Image courtesy Bmoresweet
CakeSpy Note: This is a post from Cake Gumshoe Megan, who's always on the lookout for her next sweet experience!
Tucked away in a nondescript strip mall off busy Belair Road, the Baltimore Cake and Wedding Cottage is a gem of a cake decorating supply store.
Family owned since 1977, the store is divided in half, splitting square footage between accessories a bride needs for her big day and tools and accessories her baker needs as well. The store’s website devotes itself to the wedding side of the business, but a visit to the bricks and mortar retail store reveals a different story.
The store entrance is situated at the split between the merchandise, and you’ll want to veer to the left, toward the cake supplies, though the store does seem to have fine invitations, bridal veils and really cute wedding cake toppers.
Cake pans of all shapes and sizes line one side of a 30 foot-long free-standing shelf, and cupcake toppers and picks and other character cake toppers and decorations fill the other. On my last visit there, spring and Easter cookie cutters, cupcake liners, and enough colorful sprinkles to drag you out of your winter doldrums made up the featured items section at the front of the store.
Displays of cookie cutters for all seasons and occasions as well as more sprinkles, quins and colored sanding sugars give way to a sizeable selection of candy molds for new babies, weddings, graduations and many other holidays and occasions – these molds make individual shaped candies, candy lollipops and candies on pretzels.
The store also stocks flavorings for candy fillings and a rainbow of candy coating colors. Looking for lavender? Check. Going for mint green? Sure. Searching for sky blue? Absolutely.
You will, of course, need to box and/or display all of the yumminess you’re going to make once you leave the store with all your new goodies. The Cake Cottage offers a wide variety of plain and decorated candy boxes and bags as well as basic and covered cake boards for your sugared masterpieces.
Once you get to the checkout, you’ll how you’ve missed that the counter display ringing the register is chock full of sugar and gum paste flowers, babies, dogs, ducks, chicks, rattles, bibs, cats, and almost any other edible garnish you can think of.
If you are at a loss as to what to do with all your new supplies, check out the calendar of classes offered at the Cake Cottage. All levels of cake decorating are offered as well as individual workshops on piping borders and flowers. Adults and children alike can learn the art of candy-making, and all class participants get 10 percent off in the store for the duration of the class.
But perhaps my favorite part of the store is the women who work there. They know the inventory inside and out, have wonderful tips for using their products and they have great memories for faces too. I don’t get there very much due to living 800 miles away, but the staff remembers me every time.
Baltimore Cake and Wedding Cottage, 8716 Belair Rd., Nottingham, MD 21236; P (410) 529-0200
Open seven days a week: Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. Online at cakeandweddingcottage.com