Artisan Charmaine Jones turns flour and sugar into jaw-dropping visions. Do not offer Charmaine Jones cake. But if you must, prepare yourself for negative feedback. She is the nationally-recognized "Cakediva" with sky-high standards, and no ordinary cake will impress her palate. The nastiness of her competitors' cakes is what inspired Jones to open Isn't It Special/Outrageous Cakes in Hoboken and Manhattan more than ten years ago.
The Indiana native came to new york in her early 20s after completing her masters in art from Loyola University. She initially wanted pursue a career in music but fell into baking when she realized that the cake industry needed her more. "I was very disgusted with what I saw was available," she says. "So I felt that if I was looking for that to change that was my life's calling — to try to change the world of cakes." At first, she was baking for acquaintances and other random connections, but as the word spread about the Cakediva, her clientele grew. She was able to open her own bakery in Hoboken in 1990, and then Manhattan in 1991.
She now does her baking in Manhattan and keeps the cake gallery and sugar room in Hoboken. The gallery reveals hundreds of photographs and models of Cakediva's previous works. One cake looks like a bouquet of flowers, another, an enchanted castle. Some of her recent orders include a 6–foot gavel cake for a judge in New York, a four–tier box birthday cake for the producer for "the Early Show", and a six–tier with edible CD's and a sugar sculpture of Notorious B.I.G. for the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation. Working with a staff of three to eight people, Jones creates cakes that may weigh hundreds of pounds and take days to make.
in the past, she has delivered cakes for overseas clients in the overhead compartment of an airplane. Jones' client have a choice of 11 cake flavors and 13 fillings; the most popular combination is pink champagne with coconut filling, she says. The base price for a novelty cake is $250, wedding cakes start at $500.
Multi–tiered and highly decorated cakes can cost thousands of dollars, but for the time, labour and quality, they are worth every penny and more, says Jones. Jones bakes for weddings, birthdays, corporate events and other special occasions. Her former clients include Erykah Badu, Michael Jordan, Jay Leno, Susan Sarandon and Queen Latifah's mom. Her cakes are also often featured on many soap operas, including "One Life to Live" and "All My Children". Cakediva gets most of her inspiration from things other than cakes, she says. Seeing a chipped pavement or the texture of a fabric can give her a new idea. And her ideas must be original and unprecedented, she adds.
"I've always been a leader, not follower," says Jones. "I can't stand to do what someone else has already done. I'd rather die." She would, however like to help others to do what she has done. She plans to write a cookbook someday, teaching people how to make these outrageous cakes themselves, she says. In the meantime, don't invite Jones to your birthday expecting her to bring a three–tier mega cake. One thing she dislikes is to bring her work home — or to a party. |
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