By Imogen Whale
If you have been to a wedding or party in Revelstoke, you’ve probably eaten a delicacy from Pip & Dex Custom Cakes and Cupcakery.
The brainchild of Dayna Leonard started as a hobby just a few short years ago and has morphed into a successful business. Between the commercial kitchen in her home and the cupcakery at Big Mountain Kitchen & Linen, Dayna spends her days creating custom desserts so beautiful you (almost) don’t want to eat them.
Creating art with icing was not a skill Dayna ever anticipated having.
“I was okay in art class back in school, but later any mediums I tried like paint or pottery, well … they looked awful,” she laughs.
A railroader before leaving to have children, it was while taking a Wilton basic piping course that Dayna realized she may have a natural talent when it came to cake. “Now I’m just so grateful to have found this job that I love and that I’m good at,” she says.
Working full time year round, Dayna also has one employee whose schedule varies from two days a week to full-time hours, depending on the time of year. And despite making hundreds of cakes, sometimes with many sharing the same theme (paw patrol kids birthday cakes are a popular choice) Dayna makes each cake unique.
“Some people know exactly what they want, down to the last detail,” Dayna explains. “Others might have a theme or colour palette but leave everything else up to me.”
From cupcakes to simple round cakes to multi-tiered creations, Dayna is happy to do it all.
“I do have a bucket list of cakes I haven’t had a chance to make yet,” Dayna says. “One is an under the sea theme with lots of coral and fish, a really detailed creation.”
Working with both fondant and piped icing, Dayna enjoys creating with both. “Fondant is more forgiving,” she explains. “When you pipe icing onto a cake, well, that’s it so you better not mess it up. With fondant, if you make a mistake you can mash it back into a ball and try again.”
Dayna’s cakes aren’t limited to cartoon characters or rustic weddings either. Though she can’t post pictures on social media, Pip & Dex has made cakes for many a naughty, gross or even morbid event.
“Those cakes are definitely 18A cakes,” Dayna laughs. “They’re really fun. I’ve done some — anatomical cakes for parties. Some — let’s call them toilet cakes — you can imagine. I’ve even made a coffin cake.”
For people after just a sweet bite to calm their craving, the cupcakery in Big Mountain Kitchen & Linen downtown offers a daily variety of Dayna’s cupcakes and is definitely worth checking out.
Having only opened a few short months ago, the cupcakery has taken off. They sold more than 2,500 cupcakes in August.
When asked how she came up with the name, Pip and Dex, Dayna explains that she has two little cupcakes of her own, her children Piper and Deklan. Their nicknames became her calling card.
This article was first published in the January issue of the free Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.
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