconut."
Even though chocolate chips and coconut are not necessarily in my wheelhouse, I can appreciate these flavors and textures together. Truly, a delightful experience that made me want to learn more about the owner.
"GWENDOLYN'S STORY - How The Cake Bake Shop Came To Life: Gwendolyn Rogers at 57, has had a passion for baking and cooking her entire life. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1965 she had a tough childhood. Coming from a torn family, and growing up in a dysfunctional home, she was forced to raise herself. She grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho from elementary school through high school graduation. Her first job was at 13 cleaning the movie theatre. All through school she had multiple restaurant jobs as a prep cook, busser, dishwasher, cook, waitress and hostess. She would get herself to her job before and after school on her bike even when it was snowing."
"Gwendolyn wanted to be a photograher so when she graduated she moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. She put herself through school waiting tables. She worked double shifts to pay for school but she fell so far behind in her studies and with the overwhelming costs of tuition she could not keep up. She had no choice but to leave the college program. Gwendolyn then moved to Seattle, Washington where she got a job at a modeling agency as a booker. There she met photograhers and booked models for all the local catalogs and department stores. Then with the loss of her brother and the loss of her distant Father, the only place where she found happiness, solitude and peace, was in the kitchen. In 1987 she moved to Los Angeles where she got a job at a male modeling agency working as an agent and casting director. She met her huband in 1990 and they were married in 1995."
"They moved back to Sun Valley, Idaho, (where she lived from the age of 6-18), and had three boys, all the while cooking for her family and friends. They decided to move to Indianapolis after the passing of her Father-in-Law, and the horrible event of 9/11. She was in her late 40's when they started over, moving to a new city with three little boys. She didn't know anyone, didn't want to make new friends and that is when she decided to bake full time. After baking out of their rental house for over eight years she knew it was time to find a place to bake, she had outgrown her tiny kitchen. With no money to invest into opening a retail shop, she went from bank to bank being turned down for a loan. After two years of trying to find investors, with everyone telling her no, one bank finally decided to give her the chance. They granted her a loan for $300,000 that she would have to pay back within three years. She was hoping this cake shop idea would be strong enough to keep her family from going bankrupt. She knew she did not want to have a shop in a strip mall, she wanted the homey feeling that a house would give, so she went looking for the perfect spot. She found an old dilapidated house on Carrollton Avenue around the corner from where they lived. The owner of the building agreed to let her turn it into a bakery."
"Two years later, after designing, remodeling and building, she opened her first Cake Bake Shop. She started with herself and one employee. Gwendolyn was baking all the cakes, cookies and pies, running the cash register, delivering food, washing dishes. It was a huge success from the day the doors opened. She immediately had to hire more employees. She never advertised, doing all of her own social media to announce what she was making that day which then created a line out the door. She brought all of her pillows, holiday decorations and candles from her house to create a welcoming feeling to her guests. That was such a huge sucess she continued to decorate for the seasons. In the Spring she has flowers everywhere with a full size cherry tree in the main dining room. For Christmas she has beautifully lit Christmas trees and thousands of twinkle lights. Her first shop was so busy and she had to turn guests away due to the small size of the cottage. The kitchen had 300 square feet and the restaurant could only seat 30."
"After five years and a lot of work she decided it was time to open a second location so she could accommodate more guests. Her bakery was also exploding in popularity across the country from O, The Oprah Magazine to Williams-Sonoma. Gwendolyn spent two years designing the second location, over 4,500 square feet, seats over 150, has a 2,000 square foot production kitchen just below the restaurant so everything on her menu is made on site from scratch. Her second location has a full service restaurant with a full bar. It is located in Carmel City Center in Carmel, Indiana and is booked 3-6 months in advance. She paid off her first bank loan within the first year of opening her Broad Ripple Village shop."
Grade: A
