Baker Takes the Cake and Sweetens Up Simchas
From purses and animals to porterhouse steaks and Nike sneakers, Cakeology’s innovative baker Alli Marbach loves to create “cakes that don’t look like cakes.”
Robyn Spizman Gerson is a New York Times best-selling author of many books, including “When Words Matter Most.” She is also a communications professional and well-known media personality, having appeared often locally on “Atlanta and Company” and nationally on NBC’s “Today” show. For more information go to www.robynspizman.com.
When it comes to cake baking, cookie making and eye-catching edible works of art, Atlanta cakemaker, baker and artisan Alli Marbach is making quite a splash. With a well-equipped new kitchen at Temple Sinai, Marbach’s company Cakeology is ready to sweeten up your next simcha with creative delicacies and picture-perfect desserts worthy of sharing and resharing on Instagram.
Marbach said, “Before starting my company Cakeology, I had a nine-to-five corporate job for a few years. After a hard day at work, I found that the best way to unwind and relax was to bake for my friends and family. Baking was always a hobby of mine, but once enough people said my creations were good enough to sell, I realized I could turn my hobby into a career. I decided to take a leap of faith and start Cakeology in January of 2019.”
As to her favorite specialties, Marbach reports, “I love making cakes that don’t look like cakes. I’ve created cakes that look like purses, animals, porterhouse steaks, sneakers, and beyond. I also love to decorate cupcakes to look like flowers for my popular cupcake bouquets. Since I only make custom desserts, each and every one of them is unique. I make sure that my dessert creations are a reflection of the person and simcha being celebrated. Planning a simcha can be stressful, so I love to be the one who can make someone’s day a bit sweeter with my unique and completely customized desserts.”
Once in a while a commission comes along that really presents a challenge. For Marbach, the cake that put her artistic ability and creativity to the test was a Nike-themed cake for a bar mitzvah. “It looked like a Nike Air Jordan sneaker made of cake,” she recalled, “sitting on another cake that looked like a shoebox. The intricacy and dedication to details required really made that one of my most challenging and rewarding cakes. Another fun cake was for a young boy’s birthday. He specifically requested a cake that looked like a pickle that had fallen on the ground, broken in half and was covered in dirt and worms. That was definitely one of the funniest and most creative cake requests I had ever received. I absolutely love it when people let their imaginations run wild and allow me to capture their vision in a cake for their special day.”
Another creative mitzvah celebration “was a bat mitzvah where we took dessert tables to the next level. We had three dessert bars divided into three separate courses throughout the night. One course was cookie-themed, so we had chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, double chocolate cookies, edible cookie dough, chocolate covered Oreos, decorated sugar cookies and more. The next course was a cake course. We had cake bites, mini cupcakes, cheesecake and Cakeology’s famous cakelettes, which are a combination of cake and frosting covered in a white or milk chocolate shell and more. The final course was a confections course, which included chocolate tartlets, apple crumbles and chocolate covered strawberries, brownies and lemon bars. It was so much fun because it allowed guests to sample a large variety of desserts and there was something for everyone.”
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