The sweet scent of buttercream and lively chitchat fill the kitchen at The Icing on the Cake, a beloved Newton bakery known for elaborate cakes for weddings and every milestone celebration.
The bakery’s skilled cake makers bring years of experience to these creations, and each has a unique role. There’s Mary Churchill, a Massachusetts College of Art graduate who has worked here for decades, while Rosa Wong writes the celebratory messages because her cursive is so artistic. Marwa Abdel Khalek, with a background in architecture, handles the bakery’s intricate 3-D cakes. And Julia McPherson, age 92, a master at piping delicate flowers, still comes to work twice a week.
This year, The Icing on the Cake is celebrating its own milestone: its 40th anniversary. “I bought the bakery from the original owner when I was 24,” says co-owner Paula Kirrane, who trained at Newbury College’s culinary program and then baked at the Ritz-Carlton on Newbury Street. She took a job at The Icing on the Cake and a few years later bought the business with colleague Chris Staff, now the head of baking. That was 33 years ago.
Little did Kirrane know at that time that her rich golden and chocolate layered cakes filled with buttercreams, jams, and plenty of whimsy would land at so many high-profile celebrations — Julia’s Child’s 80th birthday party, the opening of the Ted Williams Tunnel, and at a special Mass held for Mother Teresa at a nearby church in 1995. The shop has baked cakes for Jay Leno, Frank Perdue, WCVB’s Ed Harding, and Nancy Kerrigan on her wedding day, among others.
Naturally, these cakes need to be ordered in advance — at least 10 days. But on Fridays and Saturdays, the bake shop sells cupcakes for walk-ins. “In the neighborhood it’s called Cupcake Day,” Kirrane says. “Folks know they can just pop in.”
Cupcakes from $4.25, cakes from $75. 230 Adams St., Newton, 617-969-1830, theicingonthecake.com
Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at anntrieger@gmail.com.