In The Press

“I don’t let anybody mess with my cakes,” she said, adding that she also dabbles in petit fours, cookies and fancy tarts. But cakes are her bread and butter, and she takes her sweet concoctions quite seriously. “Each wedding is like it’s my own personal child, my baby, and I treat it that way, with a lot of integrity and honor to the bride, because the bride only gets one shot at this,” she said, adding that she even gets calls from out-of-state couples getting married in Las Vegas. “When I’m booked for that day I turn business away. If I can’t handle it personally I don’t take it on.” Her dedication pays off, as evidenced by her enthusiastic clients.

This includes Lake Mead Cruises, a popular venue for weddings. “I’ve been here for nine years and Darlene has done our wedding cakes since (then) and she does a beautiful job — I’ve never had a bride come back and say anything except positive,” said Ginny Gottfredson, sales manager, adding that Lake Mead Cruises offers wedding packages that include Davidson’s cakes. “She’s caring about the creation and she treats the cakes like children and loves each and every one.

The cakes are absolutely stunning and she does a lot of things with fresh flowers, which I think is better than piles of frosting. She’s also very caring about dealing with the brides, which is certainly appreciated.” Gottfredson went on to laud Davidson for her professionalism. “Darlene is always extremely professional in dealing with me and has become a friend over the years, and I appreciate that,” she said. “When you find a vendor that does a good job for you it’s important that they know that — a pat on the back goes a long way.” Davidson has also been working with Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City for more than four months, providing cakes for weddings and other events at the facility, according to Robin Sutherland, special events coordinator. “We had a special event for a football team, and she donated the cake to the team and everybody was freaking out about it, so we actually tried a piece and loved it, so we got her name and number and called her,” Sutherland said. “She brought some things in for us to sample: a huge cheesecake — it was the best cheesecake I think I’ve ever had — and these little fruit tarts. What we’d like to do ultimately is have her desserts on the menu in the restaurant.” Sutherland said Davidson is reliable, responsive and punctual in her business dealings with the golf club. “She’s very professional and I highly recommend her,” she said. “It’s also nice to be able to deal directly with the person who’s doing all the work, instead of a big company where you don’t know who’s fixing what you’re eating.”

Meg Patrick, who recently called upon Davidson to create four cakes — one half sheet and three rounds — for a triple wedding she coordinated, is also an enthusiastic advocate of the company. “I was unbelievably impressed,” said Patrick, owner of Poker, Etc. and The Poker Academy, where the trio of couples exchanged vows. “I gave her free will to come up with cakes that were very important to three brides, and her designs were gorgeous. She was right on time — never missed a beat–and we had a fantastic wedding because of the cakes.” Patrick said she discovered Cakes on the Move in the telephone book, admitting that the name of the company originally caught her eye. “I loved the name of her business because I’m always on the move,” she said, adding that delivery and set-up, which are included in the price, was also appealing. “I would recommend her in a heartbeat to anybody who doesn’t have any clue what they want to do for their wedding because she’s a genius at figuring that out — she’s a cake artist.”

So how do Davidson’s creations compare with cakes produced at traditional grocery store bakeries? “They get these slabs of cake that come in frozen from the factory and we as decorators cut them,” Davidson said, adding that the slabs are often stacked up, which smashes the cake granules. “The ovens they use have blowers, which dry out the cakes, and they use junk as far as ingredients go, so there’s a difference in taste. I just use fresh ingredients and bake it from scratch at midnight so it can cool to be decorated. You go into some bakeries and the stuff that’s there has a shelf life of four days.” Davidson also provides a special discounted service for her wedding clients. “I encourage my girls to eat every bit of their wedding cake, and when I first interview them I ask that their husbands call me a couple of weeks before their first anniversary and I always ask what restaurant he’s taking his lovely wife to,” she said. “Then I charge $30 for a $62 cake and deliver it to the restaurant.

A lot of people who get married here come back for their anniversaries and it’s just wonderful to watch all this take place. My guys have gotten so creative.” She provides anniversary cakes each year for her wedding clients. As for obstacles to running Cakes on the Move, Davidson said she has yet to encounter any. “I don’t have any challenges because it’s my belief system to always look on the positive side of anything you would label a challenge,” she said. “I’ve had people call me and say ‘this may be a problem’ but we don’t have problems here, only solutions, and I mean that from my heart.”

That belief is closely related to the principle she credits for her success. “I’m always looking for the deliciousness of life in general,” she said. “I always have a good time and I think that leads into the way things taste. If somebody is a chef at a restaurant and he’s had a fight with his wife and he goes to work, that bleeds into what he’s preparing. I do energy work (Davidson has another business, www.soulawareness.com), so I clear away negative energy and really understand the electrical flow of positive and negative energy.” As for the future of Cakes on the Move, “I leave that wide open,” she said. “I’m sure that I’ll be guided just as I have been all along and I’m open to new ideas and new suggestions.”

09/22/05 In Business LV (Article is no longer available on-line)