Couture Cakes helps us celebrate atHome’s 20th birthday in style.
Some people unwind by reading or watching television. Susan McMakin’s daily therapy is decorating cakes.
“I love to draw, and with buttercream, it’s like drawing,” she says. “I love the movement, how soft it is.”
McMakin is one of the lucky few who has been able to translate her passion into a business, founding Couture Cakes in 2005. Now leading a staff of eight at a spacious location near Greenridge, McMakin is turning out festive birthday cakes, elegant wedding cakes, and TikTok-worthy celebration cakes each week.
She likes keeping up with the trends, and says many of her employees have art backgrounds. “Half of my employees were art majors, and are experienced in sculpting, art, and painting in addition to culinary skills,” she says.
McMakin started training at age 13, when she began spending summers with her great aunt, who owned a bakery. “I learned about cakes, piping, everything,” she says.
She went to Clemson University to study architecture, but after marrying and having a daughter, decided to start a business instead. She converted her garage into a commercial bakery, but quickly outgrew the space, moving to the Miller Road storefront in 2008.
Today, you can still see her great aunt’s influence in her prized vintage-style cakes, iced with buttercream in intricate scrolls, garlands, and other swirling effects. Her team uses the Lambeth method, popularized in the 1800s and then again in the 1940s and ’50s, to pipe designs on many cakes, creating rows of piped details to give depth to the design.
While some clients come in looking for a standard offering, others come in with a completely custom idea. “We love to look at any cake picture and recreate it,” she says.
Weddings make up a large portion of the business; Couture Cakes is a preferred vendor at venues across the region, including Old Edwards Inn, Cliffs properties, Edinburgh West, and Gassaway Mansion.
She also sells dozens of birthday cakes each week, with popular choices including kids’ favorites like dinosaurs and princesses as well as heart-shaped cakes with vintage icing, vibrant cakes covered with smear paint techniques, and tiered treats topped with real flowers.
Each new design becomes part of her customers’ fondest memories, which she finds to be the most fulfilling aspect of her work. “People come in and say, ‘You did my birthday cake when I was seven, and my graduation cake, and now my wedding cake.’ People smile, clap, some jump up and down. It just affirms what we are doing.”
Cake Makin’ with Susan McMakin
How many cake flavors do you offer?
20 regular flavors, plus seasonal varieties and gluten-free options.
What is your most popular flavor?
Surprisingly, white cake.
What are some popular seasonal flavors?
Strawberry lemonade in summer, sweet potato cake in the fall.
What’s your favorite flavor?
Chocolate cake with raspberry puree and cream cheese filling.
Do you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
Yes, we have to do quality control. My doctor and I have had this discussion. We cut the cakes off to level for decorating, so what we cut off, we might taste. Or we invent new flavors and have to try them.
Your best piece of decorating advice?
No cake is ever perfect. Just take a risk, try things out. Practice on a piece of plastic wrap and then try it on a cake.
