We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Bonds a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Like many bakers, my love for baking goes so far back that it is difficult to pinpoint how or why I got started. I have been baking for most of my life ever since childhood. What really sparked the flame that ignited my passion for this craft was the birth of my daughter. I have always made the birthday cakes in my family, but my daughter’s birthday was always a special favorite occasion of mine – not just for obvious reasons, but because she is an October baby. I love the festivities and season during that time of year. When my daughter was very young, I started coming up with ways to go above and beyond with her birthday cakes. I began working with fondant, doing more with chocolate and its various plethora of textures, playing more with piping tips and edible imagery, finding and making creative cake toppers, molding isomalt, and a host of other things that make edible creations special. My cakes quickly became a hit and people outside of my family began requesting them. A few years into my small word-of-mouth cake venture, a friend of mine asked me to make cake pops for her family. This was the beginning of YumCrum Shoppe, though I did not know it yet. I began crumbling up my cakes, adding frosting, finding that perfect balance of texture and sweetness (but not too much sweetness), creating shapes and inserting sticks, and dipping them in candy before applying customized details and decorations. One thing led to another, and it seemed that every time I delivered a baked good, my customer would suggest that I start my own business. After a health scare at the start of 2024, I finally decided to take the plunge, to put my treats out there and see how it goes. I asked my family to help me think of a name, so I taped a piece of paper to the kitchen counter, and we all added suggestions for about a month. One day, my daughter came into the kitchen and excitedly told me that she had a great business name for me, and she wrote down “Yum Crum Shop” (her misspelling of “crumb” is adorable and unique, and I love it). I also happen to have two teenaged step-children, and I have been lucky enough to have them pitch in on designing my logo. My step-daughter did all of the artwork with suggestions from her brother. She also suggested that we change “Shop” to “Shoppe” (“to make it fancy”, she said). As a family, we put our heads together, and YumCrum Shoppe came to fruition. I am working on building my customer base one cake-based dessert at a time, and I never lose sight of my primary mission: to make sweet treats that taste as good as they look!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I own a home-based bakery that specializes in all things cake. This includes custom cakes, cake pops, dessert shooters, and cupcakes. I have been baking for most of my life, but I have been working in custom design work for the past eight years. My skills improve with each creation. When I first started YumCrum Shoppe, I wanted to focus my branding on cake pops, because I love how convenient they are. You don’t need a plate. You don’t have to cut them. They last longer than whole cakes, and they’re just really cute and fun. Sometimes I would mention cake pops to people who would ask me what they are, and I would find myself explaining how to make them. It made me realize that the world needs more cake pops; we need to get them out there for the people who either are not familiar with them or are under the impression that they don’t like them (because they have never had a good one). I’ve noticed that many people say they don’t like cake pops, because they can’t stand the idea of cake mushed with frosting – they think it’s a sticky oversweet waste of money (cute or not). Once they have had one of my pops, they learn what a delicious little bit of goodness cake pops can be. I love when a customer is happy. I love when friends of my customers are happy; this is how my business grows. While YumCrum Shoppe makes a variety of cake-based desserts, the cake pops hold a special place in our hearts. When you want a cup of coffee, you know your favorite brands. You know just where to go for exactly what you want, even if you have multiple favorites. You know where to go for a cake. You know where you prefer to get your cookies, your ice cream, your pizza, everything. But most people don’t have a place that comes to mind when or if they want a cake pop. While several major brands out there do carry cake pops, the pops are one small fraction (an afterthought, really) of what those businesses offer. I wanted to give cake pops a home, give them a name, grow their popularity, clear their name, and put smiles on faces. That is what YumCrum Shoppe is working to do.

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

For YumCrum Shoppe, what really grows our clientele is partygoers! We make a birthday cake or dozens of cake pops or cupcakes for a party, and if the cake order is impressive enough (oftentimes, we are pleased to learn that it is), we receive a handful of requests from people who attended that party. It has been a slow and gradual but exponential growth, and we are finding it manageable at this point in our endeavor. The best source of clients for us is simple – it’s people who eat cake!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn thinking too hard and too much. I really manage to hold myself back in that way. What if the other home bakers in my zip code make cakes that are better than mine, and should it matter? What if my cake pops are good to me and my family, but they aren’t really all that good? What if I make a mistake on a cake and someone gives me a complaint or negative review? What if, what if, what if? My daughter tells me every day that I do not need to be perfect, and nor do my desserts, as I am not creating desserts for perfect people. My husband tells me everyday what a fantastic job I am doing; he reminds me of how much my customers love my work. My family encourages me to keep at it; don’t let YumCrum Shoppe fail before it even really starts. We are all our own harshest critics, and I can be very critical about what I am doing, because I struggle not to find the potential fault in things before they can be realized. What really helps is seeing the joy that people express when they see what I’ve made for them. I get bonus points if they remember to reach out after their events and let me know how people felt about my desserts. The experience has been so rewarding!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yumcrumshoppe.com
• Instagram: @yumcrumshoppe.com

Image Credits

Otis Bonds