Coffey’s creations take the cake

Wendy Coffey provides high quality cakes for special occasions

According to Wendy Coffey, everything happens for a reason. In fact, when she was laid off from her job, she said she was given the opportunity of a lifetime — starting a small business of her own.

Baby cakes — Coffey appealed to the tastebuds and sense of humor of a class at Liberty University by creating a cake that played on the satirical view expressed by Jonathan Swift in his story “A Modest Proposal.” Photo provided

Coffey Cakes, owned and operated by Coffey, is a small bakery in the Timberlake area which specializes in cakes for special events and weddings.

“When I got laid off from my previous job several years ago, my son was engaged and needing a wedding cake for the wedding,” Coffey said. “ My fiancé looked at me and said, ‘you can do that.’”

Coffey developed her love of sweets while working at a bakery called Mr. Donut. Using the cake decorating skills she had acquired throughout the years, and the experience of her son’s wedding cake, Coffee started making cakes for local residents. She began taking orders and opened the Coffey Cakes company in 2002.

“I do about 110 weddings a year,” Coffey said. “Last year alone I did 190 cakes total.”

Coffey said that things can get hectic trying to run her business by herself, and that a typical day consists of a myriad of phone calls, emails, appointments, advertising, baking and decorating. According to Coffey, her shop is open by appointment only.

“Even though things can get crazy, I love my job,” Coffey said. “I love meeting people and hearing their stories. I especially enjoy when I get to make a cake for a certain family on several occasions, like the family I do a birthday cake for every year.”

Having made cakes for Liberty students to compliment their class projects, Coffey has widened her customer demographics.

Jessica Grigg, who ordered one of Coffey’s cakes as part of an English presentation on the story “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, said that their cake, which featured an Irish baby in a pot, added a touch of humor to the satirical suggestion about how to deal with the poverty that spread throughout Ireland.

“The presentation was a success,” Grigg said. “The class loved the cake and could hardly believe it was real.”

According to Coffey, she is already booked for several weddings this summer and her calendar is filling up quickly.

For more information on Coffey Cakes, call Wendy Coffey at (434) 941-7182 or email wendy@coffeycakes.com. Check out the Coffey Cakes Facebook page for pictures of some of her creations.

2 comments

  • That’s absolutely incredible!!! 😀 Does Coffey have a website or Facebook page that displays her different creations of the past? Thanks for leaving the contact information as well! ^_^

  • She has a website, but it was down when I checked. I’ve added a link to the Facebook page in the story.

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