Conversations with Angela Piccinin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Piccinin.

Hi Angela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We had just settled in Wilmington, NC, after a year of traveling the United States in a 1973 motorhome, and my parent’s friends needed some help baking rum cakes in their kitchen. They had this company they had just started, Cape Fear Rum Cake, and they were selling at markets and in stores, so we started helping them during their busy seasons. Kris and Richard had previous careers with corporate companies and wanted to move to Thailand. Danny and I saw the opportunity staring us in the face and asked them how we could take over. We’ve worked at several companies, from ceramics to formal gowns to Amazon, and we love working together. In January 2014, we became the proud owners of Cape Fear Rum Cake. We found a small spot to rent in the back of a shopping center off Kerr Ave and made our first commercial kitchen. At this point, we had 6 flavors/recipes, so over the first year, we followed the path they had made but added a Red Velvet rum cake. Over the coming years, we will create seasonal flavors and gluten-free versions but stick to markets and wholesale. In 2017, we found out the shopping center we were in would become an apartment building, which was just the right push to get us to move downtown. Chandlers Wharf was also a small shop, but it got us into the foot traffic of Wilmington and was the perfect place to test out an actual storefront so we weren’t as dependent on farmers’ markets/weather. We continued to create new flavors, still do markets, and sell wholesale. We jumped when a friend told us she was leaving her spot on Front St. We now have over 30 flavors(rotating seasonally) and 8 gluten-free flavors.

Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No road is smooth, and you must be flexible. The pandemic was the biggest challenge so far. Markets were canceled, our wholesale orders plummeted, we had just moved to our big fancy(expensive) shop on Front St., and the kids were not in school. But we got creative. We made the storage room in the back of the shop into a kid’s hangout. We started doing Google Ads, lots of social media/newsletters, and one of my favorite items – The Mystery Box. It was a 3-pack sampler of 3 new recipes, and we sent a scorecard so your family could vote for their favorite, which would become a new addition to our flavor list. Our customers loved it, and flexing our creative brains in the kitchen was fun. It was also fun tasting our R&D. Pistachio rum cake was the first winner.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in rum cakes. We bake them from scratch, by hand, and in small batches. We double-glaze every cake and vacuum seal them to keep the rum fresh in the box for 6 months. I’m most proud of our diversity of flavors. Golden Vanilla will always be our top seller, but Painkiller is a close second, as well as Dark Chocolate Raspberry. Mexican Hot Chocolate Rum Cake is a personal favorite. And I know some customers are waiting for us to make Blueberry again. 😉

Can you talk to us about the role of luck?
It may be luck or the ability to pivot. If something isn’t working, you’ve got to try something else. Danny and I have had many different careers, and most were never planned. I was born in Canada, and he was born in Puerto Rico. We never thought we would be baking rum cakes in Wilmington, NC.

Pricing:

• small rum cake – $8
• medium rum cake – $18
• large rum cake – $30
• gluten free small rum cake – $10
• 3 pack sampler of small rum cakes – $22

Contact Info:

• Website: www.capefearrumcake.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capefearrumcake/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeFearRumCake

Image Credits
Angela Piccinin