When Jan Moon was a little girl, she got her hands on her sister’s Easy-Bake Oven, and it was love at first smell. She eventually went into the food business and, recently, saw her long-time dream come true when she opened her own Edgewood bakery, called Dreamcakes, in Homewood.
Moon’s establishment offers wedding cakes as well as a wide variety of decadent cupcakes, including such flavors as Bananas Foster and Chocolate High.
Birmingham Weekly: Are you from Birmingham?
Jan Moon: I graduated from UAB in food and nutrition. I worked at University Hospital and learned fast that was not what I wanted to do with food. I worked for Southern Living magazine in the test kitchen for about 10 or 15 years, then I worked for Cooking Light for about five years and then I was a freelance food stylist for about five years. I’ve always done wedding cakes. I rented a tiny place in Cahaba Heights just to make the cakes and meet with brides. I was sick of having powdered sugar in my house. People kept coming in and asking for stuff, so finally I said, “You know what, I’m just going to make cupcakes because we have all this batter.” So, we started putting cupcakes out, and it just exploded.
When did you realize you would have to move to this bigger space in Edgewood?
We outgrew [the first place] in six months. It was like a closet. It was one room. We had one oven, and we could bake two or three dozen cupcakes at a time. It was crazy. We laugh about it now.
Did you grow up baking?
My mother worked. I had two older sisters, so it fell to us to do the cooking at night, and that’s where I found my love for food out of necessity. My love of baking? It sounds silly, but my sister got an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas one year, and I was probably like six years old. I was obsessed with that thing. The miniature boxes of cake mix, the little bitty pans. I have been crazy about baking ever since.
Do you develop the recipes?
We develop all of our recipes and test them. We probably have done close to 30 or 40 cupcake flavors.
Tell me about some of your most popular flavors.
“Over the Moon” was our very first cupcake. It’s a white cake with cream filing with vanilla-bean icing and white chocolate curls. It used to be white, but a lot of people called it “blue moon,” so we tinted it blue, and we put white chocolate curls and edible glitter on it. It’s still our best seller. There’s “Maple Bacon.” Bacon is the new food fad right now. We love bacon. You know how your bacon gets in your maple syrup when you’re eating pancakes? So we did a maple buttercream butter cake and crumbled bacon on top. Men love it. We call it our man cupcake.
Cupcakes seem to be very trendy. Are you concerned they’re going to fall out of fashion?
We just make things that we love, and if people don’t want to buy that, we’ll make other things that we love. I like to change it up. I don’t want to eat the same week after week. That’s why we change our flavors. We’re probably always have cupcakes as long as people will eat them. I think Birmingham is just now catching on to the fun of it.
Can you tell me about your events?
We do Cakes and Cocktails. You bring whatever you want to drink. I show you four or five cake decorating techniques and let you practice. When you leave, you have a fully decorated cake. We also do private birthday parties.
Where did the name Dreamcakes come from?
It comes from an obsession with cake. Wherever I go, I’m looking for things to display cakes on, or what can I put on cakes. I’m always dreaming about cakes, and it’s always been my dream to have my own bakery. I’ve had the name since the 1980s. It just fit.
Dreamcakes is located at 960 Oxmoor Road in Edgewood and is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call (205) 871-9377 or visit www.dreamcakes-bakery.com. The next installment of Cakes and Cocktails is scheduled for Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m. Space is limited, so call for reservations.
Send your comments to editor@bhamweekly.com.
Moon’s establishment offers wedding cakes as well as a wide variety of decadent cupcakes, including such flavors as Bananas Foster and Chocolate High.
Birmingham Weekly: Are you from Birmingham?
Jan Moon: I graduated from UAB in food and nutrition. I worked at University Hospital and learned fast that was not what I wanted to do with food. I worked for Southern Living magazine in the test kitchen for about 10 or 15 years, then I worked for Cooking Light for about five years and then I was a freelance food stylist for about five years. I’ve always done wedding cakes. I rented a tiny place in Cahaba Heights just to make the cakes and meet with brides. I was sick of having powdered sugar in my house. People kept coming in and asking for stuff, so finally I said, “You know what, I’m just going to make cupcakes because we have all this batter.” So, we started putting cupcakes out, and it just exploded.
When did you realize you would have to move to this bigger space in Edgewood?
We outgrew [the first place] in six months. It was like a closet. It was one room. We had one oven, and we could bake two or three dozen cupcakes at a time. It was crazy. We laugh about it now.
Did you grow up baking?
My mother worked. I had two older sisters, so it fell to us to do the cooking at night, and that’s where I found my love for food out of necessity. My love of baking? It sounds silly, but my sister got an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas one year, and I was probably like six years old. I was obsessed with that thing. The miniature boxes of cake mix, the little bitty pans. I have been crazy about baking ever since.
Do you develop the recipes?
We develop all of our recipes and test them. We probably have done close to 30 or 40 cupcake flavors.
Tell me about some of your most popular flavors.
“Over the Moon” was our very first cupcake. It’s a white cake with cream filing with vanilla-bean icing and white chocolate curls. It used to be white, but a lot of people called it “blue moon,” so we tinted it blue, and we put white chocolate curls and edible glitter on it. It’s still our best seller. There’s “Maple Bacon.” Bacon is the new food fad right now. We love bacon. You know how your bacon gets in your maple syrup when you’re eating pancakes? So we did a maple buttercream butter cake and crumbled bacon on top. Men love it. We call it our man cupcake.
Cupcakes seem to be very trendy. Are you concerned they’re going to fall out of fashion?
We just make things that we love, and if people don’t want to buy that, we’ll make other things that we love. I like to change it up. I don’t want to eat the same week after week. That’s why we change our flavors. We’re probably always have cupcakes as long as people will eat them. I think Birmingham is just now catching on to the fun of it.
Can you tell me about your events?
We do Cakes and Cocktails. You bring whatever you want to drink. I show you four or five cake decorating techniques and let you practice. When you leave, you have a fully decorated cake. We also do private birthday parties.
Where did the name Dreamcakes come from?
It comes from an obsession with cake. Wherever I go, I’m looking for things to display cakes on, or what can I put on cakes. I’m always dreaming about cakes, and it’s always been my dream to have my own bakery. I’ve had the name since the 1980s. It just fit.
Dreamcakes is located at 960 Oxmoor Road in Edgewood and is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call (205) 871-9377 or visit www.dreamcakes-bakery.com. The next installment of Cakes and Cocktails is scheduled for Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m. Space is limited, so call for reservations.
Send your comments to editor@bhamweekly.com.
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