Denise Byrnes always loved to bake; but more than that, she loved creating things to make people happy. She found a perfect outlet for that with cake decorating. What first started as a fun way to make extra cash eventually turned into a full time job.
When she was younger, Denise worked at a French bakery/café in Manhattan while going to FIT. She was hired as a barista and waitress, but soon started helping out with all aspects of the café. Eventually, she started helping in the kitchen and took a liking to the cake decorating part. Everything she learned, she used to impress her friends and family with.
Most home bakers simply need to invest in a stock of ingredients, baking equipment, and cake mixing tools to get started. Denise began by making cakes and cupcakes for family and friends as a way to get a little extra cash for her family. The more cakes that she made, the more word of mouth spread about her amazing desserts. With the introduction of cake shows on television and Food Network, people wanted to have fancier custom cakes like the ones they saw on television. Especially with the growth of social media, everyone wanted and still want a custom cake that they can post for their followers.
One day, Denise’s son was looking for something to eat, but when he opened the fridge, all he saw were cake and cupcake orders. Even the extra refrigerators in the garage were filled with delicious treats for customers. “I think it’s time you opened up your own shop,” he said.
At this point, Denise had a steady job, which made thinking about starting her own business a little more difficult. It is not the easiest thing to let go of a steady income and having healthcare benefits to hope that a brand new business will work out. This wasn’t an original thought, and she often day dreamt of one day opening her own bakery; but it seemed as though it was just a pipe dream.
People don’t just open up their own businesses— especially these days, when everything is so expensive and Denise was just trying to make ends meet. At this point in time, her husband’s business was not doing well, and she was working as a Starbucks manager; a struggling family with 4 children. Hustling to do anything to help buy her kids the things that they needed, she worked at Starbucks 50 hours a week, then helped out at a CPA’s office, and then went home to make cakes. This made it all the more crucial that if she did indeed go ahead with pursuing her dream of having a bake shop, it had to work out as this would be her last chance! She was 49 years old and did not have the time or money to play games knowing that this would be a 24/7 lifestyle.
So she took the leap of faith and did it. The decision came along with uncertainty, anxiety, and the constant feeling of nausea. Opening up your own business comes with a whole slew of problems that she didn’t even see coming. She really felt that if she stayed true to herself and didn’t compromise on her product (no matter how many people tried to sway her to do so), she would eventually succeed. So she powered through it. She powered through it all; slow days, slow weeks, snowstorms, 17-hour days, hiring employees, firing employees, oven failures, broken air conditioning, tough customers, and all of the other things that business owners will tell you about.
On the flip side, if you can work though all of the challenges, trials and tribulations, you will succeed. And succeed, she did. Soon they were getting cake orders from famous celebrities and sports personalities. Big names like Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Rihanna, Scott Disick, Odell Beckham Jr, Nicky Hilton and A-Rod were all coming to Denise for her amazing desserts. And with that success, you find the satisfaction of accomplishing something great.
With Caked Up!, Denise has accomplished creating a bakery that thinks outside of the box. They use nothing but the best ingredients and come up with fun and authentic ideas, trying to always be on point with the latest food trends. They’ve created a place where her employees have fun every single day and love to come up with new ideas. She sees it as a bunch of foodies thinking about what they’d like to eat and how to interpret that into a cupcake. The result? Flavors like the Breakfast cupcake, maple cake with real bacon and a stack of pancakes on top, the Chicken and Waffle, with a piece of chicken and a mini waffle, and The Buffalo Chicken cupcakes with a buffalo chicken wing and a blue cheese cream on cornbread cake.
At Caked Up!, they are always trying to come up with flavors that excite their customers and will appeal to foodies everywhere. With the popularity of social media, particularly Instagram, they have the ability to connect with influencers and people that get just as excited about their cupcakes as they do.
They’ve been very keen on utilizing the social media platform and attribute much of their success to the buzzworthy content they post. Last Easter, they posted a cored cake filled with sprinkles and a plastic egg that had an actual prize inside; including a few that had a coupon for a free unicorn cake! It was so popular that they had a line out the door before they opened the bakery, the day after it was posted. Most recently, they’ve introduced some new savory flavors with the Bloody Mary cupcakes, the Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, and the Pizza Bagel!
Now, the sky is the limit for Caked Up!, especially since launching their new pop-up shop in Manhattan! NYC is a whole new world for them and with it comes along the excitement of building a brand that everyone will be able to see and relate to one day. Denise calls her journey a crazy ride, but she’s excited for where it’s heading.
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