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Vanilla For Valentine's Day

Camille Massey |
February 14, 2011 | 4:29 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Vanilla Bake Shop Santa Monica, CA
Vanilla Bake Shop Santa Monica, CA
Valentine’s Day is a huge holiday for bakeries across the country, and Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica is no exception.

Since its opening in June 2007, the owners of Vanilla Bake Shop, Amy and Jeremy Berman, are preparing to take on their fourth Valentine’s Day—what Amy calls one of their “busiest” holidays of the year.

“We prep what we can ahead of time, but everything is baked fresh from scratch each day, so we work around the clock to make it happen,” said Amy.

Satisfying sweet-tooths all over Santa Monica and beyond, Vanilla Bake Shop has created quite a name for itself even amongst its larger competitors in the area such as Yummy, Sprinkles, and Crumbs. Amy credits the shop’s distinctness and wow-factor to baking everything from scratch daily using high quality ingredients.

“When my husband pays the bills we sometimes can’t believe how much money we spend on real vanilla beans, chocolate shipped from San Francisco, or the whiskey we use in our chocolate cake. But, it makes the difference in the taste, so it’s worth every penny!”

Customers like Aaron Brown agree—tasting is believing.

After trying the bittersweet dark chocolate cupcake, one of Vanilla’s limited edition Valentine’s Day cupcakes, Brown was very pleased with the result.

“It was amazing. Very moist, creamy frosting, and not too sweet. It tastes like something my mom or grandma made. Feels like home.”

And that is just how it all began—in the home. Amy recalls her mother surprising the family with homemade sweets very often.

 “It was her thoughtfulness and my sweet tooth that inspired me to start baking many years ago.”

Vanilla Bake Shop Santa Monica, CA
Vanilla Bake Shop Santa Monica, CA

As a student in culinary school, Amy took to heart a quote her professor shared in class one day: “Vanilla [is] the world’s most universally loved flavor.”

Following graduation, she and Jeremy founded their own dessert catering company, which allowed them to share their tasty treats with fellow friends and family, at weddings and other special events, and even with some top-notch celebrities.

With their deep attachment to the baking business and loads of great feedback from satisfied customers, the duo decided to expand their business by opening their own bakeshop in Santa Monica called Vanilla. The rest is history.

Currently, Vanilla has launched some new treats made especially for Valentine’s Day including five new cupcake flavors, heart-shaped cookies and several sweet treat gift sets.

As for the future of Vanilla Bake Shop, Amy plans on expanding her business by opening a second location sometime this year and eventually bringing Vanilla to other cities across the country. For now, Amy plans on taking things one day at a time and continuing to do what she loves.

“Our future plans for Vanilla Bake Shop [are] to keep making beautiful, great tasting desserts and just perfecting what we do.  I love developing new and delicious treats to make our customers happy. It’s the best part of the job!”

Reach Camille here.



 

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