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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Mande Gabelson concocts a new cake recipe each month.
Along with the custom birthday and corporate cakes and cupcakes for which she receives regular orders, Gabelson prepares each month a “cupcake sampler” — kind of like a “Whitman's (chocolate) Samplers,” she said.
That way customers can try an exotic flavor without having to commit to an entire cake.
“I try and come up with flavors appropriate for the season or holiday that month,” Gabelson said.
For example, November's cupcake sampler included rum raisin, spicy hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and orange cranberry.
Gabelson, 33, started her cake business in February at the Grand Junction Business Incubator Center where she rents kitchen space by the hour, and where she slips away to bake after her children are asleep and her husband is home.
Ava Sweet Cakes is named after a daughter born in July 2009.
With 30 different cake flavors Gabelson likens herself to a Baskin-Robbins. The lavender raspberry has been especially popular, she said.
Gabelson's personal favorite is Pink Strawberry Champagne with chocolate chips.
“It's good. It's a little addicting,” Gabelson said.
Gabelson comes up with cake ideas by researching the Internet — noting what bakers are doing around the country — as well as mixing her own blend of ingredients such as the coconut lime cake with avocado butter cream frosting.
“People are a little afraid of trying it, but once they try it they're hooked,” Gabelson said.
Concocted cake flavors have also stemmed from various beverages that Gabelson favors: rootbeer floats, cherry coke floats and vanilla chai latte.
Gabelson learned her trade primarily by growing up watching her mom decorate cakes for weddings and birthdays. A ceramics and sculpting art degree earned at Mesa State College has also helped her with cake design, Gabelson said. Particularly when making those three-dimensional cakes.
“They're not just a sheet cake with a drawing, they have an actual three-dimensional form,” Gabelson said.
Like the cake that resembled a DJ turntable (a Panasonic Technics) she was commissioned to make for a friend's disc jockey husband.
Gabelson photographed the turntable-like cake and e-mailed it to Panasonic corporation — which is how Gabelson's cake came to be published.
Panasonic CEO Joe Taylor wrote back to Gabelson and notified her that the photograph had been published in companywide newsletters both in the U.S. and Japan — which is how Ava Sweet Cakes gained “fans” in Japan.
Gabelson markets her sweet cakes solely on the social networking site Facebook — from where she gets the majority of her orders. She's already booked out half-way through January.
While she bakes everything at the Incubator commercial kitchen, “my storefront is on Facebook,” Gabelson said.
Ava Sweet Cakes' Facebook fans hail as far away as Italy and Spain. She doesn't ship there however, despite constant requests.
“I'm just afraid it wouldn't make it in one piece,” Gabelson said.
To view the artistic ability that goes into cake design you can watch a YouTube video of Gabelson's custom cakes via Ava Sweet Cakes Facebook page, www.facebook.com/avasweetcakes.
Gabelson said the Business Incubator Center has helped her “tremendously” not just with low-cost kitchen rental space, but also with “learning every aspect of running a business.”
Ava Sweet Cakes will be one of about 30 businesses demonstrating products or services at the Incubator's annual holiday open house Thursday. (See sidebar)
Along with the custom birthday and corporate cakes and cupcakes for which she receives regular orders, Gabelson prepares each month a “cupcake sampler” — kind of like a “Whitman's (chocolate) Samplers,” she said.
That way customers can try an exotic flavor without having to commit to an entire cake.
“I try and come up with flavors appropriate for the season or holiday that month,” Gabelson said.
For example, November's cupcake sampler included rum raisin, spicy hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and orange cranberry.
Gabelson, 33, started her cake business in February at the Grand Junction Business Incubator Center where she rents kitchen space by the hour, and where she slips away to bake after her children are asleep and her husband is home.
Ava Sweet Cakes is named after a daughter born in July 2009.
With 30 different cake flavors Gabelson likens herself to a Baskin-Robbins. The lavender raspberry has been especially popular, she said.
Gabelson's personal favorite is Pink Strawberry Champagne with chocolate chips.
“It's good. It's a little addicting,” Gabelson said.
Gabelson comes up with cake ideas by researching the Internet — noting what bakers are doing around the country — as well as mixing her own blend of ingredients such as the coconut lime cake with avocado butter cream frosting.
“People are a little afraid of trying it, but once they try it they're hooked,” Gabelson said.
Concocted cake flavors have also stemmed from various beverages that Gabelson favors: rootbeer floats, cherry coke floats and vanilla chai latte.
Gabelson learned her trade primarily by growing up watching her mom decorate cakes for weddings and birthdays. A ceramics and sculpting art degree earned at Mesa State College has also helped her with cake design, Gabelson said. Particularly when making those three-dimensional cakes.
“They're not just a sheet cake with a drawing, they have an actual three-dimensional form,” Gabelson said.
Like the cake that resembled a DJ turntable (a Panasonic Technics) she was commissioned to make for a friend's disc jockey husband.
Gabelson photographed the turntable-like cake and e-mailed it to Panasonic corporation — which is how Gabelson's cake came to be published.
Panasonic CEO Joe Taylor wrote back to Gabelson and notified her that the photograph had been published in companywide newsletters both in the U.S. and Japan — which is how Ava Sweet Cakes gained “fans” in Japan.
Gabelson markets her sweet cakes solely on the social networking site Facebook — from where she gets the majority of her orders. She's already booked out half-way through January.
While she bakes everything at the Incubator commercial kitchen, “my storefront is on Facebook,” Gabelson said.
Ava Sweet Cakes' Facebook fans hail as far away as Italy and Spain. She doesn't ship there however, despite constant requests.
“I'm just afraid it wouldn't make it in one piece,” Gabelson said.
To view the artistic ability that goes into cake design you can watch a YouTube video of Gabelson's custom cakes via Ava Sweet Cakes Facebook page, www.facebook.com/avasweetcakes.
Gabelson said the Business Incubator Center has helped her “tremendously” not just with low-cost kitchen rental space, but also with “learning every aspect of running a business.”
Ava Sweet Cakes will be one of about 30 businesses demonstrating products or services at the Incubator's annual holiday open house Thursday. (See sidebar)
