Cake Shoe Diaries Welcomes Jennifer Gralec

The Sugar Cove is super pleased to welcome Jennifer Gralec from Cambridge, Ontario. Having worked in the corporate world for many years, Jennifer made the big sugar leap of faith and opened her own business in December of 2010. It's one thing to know what you want, it's quite another to make it a reality. Crossing the sugar hurdle takes guts and hard work, for that we hold our piping bags in salute. So sugar peeps...let's slap our cake snow boots on as Jennifer shares with us what ignited her passion for all things sugar.


From a young age I wanted to be able to make sweets and treats, and share them with others. But what first ignited my passion for sugar was being in the kitchen with my mom and watching her bake. I can remember getting an Easy Bake Oven as a Christmas gift and thinking that it was the best gift ever! I could now make my own cakes!! And making my own cakes is still very much where the heart of my passion lies today.

I took some cake decorating courses at McCall's in Toronto, but other than that, it's been my love for baking that's driven me. While baking, things like cakes and cupcakes, are still the center of my passion, I enjoy the artistic side of cake design as well. In cake design, sugar is so versatile. You are limited only by your imagination as to what you can do with it. On top of that, it makes food pretty. That sugar flower, or that sprinkle of sparkling sugar can take something from blah to wow in is just two seconds flat.

Before opening my own business, I worked as a business development manager for a multi-national chemical company. To say I hated it, would be putting it mildly. And after the birth of my first daughter, Sofia, I dreaded returning to the corporate world even more. However, it was at this point, I realized that I was spending the majority of my time doing what was literally sucking the life right out of me. I wanted to work, but I wanted to be doing something that I loved almost as much as my daughter. But life being what it is, I adjusted to the demands of working and motherhood.

Three years later, I had my second daughter Emma and with returning to a job that I did not enjoy, I started thinking about what I really, really wanted to do with the rest of my life. No matter which way I thought about it, I kept coming back to the same answer -- MAKE CAKE!!! In the back of the my mind, I always wanted to have my own business. I always loved to bake and feed people, so why not make baking and cake a full-time career. It was now or never!

In December of 2010, after eight years in the corporate world, my passion for baking turned in to a reality and with the support of my husband, we opened Tiny Cakes Inc. My husband, Arthur, who was an IT administrator for ten years, now works alongside me. I truly couldn't have this without him. Not only has he been very supportive, but he's also very talented in the field of cake as well. His technical skills have crossed over to the area of cake carving and sculpture, and some wonderful creations have been turned out.

Every morning, I open my shop doors with a great sense of satisfaction. And seeing my customers pop in for a treat and a smile is the icing on the cake. They could be having a horrible day and I would like to think that in some small way, I have helped make it not so bad. And when things aren't going my way, I just remember to aim for excellence and not for perfection -- after all -- it's just cake!

Jennifer Gralec

65 Dickson Street

Cambridge, ON

519.622.8469