An Interview with Gwendolyn Rogers, Founder of the Cake Bake Shop

Indianapolis’s own The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers is nationally recognized and frequently featured in the Top 10 must-visit restaurants in the city. Now, with their newly opened Disney BoardWalk location as another gemstone in their impressive crown, Rogers connected with our staff to share the ethos behind her magical creations. Note: This interview has been edited for space.

EDIBLE INDY: Walk me through how Cake Bake started. You have the pink, and princesses and the glitter and it is a magical experience from minute one. Where did that come from? Has that always been your personality?

GWENDOLYN ROGERS: No, I’m kind of a tomboy, which is totally opposite from what my stores are. And I have three boys and a husband so I’m in Man-World all the time, so it was kind of just a baby step evolution. 

You think it was pre-planned, like “Oh, I knew exactly what I was doing.” I didn’t really until I did it. I wanted to go to a place where I felt like I could sit down and eat a piece of cake and not feel guilty. So that’s kind of how it started. Then I wanted it to be decorated for Christmas, and then for Easter, and then it just kind of snowballed year after year, season after season, into what it is today.

EI: To some, you also just make incredible cakes, and you can send cakes anywhere. For those who have never been in the store, how do you make that order go beyond just a cake?

GR: The box is perfect, the ribbon is pink, the presentation is really nice. If you tour my kitchen, it’s spotless. That’s where everything is made, so I want my packaging to be right on point with that. 

We did have one guy who ordered a cake once and the delivery guy just threw it over the fence. The box apparently rolled down the steps., and when he opened it up, he couldn’t believe it. He sent us a letter saying, “I don’t know how you do it, but I saw UPS throw it over my fence, and the cake was perfectly intact.”

EI: You’ve mentioned before that Cake Bake has its own signature chocolate. Why make your own chocolate? And what was that experience like?

GR: Chocolate is a huge part of my business. I always had a bittersweet and a semisweet that I combined together. I thought it would be easier just to create my own blend. I went to just outside Paris a couple years ago and I created my own chocolate blend with Callebaut. It took me about three days to come up with the blend that worked for me. And no one else has that chocolate. It’s very specific to me and my brand. 

EI: And now you’re in the process of opening up a location at the Disney BoardWalk.

GR: Yes… It’s crazy. That doesn’t happen to anyone. 

EI: But this was already part of the overall vision even before you even opened your first restaurant in Broad Ripple, right?

GR: People thought I was nuts. But if I put together everything that I love—I love kids, I love my home, I love to eat. If I can incorporate that into what I do every single day, that’s the dream. You have your family with you, you’re all cooking together in the kitchen, everybody’s interacting with each other, that slowly just kind of evolved into Disney as a goal. 

EI: What about failing? Were you afraid it wouldn’t work out?

GR: I think failing is the best lesson you can have. It’s never perfect the first time, like if you make a cake and it falls over, and you feel like, “Oh my gosh, I’m never going to make that again”—that makes me want to make four more and see how I can improve it, how I can make it better. That’s really how Cake Bake grew.