Penny Perluss of PennyCakes

In February of 2009 Penny Perluss opened PennyCakes on First Street. Two and a half years later, the store has loyal fans who pop in regularly to taste the latest cupcake invention or to order one of Penny’s often wildly inventive cakes.

Patch talked with the cake artist about why she made the jump from a long career in human resources to opening her own cake shop.

Patch: How many years did you work in human resources?

Penny Perluss: For more than twenty years.

Patch: Were you dreaming of opening your own bakery all that time?

Perluss: No, I wasn’t thinking about baking at all. When I first took a cake decorating class, I was terrible at it. I couldn’t make a rose to save my life.

Patch: What changed?

Perluss: There was a point where I became ill and was hospitalized for three weeks. When I came home from the hospital, working full-time was too much. I found that I could bake at home, and I enjoyed it. Once I gave away one of my cakes to a fundraiser, that was it. People started calling and wanted to pay me to do this thing that I loved so much.

Patch: And how did you get better at the rose making? I’ve seen the roses you make now and they’re really good. (laughs)

 Perluss: Thank you. My husband Ken was transferred to Bangalore, India for a year. I went with him, and while we were there I emailed a baker named R.L. Clement, who lives in Sri Lanka. I asked if I could take lessons with him and he welcomed me and was so gracious. He makes the most beautiful, creative cakes imaginable – he’s phenomenally talented -- and what’s even more amazing is he wants to share his knowledge. He wants his students to be even better than he is. In this lifetime I will never be as good as he is, but working with him reaffirmed how deeply satisfying it is for me to make something out of nothing, really.

Patch: Do you ever bake using Indian spices such as turmeric or rose?

Perluss: I have such respect for Indian cooking. When I lived in India, I saw how people took the time to learn proper use of spices. I love the flavors but don’t know enough about them to use them the way I’d like.

Patch: Before you left India, you made a palace cake for your husband’s office.

Perluss: I made a cake shaped like a turret that was on one of the palaces near Bangalore. I brought it into the office and people were speechless. They wouldn’t let me cut it, I kept trying to go toward it with a knife, and people were blocking me. I kept saying, “Come on, you have to taste it, I made it for you to eat.” That moment will always stay with me: that people didn’t want to cut the cake because they didn’t want to ruin it.

Patch: We ordered a birthday cake from you for a teen who loves dogs. You made a dog cake and she was so excited; she kept the tail and the nose for weeks in the refrigerator. Do you like talking to people about their cake and then making something that suits their personality?

Perluss: Oh, absolutely. When I started baking custom cakes I realized that’s where the fun is for me.

Patch: The happy hour cupcakes are where the fun is for me.

Perluss: (Laughing) There are a lot of people who come in every Friday to see which happy hour cupcake we’re selling.

Patch: Which happy hour cupcake is the most popular?

Perluss: Limoncello. Bailey’s sells well and so does Kahlua but the Limoncello cupcakes fly out the door.

Patch: That seems pretty inspired to me, that you make a cupcake out of liqueur, and try different flavors all the time. How do you come up with your ideas?

Perluss: Well, I love cookbooks and look through my books often but sometimes I’ll just see something and want to do a cake version. Like my cupcake version of a Reese’s cup.

Patch: Or like your morning cupcake made from bananas, oatmeal, and bacon, with chocolate on top. Bacon and chocolate?!

Perluss: My staff actually came up with that one. I think it’s fun for all of us to try making something different. And the bacon cupcake is interesting because it doesn’t overwhelm you with bacon flavor; it’s just a nice savory under note.

Patch: Do you ever try flavor combinations that really don’t work?

Perluss: Yes. Like Pernod, which is a licorice-flavored liqueur. I was thinking that would work great with chocolate. I was wrong about that one.

Patch: Is there anything in PennyCakes that you really can’t resist?

Perluss: The cake truffles. Especially when there is just one cake truffle sitting alone in the case.

Patch: Oh, those are hard to resist. What’s your favorite cake that you ever baked?

Perluss: My first response is it’s the one I’m working on right now. Because the best part of my job is getting so involved in creating something that the time just flies by. But there are some cakes I’ve made that really stand out.

Patch: Like the turret cake?

Perluss: Yes. And I made a cake for Yahoo’s thirteenth anniversary that I liked. It was the Yahoo logo but when you cut into it the cake was purple and gold inside because those are Yahoo’s colors. Everybody cheered when the cake was cut open. That was fun.

Patch: Tell me about the “Marry Me” cake that started out as a cupcake.

Perluss: I loved that one too. The client came in and wanted to have me write “Will you marry me,” on a cupcake. I thought about it for a second and then said, “Or how about we make a gift box out of a cake, wrapped with fondant ribbon. Then when she lifts the lid, there will be a cupcake sitting inside the box with ‘Marry Me’ written on it.”

Patch: You made that?

Perluss: Yes!

Patch: You made a cake box with a cake lid that could be lifted off the cake?

Perluss: Yes, I did. It worked beautifully.

Patch: Did she say yes?

Perluss: She did.

Patch: So clearly you enjoy making cakes that are very personalized. What’s the hardest part about owning your own shop – other than resisting the cake truffles?

Perluss: The hardest thing is physically and emotionally leaving the shop. I love coming in but I often work seven days a week, and my weekends often include more than one wedding.

Patch: What’s the best thing about owning a cake shop? Is it the weddings?

Perluss: I do like planning cakes with the bride and groom but I also like seeing the people who walk in the door. They don't always know exactly what they want but they'll walk over to the cases and smile up at me. I also love that I’m always trying something new. With every cake you get to try something different. There’s always room to keep learning. It’s never boring. Tiring, but never boring.

The other great thing is my husband Ken. I couldn’t have opened PennyCakes without him. He believes in me, and has done everything he can to help me make the cake shop work, even though he works full-time himself.

We’ve lived in Gilroy for more than ten years, but after opening the bakery we’ve met a lot more people that we get to see every time they walk through the door. We have customers who have become friends and who leave us notes on Facebook. That’s been very rewarding, to have this connection with a whole new group of people through PennyCakes.