Gâteau Baking Company is gearing up for its official February launch

Gateau Baking Company is a cake-baking passion project turned budding small business with an official launch slated for February. Monday night, owner Cara Jorgensen hosted a tasting party to preview her forthcoming menu.

Jorgensen uses unexpected ingredients like squid ink and Tapatio spice packets to create her one-of-a-kind desserts. The coconut vanilla cake with Tapatio whipped frosting and the caramel cake with squid ink caramel icing and salted caramel were showstoppers.

She decorates her cakes with eye-catching designs that are somehow simultaneously reserved and completely over the top. It’s hard to describe but when you see it you’ll know. Take, for example, a cinnamon apple cake lightly frosted with cinnamon rose buttercream and then crowned with a whole apple painted gold.

Jorgensen works part time at FuManChu Cupcakes and fields special cake orders from friends and family on the side. She’ll launch her full website and menu in a few weeks but for now you can catch her on Instagram and place orders via email at gateaubaking.co.

So is there a full brick and mortar bakery in her future? Maybe. For now, Jorgensen is content to keep working and see where things go.