Angel Heart Cakes: Great tasting and [almost] guilt free

To Debbie Umphreys (left) and Chris Rivera, every Angel Heart Cake is really just an extension of themselves. Says Debbie: “I grew up eating these cakes, first baked by my grandmother and then my mother, and I made them for my own kids.” Adds Chris: “We pride ourselves in offering cakes that are uniquely light and flavorful, and we love to include fresh seasonal ingredients – right now we have local strawberries.”

The two Menlo Park residents met through a mutual friend who realized they had lots of shared interests. With children mostly grown, both were looking for a new challenge. They launched Angel Heart Cakes a little over year ago and today deliver their airy, fat-free, angel food cakes – all baked in a commercial kitchen – to a variety of local retail outlets including Sigona’s, Bianchini’s , Robert’s (Woodside location) JJ&F in Palo Alto and Trags in San Mateo.

“We prefer the smaller, family run stores,” says Chris. “They’re a good fit for our product.”

They also do a lot of custom orders – for weddings, fundraisers, and luncheons. Angel Heart Cakes come in a variety of sizes – from large to mini-bite cupcake – and feature flavors that change seasonally. Strawberry, lemon blueberry, and ganache are available off the shelf this summer.

The current production schedule, along with both public and private tasting events, keeps them busy. “We’d definitely like to grow,” says Debbie, “but we really like the local aspect of our business. I can’t imagine that we’d get so big that the cake quality would suffer. So we’ll take it slow. We want our cakes to be as fresh as they can be.”

Photo by Chris Gulker