Artistic Cake Design

About the business

Artistic Cake Design is an Ottawa cake shop, cake-decorating school and supply store on Clyde Avenue, run by the same family since 1973.

Its own home page calls it “Ottawa’s only and original cake decorating education center and supplier since 1973”, and describes the business as a socially responsible company centred on care for its employees and its community.

The About page tells the story in three generations. ICES award-winning pastry chef and chocolatier Russel Bloomfield opened the first store on Preston Street in 1973 and led it until 1984. His son Brian Bloomfield ran it from 1984 to 2020, from a location on Wellington. Since 2020 it has been in the hands of Brian’s son James Bloomfield, listed as President, together with co-owner Andrew Lacelle as Vice President.

James wrote publicly about how that handover happened. In July 2020 the shop was preparing to close, with COVID-19 having made everything uncertain. James, by then a decorator at Artistic for five years, and co-owner Andrew Lacelle bought the business instead and reopened on 1 September 2020 for scheduled pickup only.

Nothing is baked before it is ordered — a rule the shop traces back to its founder. That once meant a two-week lead time, so in 2023 the team added a 24-hour cake service, which they say they announced on CTV Morning LIVE. These are set designs the decorators choose themselves, baked, iced and decorated for next-day pickup, with vanilla, chocolate or marble inside. Alongside custom and 24-hour cakes there are tiered and wedding cakes ordered through their own form, cupcakes, edible-image cakes, and a counter of decorating supplies: fondant, gumpaste flowers, sprinkles and dragees, luster dust, piping tips, chocolate, cake boards and boxes.

Teaching is the other half of the business. The Saturday DECO-1 Foundations course runs from 10am to about 4pm for ages 16 and up at $195, and includes a tool kit, a flat-iced 8-inch cake, five hours of instruction and a certificate of completion; DECO-2 builds on it with basket weave, scroll work, garlands and swiss dots. The course notes say plainly what kind of room it is: “Artistic Cake Design values play in the kitchen, we believe perfectionism is a creativity killer.” The shop sponsored UAFest in 2024.