Gloria Olson, owner
Glorious Desserts, LLC
(515) 279-4944
Gloriousdesserts.com
info@gloriousdesserts.com
Gloria Olson accidentally started her cake business about seven years ago. She spent one summer break (she was a vocal teacher at Valley High School) working at a bakery, and the next thing she knew, she built a cake-baking business all from her own home.
Olson has been baking ever since, building beautiful and delicious masterpieces for birthdays, weddings and any other special occasion. Each order is unique and Olson is determined to send perfection home with her clients. "There have been a few times that I decorated a cake Friday night and did not like it, so I re-did it on the morning of the
wedding," Olson says. "I plan for the unknown and the what-ifs so if something does happen I can easily repair any mishap."
Gloria's specialties: "Cake. I do plenty of other desserts like cookies, pies, tarts, etc. but
mostly cake. I seem to have more requests for unique cakes: over-the-top
romantic, outrageous and whimsical, clean and chic with a personal flair. I
mostly do wedding cakes, but I have been doing more and more celebration
cakes for birthdays, baby and bridal showers and, of course, graduation."
Her best cake: "Every few weeks we create a new favorite. That is the beauty of this
job...there are always new things. In October, we did a magnificently
romantic cake all in white and white pearl that was breathtaking when we
were done. It had a fondant drape cascading around and down the sides (to
look like silk fabric), petite sugar flowers scattered about the cake and
pearls all over... this was truly a cake to remember."
Her crazy cake story: "When you work with brides, and the mothers of the bride, on one of the most stressful events in anyone's lifetime, there are bound to be stories.
Knock-on-wood, there has not been a catastrophe of any such proportion
that
has ruined a cake. My best stories usually happen at the consultations...people unprepared or overly prepared for the planning process."
Becky Barber, owner
Enchanted Sweets
(515) 282-3847
Enchantedsweets.com
bakeacake@enchantedsweets.com
Becky Barber's love for baking began four years ago after her son's second birthday. Unhappy with the cake she purchased for his party, Barber took matters in her own hands, started a business and was hooked.
Barber opened Enchanted Sweets in 2007 after her husband was deployed to the Middle East. "I knew my husband would be away on deployment for about six months this year. I wanted to branch out into my business in order to keep myself busy while he was away," she says.
To stay involved in the military, Barber bakes cakes for the families of her husband's unit. "While they were deployed, I told his unit that I would be more than happy to make cakes for their family members. I had a great response and it was the least I could do for them while they are away fighting for our country," she says.
She even shipped a birthday cake overseas to her husband. In retrospect, she wouldn’t recommend it. "The cake made it, but the heat was not its friend. Luckily it was still edible," she says.
Becky's specialties: "I specialize in custom cakes in any design to fit any imagination. I also carve cakes into 3-D characters and use specialty material such as fondant to make unique edible designs. It's hard to believe that a cake can be made into any person, place or thing imaginable."
Her best cake: "It's hard to pin down the best cake I ever made. Each one has special meaning to me. I enjoy doing the ones that are challenging—where I can learn new techniques."
Her crazy cake story: "A request I had from a customer a few months ago. Her co-worker had just undergone a successful brain surgery to remove a tumor. Several of his co-workers wanted to throw him a get-well party, so I got a request of a 3-D brain cake. They also wanted something baked into the cake that they could 'carve out' while doing their own surgery
on the cake."
