Cakes By Sam

I had ordered a cake per family member in 2012 and everyone, except the last, was unique and well done to my expectations. The last one I had done, a S’mores cake, looked like a 5 year old threw it together. No offer of a refund was given. the $ 46 charged was paid as my son was really looking forward to his special cake. It was a tragic let down and I was horrified. I’ve posted on her facebook site and she removes the post. Buyer beware. She talks a good show, but delivers way short on customer service and has yet to this day apologized for the cake.

When one of the ladies I work with told me about Cakes By Sam, I was really, really excited. I had driven by it a few times, and say the large tiered cake on their logo and assumed they only did wedding cakes, or big party cakes. But then I was told they also have cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes. So, I decided to stop by there and try out a cupcake immediately. I went by on Monday, and they were closed. So I stopped by Tuesday for a treat on my way to the office I work at in the afternoons.
There weren’t very many people in there, so I perused the display case for a few minutes. They offered a lot of options, and also some other non-​cupcake baked goods.
I love lemon, so I went with a «Luscious Lemon» cupcake for myself, and a Banana-​Caramel one for my husband to eat later on.
Neither cupcake was anything special, and while the banana one was flat out bad, the lemon one was okay. It had the potential to be good. The frosting was delicious. My only complaint with it is that it didn’t extend far enough to the edge of the cupcake. But it was very good frosting. It was light and not overly sweet, and they had tinted it a pale yellow color. And they should have put the food coloring down and stopped there. But instead, they loaded the cake itself up with yellow dye, which I find incredibly unnecessary. It irritates me how so many bakeries (cute shops and grocery store bakeries) feel the need to dye lemon cakes yellow. You can tell it is lemon from the scent, the taste, the yellow frosting and the cute little lemon candy used as a garnish. There is no need to dye the cake. Because it was very unappetizing. It made me think of processed, full of preservative loaf cakes you buy at the grocery store. The cake itself was okay. I really couldn’t taste much lemon in it. They should have added a little more extract or lemon zest, and a little less food coloring.
But while the lemon one was good, and had potential, the banana-​caramel one was gross. I only had one bite of the cupcake and that was more than enough. It tasted grainy. I’m not sure if someone doesn’t know how to make caramel sauce, or if it was the frosting, but it was not smooth or creamy. I’m guessing it was the frosting. It tasted so artificial, as if someone dumped a box of instant banana pudding into the frosting to give it «banana» flavor. If I ever decide to give this place another shot, I will stay far, far away from this cupcake.

My family and I planned a surprise beach themed anniversary party for my parents (they live in Arkansas… I do not). I waited a little too long to start the search for a bakery for a cake or cupcakes. Cakes by Sam came up on a Google search. Their cake photo gallery and the national press they had received got my attention.
After playing phone tag, we finally got in touch (mainly thanks to their good persistence… as I was in and out of meetings the week they were trying to call me back). I got one of the last slots for a holiday weekend and they let me know up front they were so busy they could not deliver and couldn’t do a 3-​d cake, but that a pickup for cupcakes or a sheet cake would be fine. I really appreciated their honesty, as I knew what to expect and could plan for this.
They came up with a clever design for the cupcakes and a day before we were to pick them up, I received a reminder e-​mail with a map to their location. Turns out they are out in the country on a lovely piece of land next to a pond on a street they have renamed «Cake Lane». You would not think it is a bakery from the road, but when you go in, it has beautiful samples of their work, a tasting area for clients and a professional kitchen. To me, it seems like they are in a great place to be inspired to make creative and lovely cakes… which they do.
On top of this, the cupcakes we ordered were absolutely delicious. They weren’t too big and weren’t too small… the frosting was an ocean blue, a bright orange and a sandy tan, which was then topped with edible decorations of shells, flip flops, Hawaiian shirts and palm trees. We went with chocolate, vanilla and pineapple for the cake flavors. If I can figure out how to upload a photo, I will.
I cannot emphasize how perfect this order turned out. If I lived in Arkansas, I would use them for every event I planned.
UPDATE: they have since moved into Jacksonville, so they have a walk up coffee and pastry counter. They still do cakes and cupcakes. I still highly recommend.