Lynn Fairweather-Ayala has been baking since she was 10. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 2001, and along with her mother, Laura Olivapotenza, opened Dream Cakes Bakery in 2006. On their 10th anniversary, Dream Cakes has moved its pink mailbox to a new location with a renewed focus on amazing custom orders.
Year-round, Dream Cakes sports full displays of cakes and cake bites, cupcakes, and decorative sugar cookies, but custom creations are the real stars. For the holidays, Fairweather-Ayala has whipped up Mr. and Mrs. Frosty cakes (white and chocolate cakes filled with “cookies & cream” and chocolate buttercreams, respectively); confetti and peppermint mini-Frosty bites; gingerbread homeowners and their gingerbread homes; festive cookie platters, and “Santa’s Cheesecake” which is, of course, mixed with cookies: chocolate chip and Oreos.
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Lest you think it takes a special holiday to order a Dream Cakes confection, know this: request it at least two weeks in advance and Fairweather-Ayala can create almost anything your sweet-tooth can dream up.
“The soccer ball cake we did recently…” Fairweather-Ayala says, as she assembles carefully prepared sugar and fondant sculptures. “The soccer ball was my nemesis for a long time. Just getting all those shapes over a sphere.”
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The cake she’s referring to was the heaviest cake she has ever baked. A life-size soccer ball and Rice-Krispies-and-fondant cleat sitting atop two larger cake tiers, it recently fed about 150 people for a local bar mitzvah.
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“Every once in a while I like to throw a challenge at myself. Like, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
If that weren’t enough of a challenge already, Fairweather-Ayala ensures nearly all of her cakes and cookies are nut-free. (The only exceptions being the carrot cake and specific cake bites.) Upon special request she can even go dairy- or gluten-free.
Those interested in commissioning a custom cake or assortment from Fairweather-Ayala can do so right from the Dream Cakes homepage, a feature she loves thanks to the photo upload tool. “It’s great for, ‘Can you make me a cake that looks like this?’”
Dream Cakes Bakery
399 East Main St, Jefferson Valley
914.734.2253; Dream Cakes
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