A tall, round jungle-themed cake with a pink and gold cheetah print, shiny animals, green leaves and big pink flowers; cakes in the shapes of letters or numbers with butterflies, flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries; and cakes with liquor bottles coming out of the top.
These are a few of the creations cake decorator Ashley Williams has completed since launching her business, Ashley's Baked Goods, in 2019.
And while her main focus is custom cakes, the Milwaukeean also makes cupcakes and dessert jars.
Williams has been growing her business via social media and has decorated cakes solely out of her home — until now. She recently moved into her own cake studio at 5228 W. Fond Du Lac Ave., Suite 16, and plans to host weekly bake sales there.
From being laid off to making her dream come true
When Williams got laid off from her warehouse job in 2019, she took it as an opportunity to pursue her dream.
"I just knew that I didn't want to be miserable at whatever job for the rest of my life," she said. "I wanted to have something that I could pass down to my daughter."
Williams frequently watched cake decorating videos on YouTube and Instagram, and wondered if making cakes like the ones she was seeing would behard.
She initially got into baking when she was about 10 years old.
"Everybody knew I was the one who'd bake a box cake or cookies or something," said Williams, a 2015 Marshall High School graduate.
But this would be her first time pursuing it professionally.
She learned tips and techniques from videos on YouTube, then it was all about experimenting and learning from her mistakes.
"You can just create whatever you want," she said. "I think that's what I like the most about it, that it's like art."
After she got some practice under her belt, she started sharing her work on Facebook.
"People started ordering, I started decorating more and got better and better," she said.
In 2020, she spent about six months as a cake decorator at Walmart, where her learning continued. As her skills improved, so did her client base.
Opening her own cake studio
Now, Ashley's Baked Goods has moved into its own cake suite.
"I feel proud of myself because this is something I was thinking of doing for a while, but I never thought I could really do it," Williams said.
She said her family has been her biggest supporters. They helped her renovate the space, with pink walls, signs featuring her logo, a refrigerator, table and TV; and supplies, like a special printer that produces edible creations that can be placed on cakes.
While she'll still bake the cakes at home, all of the decorating will be done at the suite.
The suite will only be open to the public on bake sale days, which Williams plans to host once a week. Information on those will be shared on her business' Facebook, bit.ly/ashleysbakedgoods, and Instagram, instagram.com/ashleysbakedgoods, pages.
A grand opening sale will be held Saturday from 1 p.m. until inventory is sold out.
Customers can expect banana pudding, strawberry crunch, chocolate-covered strawberry and caramel cupcakes; and red velvet, banana pudding and strawberry cheesecake dessert jars.
Cupcakes will be four for $10 and dessert jars will cost $8 each.
In the future, Williams — who's a Door Dash driver on the side — hopes to open a storefront so people can stop in for her treats whenever they want.
Custom cake and cupcake orders can be placed by messaging Ashley's Baked Goods on Facebook or Instagram. Cakes typically range from about $100 for a 6-inch, four-layer cake that feeds approximately 12 to 14 people to $400 for a wedding cake that serves about 75 people, Williams said.
Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.
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