Located on the corner of Melrose and Sweetzer, Duff’s Cakemix (commonly referred to as “Cakemix”) provides an experience similar to the name of its cross street; the ambiance at Cakemix on Sweetzer is sweet.

Cakemix offers customers two options: to sit down and enjoy their signature cupcakes and cakes or to decorate the cakes and cupcakes.

The pastries served at Cakemix are the perfect blend of subtle sweetness and happy decoration. Cakemix presents a variety of flavors suited to match a wide range of customer requests. The cakes come in traditional flavors, such as chocolate, marble, vanilla and confetti, but they also come in more eclectic flavors, such as peanut butter and jelly and pumpkin chocolate chip.

Cakemix also has a wide range of drink selections to accompany their baked goods. They offer several sodas and hot drinks (their hot chocolate is superb). Remember Yoohoo, the chocolate milk that filled up every other commercial space in the 90s? Cakemix has that, too.

Cakemix brings to life the creative mystique of childhood, as customers are encouraged to create whatever cake they envision, and they are given the tools to create their cakes to their fullest potential. The walls are lined with cakes that are shaped like notable Toy Story characters, cute animals and colorful flowers.

Senior, Hannah Landsberger speaks of her experience decorating a cake at Cakemix: “I had a really great time and the people were really nice and helpful. I didn’t know what I wanted to do to decorate my cake, and [the staff was] extremely helpful as I debated over what to do. Once I found out that I could spray paint my cake, I decided to decorate my cake around that. I ultimately decided to make a cake that looked like outer space because I could spray paint it and still decorate it afterwards.”

In fact, Cakemix is quite well known for its decorating process. Customers can choose between decorating several cupcakes, a medium-sized cake or a large cake. The cakes can either be decorated with a butter cream frosting or a fondant. The fondant is a marzipan-like material that molds around the cake and can be shaped, colored and spray painted as the decorator sees fit. Customers decorating cakes with the fondant can also choose from a selection of frostings and candy-toppings to finish off the decoration.

Cakemix offers a wonderful experience for customers of all ages, and a welcoming environment for each protégé who straps on her giant plastic apron (forget the cutesy ones) and becomes a decorating extraordinaire.