Inhale the sweet smell of success at Janet’s Cakery

The manager at Janet’s Cakery calls owner and head baker Patrick Limerick “the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker.” Talk a little cake with Limerick, and you’ll soon realize a better rhythmic descriptor might be “the chemist, the baker, the magic mix maker.” 
“He’s very creative,” said Joy Richards, who has worked full time at Janet’s Cakery at The Market on Everhart for seven years. She’s been a family friend for more than 40. “He’s an artist. Our cakes look very realistic. The dresses on our doll cakes don’t look like cake. Some people don’t want to cut them and mess them up.” 
Janet’s Cakery cakes also taste mighty good, a fact easily proven by the sheer volume of cakes made each week and the steady stream of traffic in and out the front door. The crew of six decorators usually creates and delivers 12-16 wedding cakes a week, Richards said.
That doesn’t include the cakes made for quinceañeras, graduations, birthdays and other special occasions. Limerick has created cakes that look like sandcastles and even dinosaurs. One quinceañera creation involved 30 tiers that required two eight-foot tables to hold it up.
While craftsmanship and artistry are required for the outside, the secret to a perfect inside takes something more. Limerick has a trove of hidden secrets and tricks he has learned over the years. A major one is finding the right temperature and length of time each cake should be in the oven.
“Bake it a little less than it needs to be baked and at a lower temperature that the recipe says,” Limerick said, explaining that too hot, too fast causes the levelers in the ingredients to “pop,” creating air bubbles in the batter and holes in the finished product. Cakes baked at lower temperatures come out of the oven level and with a consistent texture.
“I’m very picky about how the cakes are baked,” he said. “I make sure they are not overcooked or undercooked so there’s no hump. You have to stay with the cakes to get them right.” 
He moves the pans around in his two electric ovens as the layers are baking to make sure they come out uniform. The type of flour and oil used also make a big difference and is one of the biggest challenges and changes Limerick has faced in his 30 years as a professional baker. 
“There’s an oil for almost every temperature now,” he said. “Flour used to be either high glutton or in between — a general purpose flour. Now, there’s 40 different flours out there, and it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out which one is just right for what you’re making.” 
Limerick certainly knows the ins and outs of flour textures and glutton content and which works best for cakes, pastries, cookies or bread. The storefront contains two long bakery cases filled with an impressive sampling of cookies, cream puffs, cream horns, sweet rolls and petite fours, each requiring its own special Limerick touch. Some of their smaller creations have their own fan clubs.
“We can’t keep up with the demand for our petite fours,” Richards said of the tiny squares of cake dipped in chocolate or white icing. The tiny bites come decorated for the season with current creations sporting ghosts, pumpkins and autumn leaves. 
Pies are another customer favorite that keeps Limerick and his staff busy this time of year. Janet’s Cakery is a favorite local source for pecan and apple pies.
Pushed to reveal yet another secret, Limerick hedges a bit. Cakes are all well and good, he said, but it’s the icing that makes a cake special, especially a cake from Janet’s Cakery. A master mixer of ingredients, Limerick developed a secret recipe for buttercream and chocolate buttercream icing that he refuses to reveal.
“I hold it very personal,” he said. “For years, no one had the recipe but me.” 
He has since learned the value of an occasional vacation and shared the recipe with his two sons, who help him in the kitchen. Only the family does the baking, Richards added. Others decorate.
Richards is an artist in her own right, creating shells and other sea creatures out of fondant. But fondant is too common and easy, she said humbly. When you’re going for true artistry and taste, she turns to the buttercream artisans. Large, well-thumbed binders display photos of some of their best work.
“These are all done with icing, not fondant,” she said, pointing out smooth surfaces, perfect flowers, borders and buttercream curlicues. Nothing is impossible at Janet’s Cakery, she bragged.
“We make every cake to order,” she said. “Nothing is frozen, and we can create anything you want.” 
While they are happy to produce a cake the same day requested, Limerick recommends ordering in advance to get a better-tasting cake, revealing yet another trade secret not too many people know.
“A cake has to sit; it has to develop,” he said. “Sure, if you pull it out hot and eat it right away, it’s great. But you wait an hour, and it’s very blah. Eat it the next daym and it’ll be the best cake you’ve ever had.” 
The perfect cake has been a goal of the Limerick family since Patrick’s wife, Janet, began making cakes for friends out of their house in the 1980s. Janet has since retired to play with grandchildren, while Patrick and sons keep the family tradition going. Patrick describes perfectly what his customers get when they buy a cake at Janet’s Cakery.
“They are getting a fresh-baked cake with very good icing decorated by expert, artistic decorators,” he said. “They get a detailed, beautiful cake that is really good to eat.”
Stop on buy and taste for yourself!
Janet’s Cakery is located in The Market on Everhart shopping center at 5880 Everhart Road just south of Holly Road. Drop by for a sweet treat or to order your dream cake. Call (361) 991-6212 for more information or check out the website at janetscakery.com.