The Icing on the Cake...and More

What do a giant ATM card, a bowl of spaghetti (with meatballs) and a nearly life-sized model of Elmo (ironically made for a boy named Ernie) have in common?

These are just a few of the cakes that in Nonantum has produced under the watchful eye of owner Paula Lutkevich.

Lutkevich, who is a Newbury College culinary graduate, actually began her career at The Icing on the Cake as a baker 23 years ago. The bakery was then owned by Amy Schwartz and was located down the street from its current location.

“Back then, we (Schwartz, Lutkevich and decorator Mary Churchill, who is still with The Icing on the Cake) could just put a sign up that said, ‘Back at 1:00- we’re at lunch.’”

Now Lutkevich handles the business end of things and co-owner Chris Staff oversees the baking and decorating. When they took over The Icing on the Cake they were one of only two Boston-area bakeries doing the type of personalized, artistic cakes we now see on such shows as Last Cake Standing, Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes.

But Lutkevich considers this trend somewhat of a mixed blessing.

“It’s exposure. You now have little kids saying ‘I want to grow up to be a baker,’” chuckles Lutkevich. “But they don’t talk cost on these shows. So it’s very difficult, and they do not address how expensive it is to hire professional people, artists, to do this craft and then necessarily pass that on to the customers.”

In spite of this, The Icing on the Cake does a brisk repeat business, according to Lutkevich. This is largely due to the fact that their cakes have a reputation for not only looking beautiful but tasting great as well.

“Different flavors are popular with different focus groups,” explains Lutkevich. “For weddings, people tend to go more general – golden raspberry is more of a safe bet, a good crowd pleaser. For birthdays, chocolate chocolate mousse is to die for. Red velvet, because of that trend, is big and coconut dream has really taken off. It’s so nice and light.”

As Lutkevich notes, certain flavors and designs of cakes lend themselves to certain occasions. But the bakery has gotten some really unusual requests.

“For the New England Aquarium’s 25^th anniversary, they had just introduced their tide pools exhibit, “Lutkevich recalls. “So we replicated the cake for 1500 people. It was the whole tide pool exhibit in cake, complete with sea urchins and everything. It took up one whole tent.”

Current trends in cakes have not really affected the underlying mission of The Icing on the Cake: to provide beautiful, delicious cakes in a range of prices to suit any reasonable budget. But if cupcakes, available to walk-ins on Saturdays, are more your thing The Icing on the Cake makes those as well, including a gluten-free variety in both vanilla and chocolate.

Lutkevich is smack-dab in the middle of the bakery’s busy season, when 75% of their business will be wedding cakes. Summer will show a slight drop off in business, but Lutkevich enjoys the occasional special request that shows up.

“You get that funky stuff that comes in,” states Lutkevich. “Last year, the wedding date 10/10/10 was huge. This year, it’s 11/11/11.  We also have September 10, 2011- 9/10/11.  People are really into special wedding dates, so you get a run. It’s a balancing act, but it’s always fun.”