1. Tell us a little bit about your bakery and how you got your start?
Simply Decadent is a dessert bakery in downtown Bellbrook founded, family-owned, and run by three local women. The owners represent a mother, daughter, mother-in-law trio who have over 40 years combined baking and decorating experience. All three have spent years baking and decorating for local bakeries or in cottage-type businesses.
In 2016, the three began discussions regarding opening a store front in Bellbrook to offer fresh, custom desserts to the local community. By early 2017, a location was identified and renovations underway. Simply Decadent officially opened in late August 2017 and has since earned a growing reputation as a premier bakery for wedding and celebratory desserts!
2. Describe your service/product you provide and how are you different from other bakeries?
We truly live by our motto “Desserts designed for you”. We dislike the notion of selecting someone’s special cake or dessert out of a catalog and would prefer to design something that is truly what the customer envisions and desires.
We also have developed and use our own recipes for our cakes and icings as well as many of our other desserts. Lastly, we bake everything fresh in our kitchen in Bellbrook resulting in a product that tastes as great as it looks.
3. What was your first childhood memory involving baking?
All three owners have a bunch of fond memories regarding baking. One of the owner’s great grandmothers would bake pies from scratch every Tuesday. Another one of the owners remembers her mother baking birthday cakes for the kids and her father decorating them. She also remembers how excited every kid was for their special birthday cake!
4. What words best describe you and your company?
Family
Dedication to detail
Personalized
5. What are your top 3 most popular flavors?
Our fruit cakes are extremely popular. We developed custom recipes and use real fruit and berries for each of those cakes. We joke that you get a serving of fruits when you eat a piece of our cake! Right now, three of our most popular cake flavors are strawberry, cherry chip, and pineapple.
6. What is your favorite flavor?
Owners Jackie and Debby really like our cherry chip while owner Adonica’s favorite is our dark chocolate cake.
7. What is your favorite cake and frosting combination?
We all have our own favorites. Jackie likes cherry chip cake with a chocolate buttercream. Adonica likes the dark chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream. Debby likes the cherry chip with an almond buttercream! You can’t go wrong with any of those!
8. What is your favorite part of being a baker?
We truly enjoy the vast majority of what we do. Having the opportunity to be creative, be it developing a new recipe, designing a cake, or figuring out how to turn a customer’s vision into reality is always fun. We also all really like watching people’s reactions when they see their completed cakes!
9. What was your favorite part of your job?
Getting to work with family!
10. Do you offer anything other than cake?
Absolutely! We like to say we offer decadent desserts. This ranges from host of cookies, cake pops, brownies, caramels, cupcakes, and fudge; to sweet breads, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, dessert bars, cheesecake, and pies. We also welcome custom dessert requests. For example, we developed a sugar cream pie and a Grand Marnier chocolate cheesecake at the request of customers.
11. What are your favorite trends when it comes to wedding desserts?
We really like the fact that couples are able to express their own personalities and originality through their wedding desserts. We have done birch tree style cakes for rustic weddings, under-the-sea themed cakes, beautiful dessert bars featuring a host of small delicacies, a 50’s style cake featuring edible lace, a tiered cookie wedding cake, a stacked cheesecake wedding cake, on and on. In our opinion, the best wedding dessert is one that epitomizes the new couples’ combined vision.
12. What tips or advice can you give to couples who are ordering their cake and desserts?
It’s important to have a ballpark idea of the number of servings you are going to need. We can walk you through design options, flavor combinations, and other considerations but the options vary significantly if we are talking a small, 25 person celebration compared to a 300+ guest event. At least knowing approximately how many people you intend to invite will help us narrow in our recommendations.
Above all, we like to remind our couples that this is their special day and to make sure to get what they want.
13. Is there an innovation you’d like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
The cupcake is perfect and you don’t mess with perfection!
14. What’s the most memorable wedding cake you’ve done?
Prior to actually opening Simply Decadent, the three owners, along with friends and family, designed, baked, decorated, and delivered nearly 60 cake tiers for owner Jackie’s wedding. This was an absolutely massive undertaking as each table’s centerpiece consisted of a 2 tiered cake along with a total of 10 tiers on the cake table. There were four designs used for the centerpiece cakes and a total of 6 cake, icing, and filling combinations! This cake is especially memorable as it was the wedding of one of our owners and the wedding of the children of the other two owners.
15. Do you have any final advice for brides and grooms?
While it does not directly relate to our business, far too often we hear of brides and grooms not being able to enjoy the food desserts at their wedding. They select desserts that they really enjoy and by the time they are able to partake, their guests have cleaned the pantry, so to speak. On several occasions we have made up special boxes for the bride and groom to enjoy after the reception. This allows them to interact with their guests while still being able to enjoy their special desserts.
16. How should couples looking for cake/dessert for their weddings get in touch with you?
We are very flexible. In addition to coming into the store at 108 W Franklin St, Bellbrook, OH 45305 and talking with us, you can email us at [email protected], call us at 937-545-2614, or send a message to our Facebook page.We offer free wedding tastings and consultations but those do require an appointment.
Looking for a Dayton, Ohio bakery for your upcoming wedding or special event – or just want a sweet treat? Be sure to visit the ladies at Simply Decadent.
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
Looking for unique ideas for your wedding? Weddings From The Heart can help. Contact me today at [email protected] or by phone or text at 937-581-3647!
Neato article!
(Diane and I had a fabulous wedding day, even though we did it on the cheap, really, for the way it turned out. Country club venue, LOTS of guests and everything worked out perfectly.)
My suggestion for the bakery ladies is, be ready for unusual requests, just in case.
Have recipe options such as wedding cakes that are Gluten Free, or Diabetic-friendly, or Low Calorie…
I know nothing about your industry, but, hey, you never know. Someday you may need that info handy. Enjoy!
Hi Dennis, You’re so right about the “unusual requests.” Since such requests, including gluten free and dietary allergies are becoming more common place, luckily more and more bakers and caterers are having an easier time accommodating them.