Brian Lewis/The Gazette “People in Prince George’s don’t have any place to travel to get cakes of this caliber,” says Sharon White, owner of the Cake Courtesan in Bowie.

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The Cake Courtesan One of Sharon White’s specialty cakes.

Brian Lewis/The Gazette “People in Prince George’s don’t have any place to travel to get cakes of this caliber,” says Sharon White, owner of the Cake Courtesan in Bowie.

 

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Sharon White hopes a new location, new name and new business model are the recipe for success for Bowie’s newest cake bakery.

White is moving the Cake Courtesan from Annapolis, where her business was known as Nostalgia Cupcakes, to 6926 Laurel Bowie Road. She also is shifting her business model from a sit-down cupcake shop to a storefront pickup spot for high-end cakes similar to those made famous by bakeries such as Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. Charm City is known for its elaborately designed cakes and has been featured for years in the “Ace of Cakes” cable television show.

“People only saw us as cupcakes and that’s it,” White said of her Annapolis location. “It was a tourist area, so we’d have good summers but not-so-good winters.”

Nostalgia Cupcakes, which closed in October, won its category in What’s Up? Magazine’s Best of Annapolis contest in 2009 for its cupcakes. White plans to open the new store this month.

White said she realized it was time for a new plan when three years elapsed without snagging any orders for graduation cakes despite her shop’s proximity to several schools, including the U.S. Naval Academy.

She views Bowie, where she used to live, as another chance and a place where she can reinvent her profile as someone known for cakes for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.

“I wanted a place closer to [Washington,] D.C.,” White said. “People in Prince George’s don’t have any place to travel to get cakes of this caliber.”

White’s closest competitor is The Cakery in Bowie, which has been around since 1996 and offers cakes that feature high-detail designing but not to the same extent of the Cake Courtesan and others of its ilk. The Cakery declined comment for this article.

The Cake Courtesan will feature elaborate designs, from towering gift packages to china dish-like flowers nestling tiny sleeping babies, along with the cupcakes for which White already is known.

The demand for high-end pastries is high, but finding the right price to balance the work involved and what people will pay can be a challenge, said Randi Brecher, owner of Creative Cakes in Silver Spring.

Creative Cakes has been around for 30 years — Brecher bought it three years ago — and is known for customized cakes featuring everything from giant burgers to a bride and groom fighting off zombies.

Brecher’s cakes start at about $35 for a simple 8-inch cake and can exceed $500 for more customized orders. White plans to sell hers for $300.

The U.S. cake decorator industry generated about $919 million in revenues last year, growing 4.9 percent annually since 2006, according to research company IbisWorld of Los Angeles.

“It’s a matter of your display and what photos you show. People buy what they see. But some people limit themselves, so you want to let them know the photos are just a starting place,” Brecher said.

She also cautioned bakers that they should like designing whatever cakes they feature, as those will be the most requested. Diversification also is key, she said, and wished White luck in her new venture.

White also plans to use her new 1,600-square-foot location — larger than the 1,400 square feet in Annapolis — for bakery and cake design classes, plus parties, she said.

She had one employee in her Annapolis store, but will go solo in Bowie, at least to start. Creative Cakes, on the other hand, employs 12.

“I’m hopeful; my husband is not so sure,” said White, who previously was a government contractor and then took baking classes, including with top decorators, to prepare for her cake designing career.

“But the explosion of popularity at places like Wegmans shows people in Prince George’s want better quality and are willing to spend more money to get it,” she said.

lrobbins@gazette.net