Today we’d like to introduce you to Eileen Blanchard
Hi Eileen , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Cucamonga Cakery started as a hobby over 30 years ago. The hobby quickly grew over several years and became a viable business.
Originally, we were a sister bakery…all of us doing different parts of the daily duties. Soon, our hobby turned into a busy brick and mortar – and became incorporated in 2000 as Cucamonga Cakery Co. The main focus was wholesale – working for venues, hotels, country clubs, etc., delivering beautiful wedding and event cakes weekly.
Over the many years since, the shop has grown. Custom cake and dessert orders as well as our wholesale venue service exists today. In the early years, we topped out at 3-4 weddings per week. Today, we accommodate up to 24 events per week.
In 2018, I became the sole owner as my sisters all retired, and a new, much larger shop was built to accommodate our growth.
In 2020, Cucamonga Cakery survived by creating sweet treats, desserts, even savory items for our clientele. Every Saturday, our curb would be filled with friends happy to be picking up some treats for their families. It is what saved us!
Now, post-pandemic, the wedding and event industry has recovered and has been mostly back to normal.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge has been building on opposing skill sets. I started into the world of event baking because I love designing and creating beautiful cakes and desserts for people and their big life events. The design and creation process has its own challenges. Bringing to life a design concept is a creative challenge that requires a set of skills that I have built over the more than 30 years I have done this. The skill set to run a small business is an entirely different and often at odds with the creative process. The logistics and planning required is a team effort and juggling it with the design side of the business will always be the toughest challenge. When I look back on all the years, I am proud of all that the Cucamonga Cakery has accomplished, even when the journey has been difficult.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a young girl, I always loved to cook and bake.
I have always been artistic – especially with food and baked goods.
Besides glamorous wedding cakes, large dessert displays, amazing birthday cakes, my favorite specialty is custom gingerbread. Structures, cookies, ornaments – I love it all. It is what I look forward to all year – the next GINGERBREAD SEASON!! Yay! So much fun. The bakery smells amazing. And, we have become known for being one of the very few bakeries who still create, from scratch – beautiful holiday gingerbread. Every year, we set up our lobby with unique gingerbread displays and treats.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Since the heart of what we do is a creative process, it takes a team of people to pull it off each week. I have been blessed to have had some wonderful people to work with over all the years. I am even more fortunate now to have an amazing group who works with me every day….baking, designing, decorating, delivering – you name it! The Cucamonga Cakery would not be the same without this crew of amazing humans!! The creative process and my amazing team would not be what we are if we did not have the wonderful customers we do. I am eternally grateful for people opening up to us and allowing us to be part of their events.
Contact Info:
- Website: cucamongacakery.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
The photos of me were taken by Michelle Johnson Photography
