dreamcakes bakery

This post is part of our Birmingham Food Scene series.

When Jan Moon was five years old, her sister received an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. Jan was intrigued by the process that turned sticky ingredients into a baked sweet treat. At nine years old she and her sisters were in charge of preparing the family’s dinner most nights as their mom worked. Jan would pore over cook books, searching out delectable recipes, and she was always drawn to the baked desserts. Little did she know, but God was planting a dream in that little mind. A dream that would one day be called, appropriately enough, Dreamcakes Bakery.

Jan didn’t jump right into opening Dreamcakes. It was a bit of a journey, starting out as a hospital nutritionist, working for a while in the Southern Living Test Kitchen, teaching cake decorating and making wedding cakes. It was when Jan took the plunge and opened a store front for her wedding cakes that an interesting phenomenon occurred. “Our cakes sold well, but we had people stop in everyday and ask if they could buy just a piece of cake. We got the idea to add cupcakes to our store. We sold out of those cupcakes everyday, and our wedding cake cupcake is still our best seller!”

Since that time they have moved their storefront to the quaint Birmingham neighborhood of Homewood, where Dreamcakes is a vital part of the downtown landscape. Families all over Homewood (and all over Birmingham, in fact) pop in for a cupcake. They have, of course, expanded their menu to include not only the famous wedding cake cupcake, but hundreds of other flavor combinations as well.

And if cupcakes aren’t what you are in the mood for, Dreamcakes also offers a variety of other desserts.

Jan says that the success of Dreamcakes seems surreal. Not only does she get to do what she loves every single day, but now that her children are involved in the business, she gets to work with the people she loves most. Jan’s daughter Katie now makes most of the wedding cakes for Dreamcakes customers, while son Ben is the business manager. And it TAKES the whole family to keep the bustling business running. In addition to the Homewood store, Dreamcakes has added a cupcake truck, which can be seen all around Birmingham. On Saturdays, it’s at the Pepper Place Farmers’ Market. On Thursday, it’s at the Farmers’ Market at the Summit. It’s at Railroad Park on Sundays, and at the downtown food truck lot on Thursday evenings. Dreamcakes Bakery is now the official baker for the Birmingham Barons baseball teams, so you can catch the truck at their games, and DreamCakes cupcakes are also served in their sky boxes.

Jan says that selling cupcakes is a happy business. People are happy when they come in and happy when they leave. That God-sized dream planted in a little girl’s heart has been spreading joy all over Birmingham for 20+ years. To Him be the glory.

You can keep up with which flavors are currently being offered or where the cupcake truck is on Dreamcakes’ Facebook page or by following them on Twitter at @DreamcakesBham.

And now for the sweetest treat of all… Jan has graciously given me a gift certificate for a Dreamcakes t-shirt and a dozen cupcakes to give away to you!! You have several ways to enter, including following Dreamcakes on social media. I will mail the gift certificate to the winner and you can take it in to Dreamcakes to choose your own t-shirt and cupcakes.

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