No more arguing over who gets the biggest slice of cake or the one with the frosting flower!

Rachelle’s bakes individual miniature cakes that promise to satisfy every last one of your wedding guests. These tiny cakes are given all the care and attention of larger cakes and are just as gorgeous, if not more so!

Oui, oui! This wedding cake took our breath away. Each layer is absolutely beautiful on its own but together they really sing! See more cakes by CAKEgoodness here.

(Image via Style Me Pretty)

Love Street Cakes creates gorgeous wedding cakes with bold designs and colors, so we were thrilled when the talented and creative baker extraordinare behind Love Street Cakes, Archana Rao, agreed to answer a few questions about her delicious business. Enjoy!

1. When did you start baking cakes?

I’ve always loved being in the kitchen, and mixing batter was my favorite activity (besides licking the beaters). I was very small when I started helping my mother make brownies and cookies. But by fourth grade, I got ambitious. My friend and I baked our first “grown-up” cake with jam spread in between two thick layers of sponge cake.

We were each in charge of decorating half the cake.  She plopped her fruit in a pile on top and was done in five minutes, but I worked on mine for the better part of an hour, using sliced grapes, strawberries and kiwis to make a half-moon pattern like the tarts I’d seen in the grocery store. Both sides tasted delicious, but I can remember swelling with pride as the adults oohed and ahhed over how pretty my half looked.

(Image Courtesy of Love Street Cakes)

2. When did you know you wanted to pursue baking and cake decorating professionally?

After graduating from NYU, I got my first job in a restaurant kitchen at Tabla in NYC. It was in the pastry department there that I discovered my love for the professional baking arts. I started at the CIA with the inkling that I might like to go into cake decorating, but it wasn’t until I got an internship at Ron Ben-Israel Cakes that I considered it seriously. I loved being able to create something beautiful and delicious with my hands.

3. What’s unique about your work?

Because Love Street Cakes is a small operation, I can make the time to meet with each of my clients individually and design something perfectly suited to their occasion. Unlike a lot of other cake designers, I have a strong culinary background, so my cakes taste delicious as well as look beautiful.

(Image Courtesy of Love Street Cakes)

4. How would you describe your cake decorating aesthetic?

My cakes are sophisticated and elegant with a modern feel. Many of my designs are inspired by my Indian heritage, and I love to use bold colors and intricate piping details to set my cakes apart.

5. What inspires you and your work?

Anything and everything can inspire a great cake design. From invitations and floral decorations to a dress pattern or piece of jewelry to the story of how a couple met!

6. When you meet with a client, how do you get them to articulate their vision?

We go through pictures, and I ask a lot of questions about the venue, the style of the event, and the choices they’ve made about flowers, invitations, etc.  It always helps when couples come to me with photos of their style. It makes my job much easier.

7. Where is your business located?

I’m located in the East Village of Manhattan, but I deliver cakes within a 2-3 hr radius of New York City.

8. How can someone place an order for one of your cakes?

The best way is to email an inquiry to archana@lovestreetcakes.com, and include your event date, location and approximate number of guests expected.  For weddings and larger events, I’ll set up a time to meet for a tasting and talk about design.

(Image Courtesy of Love Street Cakes)

9. What’s your favorite part of every job?

I love meeting so many couples who are in love. It’s a joy and a privilege to be involved in someone’s special day.

10. Is there any one cake or job you’re especially proud of?

A few years ago I created a cake for a wedding on the show Gossip Girl. That was pretty cool!

11. What’s the strangest request you’ve ever gotten from a client?

I get some funny requests for novelty cakes. Just the other day I got an order for a birthday cake decorated with a pair of glittery gold high heels and a baby turtle. Someone also once asked for a cake in the shape of her husband’s head.

12. What has surprised you the most about running your own business?

The designing, baking and decorating are the easy parts; the accounting, marketing and selling are more challenging. But what has surprised me most is finding that I can make it work.

13. What kind of cake did you have at your own wedding?

Well, of course, I had to make my own wedding cake. It was five tiers of chocolate cake filled with a pumpkin cream cheese frosting. I kept the design simple: tall with skinny round tiers covered with white fondant and a dark purple painted pattern inspired by our invitations.

For my husband’s groom cake, I made a carrot cake shaped like a cowboy boot. Everyone said it was delicious, though I didn’t get a chance to try it!

(Image Courtesy of Love Street Cakes)

Follow Archana’s blog, Don’t F With Chef, and see more photos of her beautiful cakes on Flickr and on her website, Love Street Cakes.

Thanks, Archana!