The Marvelous Mrs. Mayhew: Baker Of The It Cake
Meet the baker behind the marvelous cake that graces the cover of the 2023 print issue.
Elizabeth Mayhew is down to earth, but her custom cakes are out ofthis world. A lifestyle guru and former magazine editor (House Beautiful, Real Simple, Woman’s Day) and longtime contributor to “The Today Show,” she is the solo baker of what is arguably the “it cake” in our neck of the woods and beyond—what she’s dubbed the Charm Cake. “I think of it as the equivalent of a charm bracelet that tells the story of a person’s life,” she says. Typically ordered to celebrate special occasions like anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations, Charm Cakes are decorated with symbols and icons that reflect meaningful things in a person’s life such as their favorite pet, foods, vacation destinations, and sports teams.
Mayhew hadn’t considered baking as her next career until the pandemic hit three years ago and she took refuge in her Millbrook kitchen. When she got a few phone calls from acquaintances asking if she could make special occasion cakes and deliver them to the doorsteps of people who were isolating, Mayhew realized that she’d stumbled upon a new business that she dubbed the Dutchy of Millbrook. Instagram became her way of letting friends and acquaintances know she was taking orders for cookies, tarts, and cakes. As the pandemic churned on, she pushed herself to new challenges, decorating cakes to resemble fine china, fabric patterns, comic books, even paintings like van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
Mayhew doesn’t sketch out her signature Charm Cakes beforehand. She draws directly on a layer cake frosted with vanilla French buttercream that she likens to a painter’s blank canvas. Customers who’ve scrolled through her Instagram account trust her to get the details and colors right—whether it’s the face of a poodle, a college insignia, the logo of a favorite store—and Mayhew trusts herself to figure out the overall composition as she works. “I have a sixth sense for where things belong, and decorating a cake is a lot like decorating a room or styling a magazine cover, but the stakes are lower if you make a mistake with a cake,” she says. “My Charm Cakes are not perfect, but that’s part of their charm.”
Charm Cakes begin at $500. Instagram: @ElizabethMayhew.
