Nancy’s specialty is custom-designed cakes. Among her many challenges have been incorporating wedding gown designs into a cake’s frosting and recreating a two-foot version of the Arc de Triomphe. Many clients have trusted Nancy with their family recipes. One customer gave Nancy her mom’s Hungarian poppy torte recipe and was so happy with the result, she told Nancy that she made it even better than her mother.

When I visited Nancy in her kitchen, her assistant was putting the final touches on an adorable, baby blue, round cake with a white chocolate ribbon. Flipping through Nancy’s portfolio, I found a diverse collection. There were incredibly detailed cakes with life-like, hand-formed fondant roses carefully tinted with shades of white and pale pink and modern cakes with fun, bright colors and geometric shapes. With such elegantly detailed creations featuring lily of the valley and colorful pansies, I found it hard to decipher what was real and what was edible.

I was so tempted by the smells of the kitchen and the beautiful designs, I quickly thought of an excuse to order a cake for myself. Valentine’s Day was around the corner, so I asked Nancy to make my husband a bright pink conversation heart with the words "Luv Ya" in bright green. As hard as it was to cut into such an adorable cake, my husband and I enjoyed every minute of the moist chocolate creation with fresh vanilla filling.

Nancy's clients and peers love and respect her and her work. Her "Swedish Dream Cookie" recipe has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, and Gentry Magazine featured her cakes in a 1998 issue as well as publishing an article about her 'Chocolate Kuchen’ in 1999. But perhaps her most glowing recommendations come from her clients' thank you notes saying, "Our wedding cake was 'out of this world.’ Not only was it breathtaking visually, it was by far the best tasting cake we’ve ever had."