The sweet smells of German chocolate cake, lemon-blueberry vegan muffins and frosted cinnamon rolls will soon swarm through the air of the newly redesigned Good Cakes and Bakes, a fresh organic bakery in the historic Avenue of Fashion neighborhood.
It’s a wonderful feeling to have a new space in order to provide the best service possible for customers, says April Anderson, co-owner and head pastry chef of Good Cakes and Bakes.
“We were open throughout the pandemic, but we also realized that we need to change our space to be more productive and safer for both our staff and customers and community,” she said.
Born and raised in Detroit, Anderson always had a love for baking, which was passed down to her through generations in her family. Anderson had always known that if she were to ever open her own business, she would want it to be in her hometown.
In 2013, Detroit Economic Growth Corp.n was distributing grant money to revitalize historic or run-down areas. Anderson applied. She, along with her wife, Michelle, obtained the grant money and began Good Cakes and Bakes.
The 2,323-square-foot bakery recently went through a redesign by Detroit-based firm RL Concetti that provided more of a visual customer service experience, with views from the bakery front and center.
Prices for bakery treats range from $3 for a single muffin to $75 for a half pan of a gooey butter cake.
The bakery now offers new menu items, retail space with baked goods and local brands, a shared community space for community-focused events and group meetings and will offer baking classes provided by the head pastry chef.
Anderson says she plans to use her baking classes to bring awareness on important topics.
“We look forward to bringing more menu items to our space, but we’re super excited to offer baking classes,” she explained. “This is something customers have been asking us for several years now. We will use the baking classes to talk about social racial justice.”
The bakery is unique, says Anderson’s wife and co-owner, Michelle Anderson.
“What continues to make our bakery different, besides the fact we offer the best treats,” she laughed, is "that our business was open for the purpose of offering jobs to our community and returning citizens. We offer a living wage to all our staff. We’re a triple bottom line business, so profit isn’t the first thing for us. It’s our community and planet. Also, we used our space and platform to listen to our customers and provide the items they want and need.”
In July, the bakery owners found themselves in the middle of a controversial cake order by a hate group.
An order came in that read, “I am ordering this cake to celebrate and have pride in true Christian marriage. I’d like you to write on the cake, in icing, ‘homosexual acts are gravely evil.‘”
The order came from David Gordon, a member of Church Militant -- a group in Michigan designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
Anderson, who is openly gay, decided she would provide a cake, but the bakery doesn’t allow messages written on cakes ordered online.
“I was like, because he put the word pride in there, I’ll make it a pride cake,” Anderson said.
And that’s exactly what she did. A red velvet cake decorated in rainbows. On the inside of the box, “God is love, love is God.”
On pickup day, Gordon never showed up and Anderson was forced to toss the cake after holding the cake for five days.
Since the order, Anderson has gotten thousands of orders from across the country showing an outpouring of support.
“We love our community that we’re in and the support they continue to offer us,” Anderson said.
Good Cakes and Bakes reopens at 11 a.m. Saturday, with new hours because of COVID-19. There will be limited customers allowed in the bakery, and customers will be required to wear a mask and require social distancing.
Good Cakes and Bakes is located at 19363 Livernois Ave., Detroit.
For more information, visit www.goodcakesandbakes.com or call 313-468-9915.
Darlene A. White is a freelance reporter based in Michigan.
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