We recently connected with Erin Martin and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Erin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

One of our favorite things to do at ECBG, is making Chicago’s best wedding couples’ dream cake a reality! No matter how complex or intricate they might be. No matter how logistically or structurally complicated they may be. No matter how we, as a team, find a solution, we always achieve the clients vision, and it doesn’t hurt that it also tastes incredible!

These complicated orders require us to find customized inventory, make specialty recipes, and plan for months ahead of time! But we love the challenge and the end results are always so rewarding.

This was the case for a towering wedding cake we did recently for a wonderful couple who wanted a show stopper. The theme of the wedding was chic classy rave. Their lighting elements were incredible and almost everything was glowing, and colorful. They wanted their wedding cake to literally SHINE. They wanted a lighting element, but they wanted it to be unique and new. Together with the decor company, we constructed a cake that would GLOW. This 6 tiered cake consisted of 4 edible perfect square tiers and 2 lucite glowing tiers and was showcased in a display case that lit the whole thing to make it appear like the cake was glowing. It was incredible against their Chicago skyline backdrop at 167 Events in Fulton Market in Chicago. The grooms were completely illuminated as they cut their cake so everyone could see their shining faces!

Erin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! My name is Erin Martin and I own ECBG Cake Studio. ECBG is a luxury cake studio located in West Town in Chicago. We cater the most incredible, diverse, and joyous clients in the city with a specialty in high end custom wedding cakes, celebration cakes, and dessert items. We love creating the most beautiful and delicious desserts and cakes your guests have ever seen! Have you seen the “is it cake?” trend? We have done it! Have you seen the vintage style heart cakes? They are our specialty. Need a custom sculpted guitar, cigar, donut, cheeseburger, truck or cat? We do it! With an emphasis on eliminated food waste, giving back, and empowering my team of artists, we work to make every clients cake dream a reality. We have been featured in some of the most incredible publications including People Magazine, The New York Times and on TV programs like Netflix’s Sugar rush and Lifetime’s Married at First Sight. I absolutely love going to work every day and creating DELICIOUS art!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In the food industry it is very common to have a toxic work environment where the employees are not treated fairly or are over worked or are underpaid. I have worked many jobs where this is the case, as have all of my employees. Although changing this culture is more expensive and very difficult, I made it my goal in business to make sure I didn’t succumb to that same culture or practice. I made sure to value the human over the production while still maintaining our margins. Yes, this means our prices may be higher, but our staff is happy and healthy and that is so valuable!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have always made social media marketing a priority in my business. From the beginning I have been sharing my work and my progress via social. I actually started my business by promoting and advertising exclusively on Facebook in 2012. Since then I have focused on elevating my branding, exposure and voice by leveraging influencer relationships and posting both professional photos, and personal videos. We love posting piping videos that have gone viral, and videos that showcase our personality. This gives our audience the chance to connect with us as people which helps them invest more into us. My advice? SHARE YOUR WORK! Don’t be afraid to show your face, your personality, and your messy BTS. The people love it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ECBGstudio.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com//ECBG_studio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ECBGstudio/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ecbgcakestudio9817
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ecbg_studio?lang=en

Image Credits

Aspen Avenue Studios
Studio This Is Photography
Shannon McLaughlin Photography
Angela Renee Photography
Teresa Williams Photography