The West Seattle custom cake bakery, "BAKED." opens Wednesday, June 1, at 2604 California Avenue SW at Heavenly Pasty & Cake's current location. The two bakeries will share the space, Allison Barnes of Heavenly Pastry told the West Seattle Herald. This storefront space is the former West Seattle Herald headquarters. We joined our Burien office at 14006 1st Avenue South.

Kristina Serfass and Natalie Vorpahl co-own BAKED. Serfass graduated from the Art Institute of Houston with a culinary arts degree. Vorpahl graduated from the Seattle Culinary Academy. They have both been in the cake business for five years, and have been business partners for three. Serfass lives in West Seattle, Vorpahl in Queen Anne. Their former location was on 36th Ave. SW.

"It's funny, said Serfass. "We have probably nothing in common but cakes and food."

"We just joke about it all the time," added Vorpahl.

"I like to go camping," said Serfass. "Natalie likes to go shopping."

"I'm not much of the, 'Oh, let's go out and go for a hike' type," Vorpahl added.

Yet walk into their space, and they do seem very much in sync with all things cake-related.

"We try to use as much local, seasonal produce as possible," said Vorpahl as Serfass nodded. "We shop at West Seattle Farmers Market for our berries. We use Sheppards Grain from a Spokane supplier for our flour. You can see where each sack was milled from. We find local peanut butter. We try to use Dairygold butter from Washington State."

They say they will create any kind of custom cake for any occasion, but weddings, particularly at this time of year, are their, well, bread and butter.

"We've been getting last-minute wedding cake orders," said Serfass. "A lot of brides plan at least a year in advance but we are getting orders one to three months prior to the wedding day."

"Some wait to book their place, get the major aspects out of the way," added Vorpahl. "Both of us being in here full time, we can accommodate last minute orders."

Their cakes like those in the storefront window range from about $500 to $800, which translates to $5 to $8 per slice.

"We don't jack up the prices because it is a wedding," said Serfass."We base our prices on work, not on the event. When customers say 'wedding' at some bakeries they get a different price range."

Kristina Serfass
Natalie Vorpahl
BAKED.
206.307.4847
www.custombakedcakes.com