Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Saltzman.
Hi Danielle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always loved making things. Whether it’s arts and crafts with my son or building furniture, working with my hands gives me such a satisfaction. That was one of my favorite parts of being a kindergarten teacher at the California School for the Deaf…using sign language and lots of art projects! While teaching is and has always been a very gratifying part of my life, I always had the urge to pursue another avenue…cake decorating. As a high school student, I applied for a job to work at a cookie decorating store…but I didn’t get it. It wasn’t exactly the end of the world, but I really felt disappointed. Fast forward about ten years and I was a full-time teacher living in the Bay Area. I was an avid watcher of all the cake shows on television, and I decided to look into cake decorating classes for fun. I found a local bakery that offered a variety of classes on evenings and weekends, so I took “Introduction to Buttercream.” It was a 2-day course, and I was HOOKED. After that, I took all the classes they offered, as well as invested in lots of Craftsy classes and did a bunch of practice. My friends and family were very supportive guinea pigs as I tried out new techniques and recipes. Over time, I refined my skills and became more confident.
Ultimately, I decided to start my own business on the side, Sweetness Cake Bakery. With tremendous encouragement from my husband, I worked on orders after school and on weekends. It was tiring but so rewarding! Seeing the smiles on peoples’ faces when they saw their cake was the most awesome feeling. I was limited in the amount of business I could take (I had a VERY small kitchen and limited time to work), but I had very loyal repeat customers and I wouldn’t have given it up for the world. I shared pictures of my work on social media and got great feedback. The time came for my family to relocate to Southern California, where I was born and raised. I applied for teaching jobs, but there wasn’t much availability. That, combined with some family health needs and my son starting preschool, led me to pursue my cake business in a full-time capacity. For the first time, I allowed myself to really visualize a full business model with a website, marketing, and equipment. I attended wedding shows, networked with other event professionals, and began to bring in a lot more business. As a cottage food organization, the county allows me to operate from my home with proper licensing and maintenance of public health standards. For a small business owner like me (especially during this challenging pandemic world), that has been invaluable as I try to further expand my business ventures.
While 2020 posed major challenges as large events and wedding shows were canceled for health reasons, people are still finding ways to celebrate on a small scale, and I am happy to be a part of that until large event business picks up again. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Owning my own business that operates from home has enabled me to support my son through distance learning during the pandemic, help my parents through some very challenging health issues, and even bounce back from a cancer diagnosis and major surgery just a few months ago. Had I found a teaching job, things would have been a lot more complicated and being a cottage food organization not only brings me great joy but also gives me the flexibility I need to make life run smoothly. It has only been a couple of years since Sweetness Cake Bakery has been operating in Southern California, but thanks to my wonderful customers, fabulous peers in the industry, and amazingly loyal and supportive friends and family, we are going strong and plan to keep going for years to come! I am constantly learning and testing new decorating techniques and recipes…and that’s what I love the most. I feel so fortunate to do what I love and bring a little sweetness to peoples’ lives!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Like any business owner, there have been challenges along the way. Logistically, space was the biggest issue starting up. Business was limited because my refrigerator could only hold so much and my oven could only bake so many cakes at once. But I made it work…the dining table became a large cake assembly table and I became more efficient with my batches of baking to maximize oven space. Eventually, I got a second refrigerator just for cake storage, and so on and so forth. As I got further and further into the cake decorating world, I learned about ways to more efficiently run the business, even in a small space. Cake and dessert making is not a typical 9-5 job. In order to make everything as fresh and polished as possible, there is a lot of tricky timing involved. In the beginning, things would take me so much longer to complete. Lots of late nights, for sure.
As time went on, I refined my skills and the basics began to happen faster. However, I also learned that the business is really a late night operation. There is only so far ahead that you can start decorating a cake. Wedding orders come in months ahead of time, but often everything is finished in just a few days before delivery. Once I realized that late nights were necessary and expected, it was easier to plan for them. On a personal level, this past year threw me a curveball with a cancer diagnosis. I became extremely fatigued, it became challenging to even stand or walk for brief periods of time, and in October I had a 55 pound tumor removed from my abdomen. I am so grateful for the amazing surgeons, nurses, oncologists, and the entire medical team who made my 6+ hour operation a success.
After months of healing and recovery, I am now able to get back to the baking and decorating I love so much. My cancer is not completely gone, and treatment will continue. But for now, I am feeling really good and intend to make the most of it. It was scary but also an important reminder that life can change in an instant so do what you love with the people you love as often as you can!
As you know, we’re big fans of Sweetness Cake Bakery. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Making custom cakes is, in my opinion, a beautiful kaleidoscope of artistic expression and skill. The possibilities are endless and creativity can run wild! From sculpting and piping to painting and carving, cakes can include it all! I am proud that my style is not limited to one particular aesthetic. Every client is different, and my job is to use my skills to make their vision a reality. That personalized approach is what sets me apart from large bakery operations. I take the time to sit down with each customer and discuss everything from flavors and fillings to design and delivery. A lot of time and energy goes into making a custom cake, and clients spend their hard-earned money with the expectation that the end result will be exactly what they wanted. I take pride in giving that to them each and every time. Some of my favorite projects are the ones that have been a bit outside of the box or those that challenge me to try a new skill.
One of my clients came to me with a picture book that her child loved and asked me to create a cake inspired by the characters and illustrations in the story. I had creative freedom and I was able to make something I had never seen before! She loved the cake, and the author of the book even shared it on his social media! As a former kindergarten teacher, that project was a combination of two things I love…books and cake! As a cake creator, it is important to be up with the trends as well. I have created cakes from simple and traditional to modern and eclectic and everything in between. I especially enjoy detailed work and interpreting things from the everyday world into my cake designs. One way to do this is with flowers. Often for weddings, couples choose to add fresh flowers to their wedding cake. While this is a lovely option, I enjoy making gumpaste flowers by hand. They will never wilt, they can be made in any size or color, and they can even be saved as a lovely memory from the wedding day. Peonies are some of my favorite flowers to make, and I am constantly learning to make new flower varieties based on customer need and popular trends. A very popular cake design has been a “naked” cake (where you can see the cake through a thin layer of buttercream) adorned with bunches of flowers.
One of my most time consuming but impactful cake designs was my stained glass cake. I have cousins who make large stained glass window installations for temples all over the country. I was inspired by the beauty and craftsmanship of that artform and I wanted to translate it into cake. I hand piped black lines to represent the solder and then hand-painted each section to create a landscape scene. When I brought this cake to a wedding show, it was a huge hit and made me memorable with clients when I followed up at a later time. I love to make desserts that stand out visually and also taste delicious. The attention to detail, time spent with every client, and personal touches make us a customer favorite. At Sweetness Cake Bakery, I take pride in going above and beyond to give my clients the cake of their dreams. There is no cake too simple or too intricate…whatever our customer wants, we provide every time!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
DEDICATION. Dedication is what makes me successful as a business owner, as a baker, and as an artist. Commitment to constantly improving, expanding, and refining new business practices allows me to keep up with the market and appeal to more customers. Taking the time to develop and test new recipes and dessert creations helps me to consistently provide new and interesting flavors. Enthusiasm for original artistic designs and a passion for creating beauty in many forms demonstrate my devotion to the craft of cake making and, without a constant pursuit in all of these areas, my business would not thrive as it does. Creativity, Flexibility, Passion, and so much more goes into being a custom cake designer as well!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.sweetnesscakebakery.com
- Instagram: @sweetnesscakebakery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweetnesscakebakery/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweetness-cake-bakery-agoura-hills
Image Credits:
@laurenlnewman @sweetnesscakebakery @soireephotoboothco
