TASTE MAKERS - Piece of Cake Bakery makes cupcakes easy as pie to love

Source: Living Section in The Sunday Oregonian, November 23, 2003.

Related Link: Cupcake Recipes

Marilyn DeVault shares her passion for plenty of varieties and flavors that elicit oohs and aahs.

"Oh my gosh, we all have so much fun here," says Marilyn DeVault as she buzzes past a customer to turn down the music. "Jazz just works in this room, don't you think?" she asks as she scans the bakery's adjoining room with its orange ceiling and yellow walls, the oddball chairs and crowded tables, and the cake domes and plates piled high and wide along the top of the huge display cabinet.

Piece of Cake Bakery is not a typical bakery. It's not typical, period. What it is is the collective passion of its creator, DeVault, a master cake maker, baker and never-a-dull-moment food designer. Sure, there are the standard cake stands, bride and groom figurines, greeting cards and photograph albums full of luscious cakes. But these share space among, around and in-between shelves of vintage cooking tools and dusty dolly tea sets; a lineup of light-bulb toy ovens; boxes of cake-decorating sets; a blue-wigged mannequin in a wedding dress, a flying-witch pinata and a red plastic light-up lady that sings Christmas carols in the storefront window year-round. No doubt about it: Like its owner, this place has character, personality and a lot going on.

But make no mistake, the highlight of this zany take-away bakery is the array of just-baked-and-frosted cakes that make mouths water, tummies tingle and generations of customers learn the phone number by heart. From DeVault's chocolate caramel to her oatmeal spice, lemon coconut, poppyseed and the Fantasy Cake with its divine tier of creamy cheesecake, the list goes on. It includes vegan, wheat-free, gluten-free and sugar-free cakes -- giving customers plenty of choices, by the slice and by the cake, morning, noon and night.

"If the lights are on and someone's here, then there's time for cake," says DeVault, 54.

"Isn't this miraculous? Isn't it to die for? Here, have another sample," the ever-moving hostess says, her long, dark, curly hair flowing out behind her. It's hard for DeVault to sit still: There are still more cakes to sample and ooh and aah over. The slivers come, the slivers go, and there's no such thing as "I'll just take a bite."

It's been nearly 25 years since special education specialist DeVault decided to turn her cake-baking skills into a profession. Up until then, the Oregon native's favorite customer was her brother, a picky eater whose one-and-only birthday cake was his sister's carrot cake.

"I thought, like Kentucky Fried Chicken, I just needed one product," says DeVault. She quickly learned she needed to expand her carrot cake repertoire in order to grow. With a partner, she began 24 Carrot Cake in Lake Oswego and then, 15 years ago, started Piece of Cake. Ever since, she and her loyal band of merry bakers have been offering a delicious slice of bakery life to Sellwood and beyond.

Not to be left in the cake dust, this trendsetting diva has joined the cupcake craze. After all, in New York City, they are big business. The Magnolia Bakery, West Village's tiny corner bakery, makes 3,000 cupcakes a day, and the Cupcake Cafe sells more of them than the full-size models. It's true; champagne and cupcake parties are "it" for the holidays, and cupcake-tiered wedding cakes are a sign of the times. After all, these portable, kid-friendly treats make three-bite desserts a frosting lover's paradise, and DeVault's are among the best.

Find any excuse to make one or both of these cupcake recipes. DeVault's Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes combine the two most important food groups -- chocolate and peanut butter -- and both are in good supply. (Oh yes, then there's that surprise in the middle.) And, even though they're wheat-free and tailor-made for vegans, there's no need to be on a limited diet to devour every last crumb of her Cranberry Orange Ginger Cupcakes and the pastel mounds of fanciful frosting. They are yummy and ideal for holiday entertaining.

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Contact us at 503-234-9445 or sales@pieceofcakebakery.net
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