Intricately piped, extraordinarily realistic buttercream floral arrangements festoon the sophisticated single and multi-tiered cakes made by Trang (pronounced Chang) Wiegel of Blooming Cakes, a bakery that she established in her Mill Valley home in 2019. Beneath the edible artistry is one of six scratch-made layer cakes, a couple of which are dairy-free, gluten-free and/or vegan, that Wiegel meticulously crafts for weddings, birthdays, showers and other celebrations. Sizing starts at 6 inches in diameter, and all can be customized with requested color palettes and other design elements.
White velvet cake is filled with brown sugar caramel touched with Vietnamese espresso and frosted with Swiss meringue buttercream; citrusy lemon butter sponge cake has fresh raspberry compote and lemon curd inside and raspberry buttercream on top; and coconut sponge cake with pandan coconut curd filling is a vegan option inspired by Wiegel’s Asian heritage. Originally from Vietnam, the pastry chef embarked on a new chapter in her life in 2016 when she moved to the United States, leaving behind her management position at a game startup. Her transition from administrative office jobs she’s held in the U.
S. to home-based baking was serendipitous. It began with making cheesecakes as a creative outlet, using recipes she found online.
“I burnt the first one so badly,” she says. But refusing to give in to failure, she “took revenge on it,” not only mastering it but manipulating its calori.
