Let Them Eat Cake

Let Them Eat Cake opened today at 1249 Celebration Blvd. in Florence - next door to SWEET.  I was there and in short: Yum!

When I arrived, Jackie Travis, self-described “Queen of Cakes” and owner, was awaiting the arrival of additional Chamber Ambassadors for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  In the meantime, Jackie fielded questions from all of us gathered for the ceremony.  She was asked about the “cakes” on display in the shop windows.  Jackie stated that fondant and gum paste help keep a cake moist, and when those two are used to cover styrofoam, they become hard as rocks.  She further declared that the theme she used for the cakes was “Trips Around the World.” These were the same cakes used for display at Taste of Florence recently.

Shortly thereafter, we all headed outside the shoppe for the ribbon cutting.  While Crystal Kirkland from the Chamber organized Jackie, her husband Bill and the Ambassadors, I heard a guy say, “Hello, Mrs. Pee Dee Foodie.” It was Joshua Mason, columnist with the Morning News and wine expert at Micky Finn’s on Cashua in Florence.  Josh is Jackie’s brother, and he will soon be writing posts about wines for the holiday season for us.  Red ribbon positioned, ginormous scissors in hand, and with a snip by Jackie, Let Them Eat Cake was officially open! Jackie then said, “Who wants to eat some cake?” She didn’t have to ask twice.

We followed Jackie and Bill back into the shop and into what I’ll call their “art and decoration room.”  Sitting on a stainless steel table were eight, brightly-colored, single-tier cakes.  Jackie explained that the color of the fondant describes the cake it covers.  They are as follows:  Pink was a vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese filling and vanilla butter cream icing. Yellow was a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla butter cream icing.  Lilac was a vanilla almond cake with blueberries, lemon curd filling and vanilla butter cream icing. Mint was a Key lime cake with vanilla butter cream icing.  Red was a red velvet cake with cream cheese and marshmallow icing.  Orange was a pumpkin spice cake with pumpkin cream cheese filling and cream cheese and marshmallow icing. And, brown was a dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and cookie & cream filling and chocolate butter cream icing. Jackie was so sweet in that she prepared samples of each for me to take home to Pee Dee Foodie, who was unable to attend with me.

Today was a big day for Let Them Eat Cake and for Jackie personally, for another reason as well. Prior to cutting the cakes for us to taste and enjoy on-site, she directed our attention to a large stainless steel machine. She bragged that she received this new sheeter yesterday and that it was a surprise gift from her husband, Bill. The sheeter is used to flatten fondant to a desired thickness so that it can be more easily draped for decorating.

As a bonus for me, I was privileged to observe Jackie doing two different customer consults while I was there. The first was with representatives of QVC who requested a cake for their 25th birthday celebration in late November. The second was a bridal consult with Ms. Lauren Benton who is getting married in April 2012.  Jackie was in her element as she explained all the different flavor options to Lauren.  I’m not sure how many tiers Lauren had planned, but it seemed like she enjoyed them all.

We say, “Congratulations!” to Jackie Travis and her team at Let Them Eat Cake.  We wish them much success!

Call Jackie at (843) 616-4058 or email her at LetThemEatCake123 @ gmail.com to schedule a consultation. Don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook and follow her on Twitter to stay up to date on shop news and developments.

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Tags: Celebration, Florence, Let Them Eat Cake!, South Carolina, Specialty Cakes, Sweet

Category: Announcements, Featured Articles