Hidden in a corner of Highland Road, two women keep afloat a sweet shop full of personalized pastries.
Sugar Art Studio Cake Goddess is run through the drive and creativity of its young cake artists, Madison Conway and new hire Casey DuBois. The shop specializes in custom wedding, birthday, graduation and just about any other special occasion cake, cupcake or petit four.
Because the bakery is so remote, Conway said it gets new customers every day who say they’ve never heard of, or were recommended to, Cake
Goddess.
“We’re just a hidden secret,” Conway said. “Our owner has never really done any type of advertising. It’s pretty much all word of mouth.”
Word of mouth has proven to be just as effective as any other type of promotion for Cake Goddess. Despite a digitalized world, Conway said she feels heavy advertising through social media and other social platforms isn’t necessary as the business is doing just fine. Both she and the owner Kim Faucheux like to let the cakes speak for themselves. 
“After being here five years, we’re still getting new customers every day, and I think that’s pretty cool,” Conway said. “There are slow days, but we’ve never really lacked business.”
Conway said she believes the best way of advertising is tasting the cakes. She said many customers come in after trying a cake at a party and wanting one of their own.  
DuBois said she wouldn’t mind if the shop expanded a little more, but she’s not complaining. She and Conway do everything from cake stacking to icing to decorating.  DuBois said it’s most rewarding seeing the satisfied looks on the customers’ faces.
Because the shop is maintained by such a small number of people, customer interactions are much more personal, something both DuBois and Conway appreciate. 
“We have our regular customers, and we get to know them pretty well,” DuBois said. “It’s a great advantage of being smaller.”
Conway said satisfied customers are a staple at Cake Goddess because the cake artists pride themselves on never telling a customer
“no.” 
Customer satisfaction is the most important aspect of DuBois and Conway’s jobs, so they always try to accommodate. 
“We never turn anyone away, or say we can’t do something,” Conway said. “We just simplify the order if something is too complex.”
The crew is also careful to meet needs when it comes to their baking process. The customers play a part in everything from the ingredients to what the cake will look like. 
First, Conway and DuBois sketch the custom order cakes for their customers. Once given approval of the sketches, the artists get to work and advise each customer to come in and see the cake to make sure it’s what they want, all the way down to the icing.   
“Some customers don’t like fondant and prefer butter cream,” Conway said. “So, if we have to use fondant, we make it as butter creamy as possible.”
The most satisfied Cake Goddess customers seem to be LSU football fans. During football season, especially when the team is playing well, is when the bakery sells many of its themed pastries. 
When the fall semester rolls around, Cake Goddess becomes LSU-themed, with an entire case full of purple and gold cakes, cupcakes and fan
favorite petit fours. 
“We sell a lot of our LSU-themed petit fours during football season,” Conway said. “They’re all purple and gold, saying LSU on them with little paw prints, and people love them.”
Conway said the crew makes sure to root extra hard for the team, as it’s always nice to have excited ‘LSU’ fans buying more petit fours.
You can reach Kayla Randall on Twitter @kay_ran21.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Haley Rowe-Kadow

Specialty cookies and cream cupcake from Cake Goddess on Highland Road