Normally breaking into the cake business wouldn’t be done on a whim, but that’s exactly how Joy and Lindsay Funk of Lighthouse Cake Company started their sweet adventure.
“A friend said ‘Do you know there’s a bakery for sale down the road?’” Joy said. “Within a few days we had bought the bakery.”
“We just basically came home from work one day and decided to buy a bakery,” Lindsay said. “It was something that we maybe talked about once or twice.”
The couple has owned the store since 1998, continuing as a bakery before deciding to focus on cakes, a decision spurred by the market.
“The cakes seemed to do way better than the bread,” Lindsay said.
“It’s more of our passion too,” Joy added.
Making sculpted 3D cakes is one of their favourite parts of the job and they have created everything from cake cars to a cake crib to a cake unicorn.
The store makes about 200 cakes on average per week, selling about half of those on Saturday alone. The show Cake Boss has generated an increased interest in custom sculpted cakes, the Funks say.
“People seem to get excited when you start talking about cake,” Lindsay said.
Being a part of so many families’ traditions is among the joys of the work.
“It’s fun when you see pictures of people posted on Facebook after the cake’s part of their celebration,” Joy said. “It’s part of their pictures and their memories. It’s definitely satisfying that way.”