Queen of Cakes
Apr 16th, 2010 | By Emily Slack | Category: Uncategorized
Cheryl Sherman discusses a day in the life at Ambrosia Bakery. Photo by Robert Giglio.
Cheryl Sherman stands proudly next to a gleaming case filled with trophies, the results of 17 years of hard work. She holds court at Ambrosia Bakery, a veritable bakery palace that produces some of the most beautiful and elaborate cakes in the country.
Cheryl, a certified cake decorator, and her husband Felix Sherman opened Ambrosia as a tiny 1,200 square foot bakery in 1993. Now it has grown to an 8,200 square foot bakery on Siegan Lane. Cheryl began decorating cakes in the 1980s and now oversees the wedding cake portion of the bakery.
Wedding cakes are given special care at Ambrosia, where the cakes can take on almost any form the customer can imagine, with beautifully painted flowers, pearls, ribbons, sparkles and an almost limitless supply of icing and cake. Cheryl even attended a national cake convention, sitting on a panel that included representatives such as Carlos, the star of the TV show ‘Ace of Cakes.’
“We can do anything a bride wants – [but] people in the South are more traditional,” Cheryl said.
Beginning with a process that includes the baking, layering and frosting of the cakes, wedding cakes can take anywhere from a day to a week to produce. Each wedding cake is hand-decorated and can range in price from $800 to $3,000, depending on the amount of decorating and fondant, a type of sheeted icing, used on the cakes. “We’re working on a cake right now for a bride in New Orleans that will easily run her about $3,000,” Cheryl said.
Photo by Robert Giglio.
Each wedding cake is made from scratch, and all require an entire team of bakers, layer stackers and decorators to produce the sugary masterpieces. Stepping into the kitchen is like walking into a Wonka factory wonderland of cake, icing and sugar. The sweet smell of freshly baked cake wafts through the room, and everyone busily spreads icing, pipes fruit-flavored filling or precisely measures where the next cake layer should go.
“We just put so much detail and attention into the cakes,” Cheryl said. She and the other decorators at Ambrosia have created cakes decorated with almost anything a customer can imagine, including ribbons, pearls, polka dots, figurines and flowers. Ambrosia has also created wedding cakes made of multiple smaller cakes, cupcakes or king cakes, and offers a variety of flavors from plain vanilla to pineapple.
Ambrosia takes orders for cakes six months to a year and a half in advance because of the high demand.“We can do anything in a cake, but we’re not like ‘Ace of Cakes.’ Some of our cakes are hand-painted, and ‘Ace of Cakes’ doesn’t even do that,” Cheryl said assuredly.
Though they maintain a more traditional rep, it’s apparent the cake makers at Ambrosia are capable of making any kind of cake, including a large E.T. cake stored in the walk-in refrigerator and a recent groom’s cake that was an exact replica of a fishing camp.
“I mean, if someone wants a cake in the $3,000 bracket like on ‘Ace of Cakes,’ I can give it to them. We do whatever the customer wants,” Cheryl said proudly.
An E.T.-shaped cake awaits delivery at Ambrosia Bakery. Photo by Robert Giglio.
Cheryl has entire books full of pictures of truly amazing cakes, including Tiger Stadium, a crawfish pot and a statue of Lady Justice. Some of the most creatively constructed cakes are the groom’s cakes, many of which have to have PVC pipes and dowel rods for support.
“As with any bakery, there’s always the potential for mistakes,” Cheryl said. “Of course, we make mistakes and have accidents, but it’s all about how you recover from them and handle them that prevents a disaster.”
She said with utmost confidence that mistakes are very rare because they work so closely with their customers. “I draw out the designs well before we start making the cakes. We’re very hands on and always make sure we get it right.”
