I'll start by saying that I have never been a cake guy. Not for birthdays, holidays, weddings... nothing. Give me ice cream, pie, or a shake and I'm happy. Well, that is officially a thing of the past. Nearly 10 years ago, I found myself standing in a little circle at a wedding, catching up with old friends, when cake started making the rounds. Everyone else immediately went, "Ooh, cake. Yes, please." I passed. Because, again: not a cake guy. But then everyone stopped talking because they were too busy eating cake. I could actually smell the lemon from where I was standing and finally thought, Fine. Why not? One bite. WOW. WOW. WOW. I think I put three pieces of cake down in about 30 seconds. Then I went looking for Justine, my fiancée at the time. Our wedding was about 10 months away and "cake" was still sitting untouched on the wedding to-do list. I had planned on letting her completely take the lead on that one because cake simply wasn't my thing. That plan had changed. I didn't like cake. But I loved THIS cake. Suddenly, I had gone from not caring whether we even had cake at our wedding to deciding I needed my own groom's cake, and it needed to be whatever I had just eaten. So I brought Justine over to the table and tried to play it cool. "Hey, you should probably try this cake in case it's something you'd like for our wedding." Meanwhile, inside my head: Be cool. Don't blow this. Your wedding responsibilities are to be showered, sober, on time, and wearing a tux. Cake was NOT something you were supposed to have big feelings about. She knows you're not a cake guy. Just get her to try it. I handed her a piece like a gentleman, gave her a fork, and naturally grabbed another for myself so I could maintain the charade that I, too, was simply "trying" the cake. I didn't have to wait long. One bite and she said, "Oh my, this is the best lemon cake I've ever had. This is incredible. Do you think it would be rude if I grabbed a second?" I laughed, breathed a huge sigh of relief, and informed her that I was currently eating my fourth. The cake search was over. Enter Ashley Westoff. We had absolutely no idea how much fun this was going to become. We first met Ashley at her home studio, before she had her own storefront. We told her the story about the wedding, my lifelong indifference toward cake, and how somehow her lemon cake had turned me into a man who suddenly had groom's-cake dreams. Justine and I are travel addicts, so I asked Ashley whether, with enough time to practice and prepare, she'd be willing to make something very nontraditional: an old, rustic leather suitcase with belt straps and travel stamps representing places we'd been and places we planned to visit on our honeymoon. She was more than up for it. She absolutely knocked it out of the park. Wedding was great. Honeymoon was great. Marriage was going great. But there was now a problem. I still wasn't really a cake guy... but I needed more Ashley cake. So I hatched a plan. I called Ashley and asked if she would be willing to become our family's official cake person. I promised that I would keep coming up with ridiculous ideas for Justine's birthday if Ashley promised to keep taking my calls. It has been a Batch-Made-in-Heaven ever since. That term is neither registered nor trademarked, but it probably should be. Over the years, Ashley has somehow turned every increasingly ridiculous idea we've thrown at her into something incredible: *Grooms Cake - The Suitcase that started us down this journey together. *Birthday Salad - Yes, that's a cake. *Birthday Café - An entire Café Richard coffee setup. *Birthday Bouquet - A cupcake flower arrangement designed for easy sharing during COVID. *Birthday Sushi - Her birthday cakes had become a pretty big deal at the office, so we needed another easily shareable design. Ashley crushed it. *Birthday Charcuterie - An entire charcuterie board made from cookies and cake. *Birthday Succulents - Somehow plants became dessert. *Birthday Abstract - Designed around tickets to a special event and themed to match the big gift that year. *Bourbon Barrel - For my 40th, Justine took the reins and had Ashley turn one of my favorite things into cake. And every single time, Ashley has taken whatever strange concept was floating around in our heads and made it better than we imagined. That's the part that makes her different. Ashley doesn't just make beautiful cakes. She listens to the story behind the occasion, gets excited about the idea with you, and then figures out how to turn it into something edible. And somehow, after all these years, they still taste every bit as good as they look. Nearly a decade later, Ashley Westoff has become part of how our family celebrates birthdays and milestones. At this point, wondering what Ashley is going to create is part of the gift itself. So, from a guy who once couldn't have cared less about cake: If you can dream it, Ashley can probably turn it into cake. read more

I do not leave reviews but I'm extremely disappointed with both the quality of the cake I received and, even more so, the way the owner, Ashley, handled my concerns. The cake was for an event, and what I received was sloppily made and did not reflect the quality I expected based on what I ordered and paid for. When I brought this to the owner's attention and explained that the cake needed to be redone, instead of responding professionally or trying to make the situation right, she became rude and defensive. Her response immediately turned into an explanation about how difficult it is to be a small business owner and how much work goes into running a small business. While I absolutely understand that owning and operating a small business can be challenging, that does not mean a paying customer should be expected to overlook poor workmanship or feel guilty for asking to receive what they paid for. Supporting a small business should not mean lowering your expectations or being made to feel unreasonable when something is clearly not done well. If a customer pays for a professionally made cake for an important event, it is reasonable to expect the finished product to be neat, properly executed, and ready as promised. To make matters worse, she was also late arriving at the event. At that point, the situation was already stressful enough without having to deal with an owner who responded to legitimate concerns with defensiveness rather than accountability. Mistakes happen, and I would have been much more understanding if the response had simply been, "I'm sorry this isn't up to standard. Let me fix it." Instead, I was made to feel as though I should be sympathetic to the challenges of owning a small business while receiving very little understanding for the fact that I was a paying customer relying on her for an important event. Being a small business owner deserves support, but it also comes with the responsibility of providing the product and service you are charging customers for--and handling concerns professionally when you fall short. Unfortunately, based on both the quality of the work and the way the situation was handled, I would not use this bakery again. read more

Ashley was super easy to work with and her cake is yummy!! We had three different flavors of cake and our guests loved the variety! We ended up with just a tiny portion of our bottom layer left so I am pretty sure our guests even went back for a second piece! When we went to our tasting we had such a hard time figuring out what design we wanted because all of her past designs (in her design books) were so pretty. She also made us a custom cake topped that we loved! read more

Ashley made the most beautiful cake for a baby shower that I hosted. She made my vision come to life and designed a cake that made the momma-to-be over the moon happy. The two layer cake was her traditional white cake on bottom and a strawberry layer on the top. I would highly recommend her again! she was a delight to work with! read more

The cake and desserts they made for our wedding were a HUGE hit with everyone. The design on the cake was exactly what we were looking for and also tasted great. The pumpkin flavor was by far our favorite. I would highly recommend them! read more

Ashley is extremely talented and accommodating. Her cakes were delicious! I would recommend her to any of my friends or family. Brides to be, you can't go wrong with Sugar Beats Bake Shop! read more