Art and Cakes is moving to a new location in the Arbutus Plaza on Sulphur Spring Road, just down the street from their current kiosk. Owners Eric and Afrodita Boardley hope the new store, which is still being renovated, will open by August 22nd.
“When we bought a house here, we always thought it would be nice to have a business in the down town area,” Eric explains.
The new, larger location will allow the couple to have a seating area for customers as well as a display counter for their products. Their specialty is cakes with an artistic flair. The Boardleys maintain that they are equally concerned with how their designer cakes look as well as taste. Every cake is 100% edible says the couple.
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“We use cakes and pastries as a means of expression, like art,” explains Afrodita.
They intend to keep their bakery on Hollins Ferry Road for production purposes. The Sulphur Springs site will be used to sell their products and host customers. When the couple were only doing wedding cakes and working out of their home, they found that people would come for a tasting and stay to chat for hours.
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At the new store the couple says they hope to be able to offer that same welcoming environment along with iced coffees, Wi-Fi and possibly cake decorating classes.
“They become friends,” Afrodita says about their customers.
Despite the chaos of moving and expanding to a larger location, she still remembers to warm a cinnamon bun for a regular customer who will be by shortly to pick it up, and takes time to arrange the freshly baked bread so that it looks just right.
Art and Cakes also produces an assortment of breads, baked goods, and standard sheet cakes including items that are gluten free, sugar free and vegan.
“We want to have choices for people,” explains Eric.
The Boardleys use only natural flavors and mostly organic ingredients to create preservative free baked goods and are working on entirely organic recipes.
They say they enjoy what they do and are pleased to be their own bosses. Afrodita has been working in bakeries for eleven years and Eric has been in the business since graduating college. They found that they were frustrated when people put limitations on how much time they could spend on a person’s order.