Bakery serves up state favorite

As reported in The Daily Times, May 13, 2009
By Jenny Hopkinson • Staff Writer

More than 50 Smith Island cakes are made each day in the kitchen behind the new bakery in the Ocean City Factory Outlets. There, an industrial oven larger than a refrigerator can bake 100 of the thin layers at a time.

"It's the assembly that takes forever," said Rebecca Carbaugh, general manager of The Original Smith Island Cake Co.

The bakery opened last week, serving 14 varieties of the Maryland state cake -- including carrot cake, cheesecake, double chocolate, banana nut, raspberry truffle and mango passion fruit -- various flavors of cupcakes, specialty breads and coffee.

"Everything is made from scratch, and everything is homemade," Carbaugh said.

The Smith Island cake bears the name of the Chesapeake Bay island where it was created. In the original flavor, anywhere from 6-12 layers of yellow cake are piled on top of each other with chocolate fudge-like icing holding it together. The cake has received celebrity status since it was pronounced the state cake by the legislative assembly in Annapolis last year.

"It is definitely a gourmet cake," Carbaugh said. "You can't just go into a grocery store and buy it."

The Original Smith Island Cake Co. is the work of several partners who, at different times, moved to the Shore from New York. The new business, Carbaugh said, fills a hole that they all found after moving to Delmarva.

"In New York, on every corner there is a bakery or gourmet pastry shop," she said. "But on the Eastern Shore there isn't. So they decided to open their own."

Carbaugh -- the former manager of the Bass Outlet Store and more recently Totes -- was brought on to oversee the store, which they hope to grow in to a franchise, planning to open five more stores over the next year.

Pastry chef Abby Wulff uses an original recipe from Smith Island combined with some techniques that have been handed down through her family for the various flavors she has created.

The staff started experimenting with cake flavors in January and didn't finalize the menu until April, Carbaugh said.

"There was tons of taste testing," she said. "We wanted a variety."

Those test cakes were often donated to local charities, such as the Children's House by the Sea.

"They never went to waste," Carbaugh said.

At the bakery, cakes can be bought by the slice or whole cakes. Customers can also order any of the flavors either in the store or online.

While the doors opened at the Original Smith Island Cake Co. on May 4, they had a grand opening on Tuesday. However, even in those first few days, Carbaugh said that business had been going well.

"We are definitely going to have to grow," she said.