Carrot Pineapple Brown Butter, Banana Rum, and S’mores. These are just some of Deep Sea Sugar & Salt’s delectable cake flavors you will find this Thursday, May 12th, at West Seattle’s Parliament Tavern. Gather your friends to enjoy a draft beer and munch on one (or two) cupcakes during the pub’s art exhibit, The Fancy Glovework: An Industrial Softball League (ISL) Artist Showcase, that will feature art in a variety of mediums by artists who participate in this league.
Charlie Dunmire, the creative owner and baker behind this small Seattle cake company, Deep Sea Sugar & Salt, got her early start at baking while The Edmonds Bakery. While the then sixteen-year-old high school student started as a sandwich builder and server, management saw her natural draw to all things sweet and soon moved her into bakery. “I have had my hands in sugar ever since,” Dunmire shares.
Since then, she has worked as a pastry chef and line cook in a variety of kitchens throughout Seattle and more recently, is baking her own enticing creations in her commercial kitchen in Capitol Hill, using a new KitchenAid Stand Mixer a woman in her neighborhood’s Buy Nothing Facebook Group generously gifted to Dunmire after she asked if anyone had one “collecting dust”. To her pleasant surprise, someone in her group had one sitting in her closet still in its original box and thus was thrilled to gift this coveted kitchen appliance to Dunmire in order to help expand her business. Now, the up and coming baker can experiment with small batches at home with her personal mixer and use the newly gifted appliance to bake larger quantities in her commercial space.
When asked about her cake flavor experiments, the Queen Anne resident explains, “I think it’s a common misconception that cake has to be so sweet. I like to take the sugar down a notch and really focus on the flavors and textures. It’s cake. It should make you happy. I want you to reach for another slice instead of sliding into a sugar coma.”
Reaching for another slice is definitely what you will be doing once you try her most popular offering: the 9LB Porter Chocolate Cake, a dark chocolate cake baked with and soaked in Georgetown Brewing’s Porter (previously named the 9LB Porter), which is then filled and frosted with a semi-sweet ganache. You can purchase this porter (or chocolate) lover’s dream by the slice at Star Brass Lounge in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood.
If you are a chocolate lover with an appreciation for a bold espresso and the great outdoors, then you have to try the PNW Chocolate Cupcake with Norway Spruce, a dark chocolate cake baked with Two Beers Brewery’s Jive Espresso Stout then soaked in Norway Spruce syrup and finished with a Norway Spruce infused semi-sweet ganache. Another creation is her Molasses Stout Cupcake, which Dunmire describes as “an almost gingerbread spiced caked baked with and soaked in Two Beers Brewery’s Fall Line Russian Imperial, topped with a clove cream cheese frosting.” Her Oatmeal Peanut Butter cupcakes will accompany these sweet and savory combinations ($3), and she will also sell whole cakes in various sizes and flavors like Banana Graham and The London Fog, an Earl Grey tea cake soaked in honey syrup, filled with bergamot mascarpone cream topped with an Earl Grey cream cheese buttercream frosting (starting at $40).
After trying various mediums like music and cooking to serve as her creative outlet, Dunmire admits, “It wasn’t until I started decorating cakes that I thought, ‘Whoa, this is it. I love this.’” This is why you can expect to see her artfully designed cakes highlighted with gold flakes and rustic floral accents in the midst of her alcohol or tea inspired desserts. This inventive baker’s passion for her craft permeates through her tastefully styled presentations that look both like stunning centerpieces but still delicious enough to dig right in.
Although Mother’s Day was last week, consider picking up a Deep Sea Sugar & Salt cake to surprise Mom with, which will undoubtedly earn you brownie points, or simply bring one home to kick off the weekend with friends and family because let’s be honest, do we really need an excuse to eat cake?
Follow Deep Sea Sugar & Salt on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming pop ups and locations or contact them via email at DeepSeaSugar@gmail.com to inquire about their catering services for your upcoming events.
Parliament Tavern | 4210 SW Admiral Way | (206) 420-7918
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