We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Armana Christianson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Armana below.

Armana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

Weddings have new styles and trends that emerge every year and that includes the wedding cake! This year, elegant and glam seems to be the general theme for most weddings. A lot of neutral or soft color palettes. This has absolutely translated to cake design and I’ve already had the pleasure of creating cakes along these ideas. Most recently I did a 5-tier wedding cake that had cascading white edible pearls all over the cake. Another one of my favorite designs that I’m seeing a lot of request for is a cake that is covered in fondant but it’s draped so it creates a really ethereal and flowy design. All of these have been so stunning!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Armana Christianson and I am the owner and cake artist of A. Cakes Bakery in Phoenix, Arizona. Before starting A. Cakes in January 2021, I was a professional golfer for 6 years. I traveled and competed trying to make my way to the LPGA. When COVID grounded me from travel for a bit in 2020, I dipped my toe into cake decorating. I perfected my recipes and continually learned new techniques. Before I knew it I had started my business and by August 2021 I had completely shifted my focus to weddings.

I grew up in the wedding industry. My parents own a venue in Nebraska and I was constantly around it and worked at the venue in college. It seemed like a natural fit to focus my attention on weddings. When I create wedding cakes, I love that they will live on forever in wedding photos. That the couple has a beautiful, edible, piece of art at their reception and their guests get to enjoy it as well. I take great care into creating my cakes and seeing the end result and hearing the wonderful things my clients have had to say make it all worth it.

Besides being completely self-taught, I really pride myself on taking risks and constantly pushing to learn new things. I’ve learned how to create sugar paste flowers, the perfect smooth buttercream, draped fondant designs, edible sequins and so much more. I’m constantly wanting to learn and expand my repertoire of skills not only for myself but because I want to offer my clients a variety of designs. Each couple is unique and their cake should be too.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

One of the best ways I’ve learned to meet new clients in social media. I knew that social media was going to be very important. I started sharing my work as soon as I started selling my products. Once I started asking the question to each new lead, “How did you find me?” that’s when I learned that Instagram has been the highest return.

I try to take a photo of each cake that I create. Most of the time I’m able to set up a photo after it’s created. There are occasions though where maybe a top tier isn’t placed yet or I wait to place sugar paste flowers until I’m on site, that’s when I take photos at the venue or location I’m delivering.

My favorite is when I get to see the photos that photographers take of my work. To see my clients’ faces as they cut their first piece together. Those are the photos I love.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve had to pivot a couple times actually. I briefly mentioned previously that I was a professional golfer. I played golf in college in Nebraska and decided that I wanted to pursue that as a career out here in Arizona. I moved shortly after I graduated and was on my way. I went to Q School 5 years in a row. I competed 2-3 weeks at a time with a week break in between. I did side work to pay for my entry fees and spent a lot of time on social media trying to make connections with potential sponsors. It’s a hard career path. I was already on the tail end of playing golf when COVID put a pause on it. Once I was forced to stop playing, I realized that I was ready to stop. But what was next? Apparently cakes!

When I started my business in January 2021, I was offering small treats like cakesicles and fondant covered cookies. By March and April I was offering cakes and royal icing designed cookies. After moving full steam ahead in that direction, I was completing 5-10 orders a week. I just hit a point where I felt like my heart wasn’t in it. I took 2 weeks off in July and realized that I wanted and needed to focus on weddings. Those are the events where I feel like my creativeness can flow and I get excited to work on a project. Starting August 2021, I put order minimums in place, signed up for a bridal show and rearranged my website and social media to focus on the wedding industry. And here I am! I still take orders for special occasion cakes when I have openings around my weddings but I get to be a little more picky about who I work with and what I get to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: acakesbakery.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/a.cakesbakery.az
• Facebook: facebook.com/a.cakesbakery.az

Image Credits
Abby Higgs Photography (Featured Photo) Megan Rae Photography (Cake Cutting Photo) Rachel Leintz Photography (Sequin Cake Photo)