Fresh pastries coming soon to Main Street

Cake Me Away set to open new location this summer

Bella Biondini Times Editor

Late this summer, Cake Me Away will open its doors for the first time at its new downtown location — offering the Gunnison Valley community a variety of freshly baked pastries, magical custom cakes and plenty of cookies to share.

Owner Alyssa Atzenbeck began searching for her own storefront approximately a year and a half ago as she looked to expand her business. Just when it seemed like she had exhausted all of her options, she saw a for rent sign pop up at 135 N. Main St. this winter, the former location of Spin a Christmas Tale. By April, she had signed the lease.

After undertaking significant renovations to the building’s interior, so it can accommodate a commercial kitchen and seating area, she hopes to begin welcoming visitors inside the bakery for sweet treats by the beginning of July. Cake Me Away previously operated out of Jermaine’s.

“This community has been so incredible,” she said. “I'm in awe of how supportive everybody has been … There's been a lot of very long nights and 100-plus hour work weeks, and they're the reason I do it.”

Once the remodel is complete, Atzenbeck envisions a spot where the community can convene for a cup of coffee and fresh earlymorning pastries, such as croissants and Danishes. She will continue to offer custom cakes and cookies for any occasion, even if it’s just to satisfy a sweet tooth. In the future, she also plans to give other entrepreneurs the opportunity to use a commissary kitchen.

Atzenbeck, a Colorado native, has been baking since she was young, making cookies, breads and muffins from scratch with her mother and grandmother. To her, baking has always been therapeutic, and when she arrived at Western Colorado University in 2012, she knew she wanted to make it her career.

Pursuing a degree in business management and entrepreneurship, Atzenbeck launched Cake Me Away when she was still in college. During her junior year, her entrepreneurship class took her through all the steps of opening a business.

“And I was like, I’m just going to do it,” she said.

Cake Me Away was originally designed to give college students’ parents a way to buy or send their children a customized dessert for their birthdays or for special events. At the time, the only available option was City Market, and the store didn’t deliver, she said.

Because the Colorado’s

Cottage Foods Act didn’t allow her to bake at home , she first had to hunt for a commercial kitchen.

She visited every restaurant in town, hopeful to find a space to bake her cakes, but no one had room for her. Her last stop was Mario’s, where she finally found a small space in the back.

She refined her skillset over the years, briefly leaving the valley to attend a bakery and pastry arts school in Boulder. She learned the ins and outs of baking through hands-on work at a mom and pop bakery on the Front Range, but much of her education came from trial and error. One of the largest challenges she faced was learning to bake at high altitude.

“I looked up YouTube, tried things and watched them fall,” she said. “And then I said, ‘Okay, well, I’ve got to do that differently next time.’”

Atzenbeck creates cakes in all shapes, sizes and flavors, nothing too outlandish to try. (Chocolate with blueberry filling anyone?)

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Some have been shaped like dragons or Star Wars’ R2-D2, while others celebrate birthdays and retirements or are “just because” cakes. She’s bracing for a busy summer ahead, with more than 70 weddings already on the books.

Longtime customer Andrea Cappy said she is extremely picky about her cakes and has been plagued by some that look lovely, but end up tasting like cardboard. But not Atzenbeck’s cakes, she said. Even when Cappy challenged her to make gluten and dairy-free cupcakes, she wasn’t disappointed.

“Everything she bakes is amazing, and not only can she make the cake, she has a good business mind as well,” Cappy said. “She has what it takes to be successful, and I can’t wait to see where she goes with it.”

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)

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