For sisters Ashley Hill and April McNeil, the saying, “You can have your cake and eat it, too” holds truth and value. Hailing from Durham, NC, these two young pastry chefs have created a budding business in MAvella Cakes, crafting some of people’s favorite items and making them into tasty treats. Read about why they started their business, celebrities in their clientele, and take a look at their amazing work!
Name, age, and location.
April McNeil, 23, Raleigh, NC
Ashley Hill, 26, Greensboro, NC
What do you do for a living?
April: Student and Bake/ Decorate Cakes
Ashley: Nurse and Bake/Decorate Cakes
What inspired you both to become a pastry chef?
Our late grandmother is the inspiration behind our cake business and making sure her name lives on is the motivation behind it.
Talk to us about your company, MAvella Cakes.
We are sisters that specialize in custom cakes with fun colors and great taste. Officially starting our buisness February 7, 2010, we came up with our name from our late grandmother MaVella McNeil (We spell it MAvella because everyone called our grandmother “MA”). Our motto is “MAvella Cakes: where you can experience cake like you never imagined.”
I can see why we can get an experience we never imagined, all of these cakes are very lifelike! Who is your main clientele for MAvella Cakes? Have you hosted any celebrity events or made any tasty treats for celebrities?
Our main clientele are people of all ages in Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham area (weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers etc.)
We made a cake for Terrence J for his birthday he came to the campus of North Carolina A&T for the “Think Like a Man” pep rally! Also, we made a cake for Greg Little of the Cleveland Browns.
What are your top selling treats and flavors?
The top selling treats would be our Strawberry shortcake cupcake and our Sweet Potato cupcakes (both are seasonal) and our RED velvet cake/cupcakes
Do you have any upcoming events in which we can taste those delectable treats?We do not have any upcoming events but we do have cake tasting events called “The Sweet Life”. It is a free event to just get a taste of the different flavors we have to offer.
Discuss some of your struggles and successes as a pastry chef.
Being an in-home bakery a lot of people think our prices should be lower than bakeries with an actual store front, but we’re producing the same thing if not better sometimes.
Contrastingly, it’s very rewarding having customers come back to place orders and when customers go out of their way to make sure you know they enjoyed there cakes. Also, when people place orders and they say they heard about us from someone who ordered a cake from us before… we LOVE it!
There may be some up and coming chefs who are reading this right now. Any words of wisdom or advice?
Two of the quotes we live by:
Follow your dreams or you will work for someone who followed theirs- unknown
Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard-unknown
What are your ultimate goals in life?
Our ultimate goal is to open up a MAvella Cakes in the Raleigh-Durham Area.
Contact MAvella Cakes:
http://www.mavellacakes.com/
Twitter: @MAvellaCakes
Facebook: Mavella Cakes
Instagram: @MAvellaCakes
