Beyond Baking

Virginia's Arley Bell got her start in nonprofits. Today, she continues to spread the love-one cake at a time.

- By Lisa Kaminski

FOR ARLEY BELL, BAKING is about more than making showstopping desserts. It's a way for her to celebrate others and the causes she's passionate about.

In fact, recognizing the hard work of others is what inspired Arley to start baking in the first place. After college, she took a job at a nonprofit in Charlottesville, Virginia. “We didn't have a budget for birthday cakes,” she explains. Despite not being an experienced baker at the time, she tied on an apron and got in the kitchen. “My co-workers deserved to be celebrated, so I started baking cakes for them,” says Arley.

Many birthdays later, she left her nonprofit job and opened Arley Cakes, a cottage bakery in Richmond, Virginia. In her home kitchen, she frosts layer cakes artfully, adding iced decorations and fresh flowers. Each cake is packed with her favorite flavors, as is this strawberry-pretzel layer cake.

I love strawberry pretzel salad,” Arley says. “It has everything: sweet, salty, tangy, creamy, crunchy.” Being in the dessert business, she couldn't resist turning the picnic favorite into a dreamy cake that hits all those same notes.

As you slice into this triple-layer wonder, you'll find an exceptionally tender cake filled with pretzel flavor. The trick to getting this ideal salty-sweet blend and light texture, according to Arley, is crushing the pretzels super finely: I wanted it to have an infusion of pretzels.”