Cecilia Villaveces Has Her Cake and Eats it Too

Stepping though the door of Cecilia Villaveces' Cake Shop, I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect; after all, she is very well-known around Athens.

Within a few seconds of entering, my colleague and I were greeted by Mrs. Villaveces. Immediately after setting my eyes on her, I realized that she reminded me of my own grandmother, and I quickly felt at home. She spoke quietly with a distinct foreign accent. She was a very nice woman, the kind of person that you always feel comfortable around.

Born in Colombia, South America, Villaveces moved to Atlanta along with her husband and children in 1979. A year later, her oldest son decided to attend the University of Georgia, and her entire family picked up and moved to Athens, where she resides today.

"I taught myself to bake with American recipes," said Villaveces. "People are always surprised to learn that my cakes did not come from family recipes; in fact, none of my family members were bakers." Using American recipes, she adjusted the ingredients until she was satisfied with the results. Her cakes quickly became a favorite of her friends and family, and soon she considered starting her own business.

In 1991, she decided to move her baking hobby from her kitchen to a small building on Milledge Ave. Her business grew rapidly, mostly by word of mouth, because she never advertised with anyone. The few clients that she had began telling people how amazing her cakes were, and shortly afterward she had customers from all over Northeast Georgia.

Although she had a lot of customers, starting a business was difficult for Villaveces. "Well, at first I didn't know anything about the business. I had never baked commercially. I had only baked cakes for my children," she said. But after a while she got the hang of it. "It was a very interesting learning experience, consulting and researching. I really had to do my work."

Now, 16 years later, Villaveces' business is going strong. She receives requests to bake cakes for numerous different events including birthday parties, anniversaries, and weddings. "That's the great thing about my business," she said, "everyone celebrates with a cake." In fact, the walls of her cake shop are covered with pictures of elegant wedding cakes that she has made. Just looking at them is enough to make your mouth water.

She has also had her fair share of strange cake orders, "Nearly every week I get an unusual cake request," she said. "We've never turned anyone down." She pulled a picture book down from a shelf and began flipping though the pages, showing some of the cakes that she has made. There were several UGA themed cakes, animal cakes, and even cakes shaped like guitars.

She recalled an occasion where she made a piano-shaped cake for a client. She was preparing to deliver it, when she realized that it wouldn't fit through the door because it was so big. "I didn't measure the cake or the door," said Villaveces. They ended up taking apart the door frame to get it out of the building. "I learned a lot of lessons that day," she laughed.

Not only can you buy her cakes from Cecilia Villaveces Cake Shop, but if you just want a slice, you can now also head down to The Last Resort Grill on West Clayton Street or Cups Coffee Café on Barnett Shoals Road where they have an abundance of her treats. Some of her most popular cakes include lemon, which is made of four layers of lemon cake with tangy lemon custard filling topped with a fluffy meringue and rich butter cream icing. She also makes a wide variety of chocolate cakes that are big sellers. One of these is a German chocolate cake, which has two layers of velvety chocolate with pecan-coconut filling and icing. Another is the mocha, which has two thick layers of dark chocolate, a hint of coffee and fudge and vanilla filling topped with a chocolate fudge icing.

Villaveces has earned much recognition for her cakes. Magazines such as Southern Living and Athens Magazine have written articles about her. In 2001, the Athens Banner-Herald wrote an article about her. It read, "Villaveces has perfected this texture, producing some of the most luxurious tasting and most intricately decorated cakes not only in Athens, but in the Southeast."

So what makes her cakes so good? "We don't use preservatives or any artificial flavors. We bake everything from scratch. Even when we decorate or paint the cakes, we use all natural colors," she said. As I walked around her cake shop I noticed a beautifully made two layered red velvet cake with a vanilla custard center covered with butter cream icing. On top, there was a detailed flower design. At first, I thought the flower was real, but after getting a closer look I realized that she painted it on herself.

The biggest secret to her successful cake business is not just the effort she puts into making the cakes, but the joy she finds in making her clients happy. Villaveces said, "You just have to enjoy what you do."