about Jake's cakes

JoAnn and Susan

We grew up in San Jose, California, the two youngest of five children. With a family of seven, money was pretty tight when we were kids. Luckily, San Jose was also growing up and becoming Silicon Valley.

We put ourselves through college and started working in high tech, building successful careers and learning a lot about running and managing a business. While we weren’t exactly working in our dream jobs, it was a pretty good life. Until it wasn’t.

Our family did not win the gene lotto. Name a disease, and you’ll find it somewhere on our family tree. Health issues led us to a gluten-free diet, though we took different paths. From there, it was a hop, skip, and jump to wanting to open our own bakery, café, or tearoom.

So, Susan took a break from work and went to culinary school. JoAnn kept working until late last year, saving up to launch Jake’s Cakes. Now, we are finally getting started, developing products, and getting our paperwork in order.

Soon, Jake’s cakes, cookies, and chocolates will be available for sale. Until then, we invite you to follow along as we get our business off the ground.

So, who’s Jake?

Jake is JoAnn’s son and Susan’s nephew. Now 15, Jake went gluten free at the age of six. He was our inspiration and still is (although, now he’s become more of a nag than an inspiration: “When are we opening Jake’s Cakes? What are you doing about it? Why aren’t you working on the business?”). Seriously, we have to open just to shut him up. Just kidding, Jake.