-Words by Jane Mundy Photography by Don Denton

Walking through the door of ., you鈥檙e immediately bathed in the sweet scents of butterscotch and buttercream and vanilla. That gives you a happy feeling and that鈥檚 one reason baker/owner Deb Cater is so good at her job.

鈥淚t鈥檚 satisfying to make nice things for people and be a part of their celebrations,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can decorate cakes with notations like 鈥榃ill You Marry Me鈥� and 鈥楬appy First Birthday,鈥� and this past Christmas we made 90 Yule logs鈥攊t鈥檚 also rewarding to be a part of family traditions.鈥�

And baking is definitely a Cater family tradition, Deb says: 鈥淚 learned from my mom, and cake is part of my culture鈥攅veryone in England eats more cake. Now my husband and I run the bakery, and I am so thankful to my two daughters who have helped make our family affair a success.鈥�

She adds, 鈥淚 grasped the basic principles of baking as a kid and it鈥檚 now ingrained in me. I understand the science of baking soda and baking powder but I couldn鈥檛 explain it鈥擨 really admire teachers.鈥�

Inspired by her teachers at art school, Deb learned how to create novelty cakes for cash; she was able to 鈥渕ake something that looks and tastes good.鈥� Next up, she moved to Vancouver as a nanny and made cakes for people in upscale Shaughnessy, which led to an apprenticeship with a French pastry chef.

鈥淗e was old school,鈥� Deb recalls. 鈥淗e cracked the whip and threw the rolling pin, but I was determined to learn and I stayed a few years.鈥�

Deb thought about enrolling in culinary school, but 鈥渄idn鈥檛 want to go by the book.鈥� Instead, she landed a job at a German bakery. She was soon in charge and could make what she wanted鈥攁s long as it sold.

Deb followed her other passion鈥攚indsurfing鈥攖o Victoria in 1989. At that time there wasn鈥檛 a local bakery offering cakes to restaurants so she started knocking on doors.

鈥淚 sold cakes from my home kitchen and nobody died so it was okay,鈥� Deb says, laughing. 鈥淚 met so many people who were supportive and encouraging鈥攍ike Gilbert. He had a little deli where I worked at night and he charged rent based on what I sold. He made it possible for me to carry on. And it also helped that he knew all the chefs in town who bought my cakes.鈥�

Now years later, Deb still makes what she wants because everything sells at Cakes Etc. But she spends lot of time on research and development, trial and error. For instance, creating dairy-free Black Forest cake was a challenge: it took two dozen tries until they got it right. Now it鈥檚 popular even with dairy lovers; it鈥檚 moist and delicious without that (somewhat vaguely vegan) chemical taste. And how do you come up with something dairy-free that resembles whipping cream? Answer: make a custard from oat milk, whip margarine to incorporate air and combine. The Black Forest cake is proof that it works.

Fifty per cent of Deb鈥檚 business is wholesale and it results from quite a production. Pallets are packed five feet high with sacks of flour and oats. Twenty-six dozen vegan cookies (they are way beyond the proverbial baker鈥檚 dozen) are spinning inside a floor-to-ceiling convection oven and another large (and expensive) piece of equipment is the sheeter, which looks like a giant ironing board and rolls dough to make every cookie uniform and speeds up the process. Lucille Ball wouldn鈥檛 get a job here.

At 11 am, a steady stream of customers arrives to pick up their cake orders, and who can resist a whoopie cookie or a pumpkin scone resting on tasteful wood and pewter platters? And everyone鈥攊ncluding Starbucks鈥攏eeds a package of Cakes Etc.鈥檚 signature oat bars. The Fruit Symphony cake, towering between coconut mango and Sicilian lemon cakes in the display case, looks too gorgeous to eat.

I choose the latter鈥攖he luscious lemon curd and cream between five layers of the vanilla sponge is amazingly light, almost ethereal. With one bite, visions of sugar plums dance in my head.

Dave and Marion Freeman have been regular customers since 1993, when Cakes Etc. first opened on Esquimalt Road (it鈥檚 now located at 2821 Quesnel Street).

鈥淓very Friday afternoon we get two slices of cheesecake鈥攊t鈥檚 nice that you don鈥檛 have to buy a whole cake and that Deb comes up with new recipes,鈥� says Dave. 鈥淲e鈥檝e tried everything, and our current fave is the chocolate torte. We also love coming here because all the staff are so pleasant鈥擟akes Etc. is a class act.鈥�

Deb offers up some advice for home bakers, saying, 鈥淛ump in the deep end鈥攚hat is the worst thing that could happen? You try again.鈥�

She adds, 鈥淢aybe start with muffins and not puff pastry. Find a recipe that you can make with a spoon rather than a mixer so that you don鈥檛 over-mix. And follow the recipe well. Make sure your oven is calibrated and don鈥檛 keep opening and slamming the oven door as my daughters do. And check your ingredients for 鈥榖est before鈥� dates: I made a mistake baking bread with old yeast a few weeks ago. Above all, have a lot of fun and make a mess!鈥�

Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
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