Baking a cake large enough to feed a crowd of thousands on Canada Day is no small feat — the team at Willow Cakes & Pastries know from experience.
For instance, the cost of this year’s cake, in butter alone, is over $1,700 — one part of the estimated cost of $8,500 for all the ingredients and supplies.
“I buy my butter at like $5.79 a pound. It’s 300 pounds of butter,” said Sean O’Donnell, part-owner of the bakery. “All these things that just go into it, that adds to the cost of the cake.”
This season, Willow Cakes & Pastries is asking for donations to help cover the costs. The Friends of Fort George are helping out with $1,000 of the price tag, but the bakery wants to raise $7,500 for its July 1 cake.
A GoFundMe was launched to help reach that goal, shared through the bakery’s social media pages and in a post on the local Facebook group NOTL 4 All.
For several years, the bakery, which has operated in NOTL for 20 years, has put together a giant cake with an elaborate theme, which is paraded through Old Town as part of the municipality’s annual Canada Day celebration, before slices are cut and doled out to parade-goers at Simcoe Park.
Last year’s theme was Willy Wonka, the year before, Alice in Wonderland, and the year before that, an enchanted forest.
The bakery has covered about 98 per cent of the cost of the parade cakes over the years, he said, but with the business downsized and ingredient costs rising, the bakery is asking for support this year — and some donations have already come in.
“It’s a large task to bear,” he said.
The bakery closed its only public storefront in late January, but it still operates a production kitchen, the Willow Cakes, for baking and order pickups. A retail offshoot, Willow Tea House, located inside Regal Florist, offers a smaller selection of coffee and baked goods.
The bakery may be operating on a smaller scale now, but O’Donnell said a little creativity is all it takes to keep the tradition going.
“We don’t have the same kind of space, so we found creative ways,” he said. “It hasn’t diminished the quality of the product.”
“This tradition has been going on for almost as long as we’ve existed.”
The Friends of Fort George organizes “the whole shebang” for the cake and provides transportation, O’Donnell said. In past years, the bakery has also received $1,000 from the group.
“We’re always appreciative that (the Friends of Fort George) have always cared enough to look out for us to the greatest extent that they can,” he said. “They’re a consistent donator.”
O’Donnell said the bakery never factors in the cost of labour.
“Because that’s like our big donation,” he said. And, he added, it’s a way of saying thanks to NOTL residents.
“It’s really just a big thank you to the community,” he said. “You can’t survive in business, especially in a small town, without community.”
Parade-goers can expect a surprise — the cake’s theme is kept secret until it’s unveiled on Canada Day.
But O’Donnell gave one hint: Look out for a piece of Niagara or NOTL in the theme.
He said the cake allows founder Catherine O’Donnell “to flex her creative muscles” and offers valuable hands-on experience for younger staff “who are trying to reach new heights within their own career.”
“And at the end of the day, it’s just a big bit of fun,” he said. And it’s a chance to do something out of the ordinary, he added.
