Caketini offers custom extreme cakes

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Cake decorating these days is far from just frosting and rosettes.

"Everyday I get to make something, and it doesn't last forever, but it makes the moment," said Julie Oskvarek.

That moment is what many people are now after. Custom cake sales at Caketini are up 30% this year, proving that people are looking for more than just the icing on the cake.

"I think there's a saying, a party without a cake is just a meeting, and I think most customers are coming in here looking for that experience to bring even at home," said Cathy Monoscalco.

The industry is growing daily thanks to popular hit shows like Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars, making sweet dreams stretch for the next creative tier. One that is making those dreams come true is Julie Oskvarek.

"Jedi Master Julie is what we call her because she's that good. She's that creative, and she gets it done," said Monoscalco.

Julie started decorating cakes 5-years-ago.

"When I started it was more like basic stripes and polka dots and very easy decor," said Oskvarek.

And now she's giving the original Cake Boss a run for his money.

"Completely custom, completely hand made flowers, wedding scrolling, sculpted cakes, fondant covers, different perfect patterns, like everything under the moon pretty much now," she said.

A custom cake can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. It can range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

"A lady wanted a completely custom for her cake. Her dogs on each tier, herself, her tattoos on her arm, her favorite sports team. That cake was 100 percent her, through and through," said Oskvarek.

Oskvarek has made hundreds of custom cakes like a Nixon watch, boom box, Harry Potter book, and a Minion. But her most off the wall cake was for a wife.

"It was a wife who ordered a cake for her husband, and she wanted a DJ sculpted game console, but she wanted a yellow dragon on top, with a Michael Jackson in his Thriller costume, riding the yellow dragon," she said.

While many of the cakes look too good to eat, you may be shocked to find out that those cakes along with the flowers are 100% edible.

The baked works of art don't last long at any occasion. They're made to taste as good as they look.

"To me it's a cake, cake is delicious; a cake is meant to be eaten. It's really one of those things that is like a picture; you get to wipe over and start again," said Oskvarek.

But as people's imagination continues to grow she plans to keep pushing the limits with sugar one cake at a time.

"It's very very tedious, time-consuming work, so when you're doing six hours of just placing rhinestones on something or hand painting it, finally seeing their reaction, in the end, makes it all worth it in the end," she said.

Caketini is even outgrowing their current stores. The owners are looking to expand to keep up with the demand.