Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The Springfield native started practicing and when she was a junior in high school she decided to attend Springfield-Clark CTC for culinary arts. Although she had to do some cooking, her instructors allowed her to focus on baking. She started taking orders from the staff at CTC and her business snowballed from there.
“A lot of it is self taught. I watched a lot of YouTube videos,” Knapick said. “At CTC I was able to practice every day.”
Knapick graduated in 2017 and took some time off before attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York, where she graduated in 2021.
“When I went to college that’s where they were like this is exactly what you need to do to improve,” Knapick said. “They were very strict.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Her favorite class in college was confectionary arts where she learned how to make fondant and gumpaste flowers.
She said she loved living in New York, but ultimately decided to come back home and kickstart her business. She moved to Kettering last year where she has gained a new group of clientele thanks to social media and word of mouth.
“I have been looking for a space for a very long time,” Knapick said.
On Sept. 1, she will be moving her business into Spark Fairborn. She will have a commercial kitchen with multiple ovens and large mixers. Knapick had been baking from her home using two small KitchenAids and one oven to fulfill 15 to 20 orders each week.
“I really want to do more cakes,” Knapick said. “I do a lot of cakes now, but with one oven it’s very hard to do a lot of them and I have very limited fridge space.”
Pickup for orders will be at Spark Fairborn, located at 305 W. Main St. She will offer pickups in Kettering when she can.
Ashmore Cakes is a custom cake and cookie business. She offers anything from custom cakes and royal iced cookies to cupcakes and small pastries. Her business is mostly pre-orders only, but she does do flash sales via her Facebook page when she has extra cake batter to make cupcakes or extra egg yolks to make cookies.
“I can’t thank (my clientele) enough,” Knapick said. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”
More info
For more information, visit mycustombakes.com/ashmorecakes or the bakery’s Facebook page (@ashmorecakes54).
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