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Cakes + Trees now growing on 13th Ave with granny cakes, ‘parm night’ pop-ups, and plants

(Image: Cakes + Trees)

(Image: CHS)

By Jethro Swain

13th Ave’s new Cakes + Trees is attracting pastry-lovers with its homestyle cakes and keeping them coming back with a changing menu, pop-up dinners, and an array of indoor flora for sale.

“Once we got the place and started building it out, we really focused on making a little spot where people could walk in, forget about all the crap, indulge in a piece of cake, enjoy the plants and just not worry about things for a minute,” said Alison Odowski.

The new shop, located on 13th Ave just off of E Jefferson, opened earlier this summer from Seattle food and drink veterans Odowski and Erik Jackson. Jackson has been a chef in Seattle for over 20 years, and Cakes + Trees is the couple’s second small business venture, after creating Good Day Donuts in White Center.

Odowski and Jackson lived in Capitol Hill for three years before moving south to be closer to Good Day Donuts, so they’re familiar with the area.

“We weren’t specifically looking to be over here, or anywhere, but this space [we’re in] dictated the move because we fell in love with it,” said Odowski. “It’s really old, the building was built in 1910, which I love. With so much new stuff in Seattle it’s also fun to be in something really old.”

 

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(Image: Cakes + Trees)

The new cake, chow, and plant shop venture replaces Happy Grillmore, part of the Nate’s Wings & Waffles family of joints that closed its E Jefferson locations during the pandemic.

Cakes + Trees current hours are Thursday-Saturday from 10 AM-6 PM and those hours will continue through the summer. In the fall they’ll look to be open more days during the week.

“Right now we’re only offering cake and donuts, and we list the cakes we make each week online, mostly on Instagram,” said Odowski. Since its opening Odowski and Jackson have been tinkering with different ideas, visions, and food items to give Cakes + Trees a different look every weekend.

Typically, they offer a lot of Southern and Midwestern style cakes. “I call them church cakes, some people call them granny cakes,” said Odowski. “But they’re not fancy cakes, they’re just delicious cakes that you would expect to find at a homemade gathering type thing.”

While they change up the menu from week to week, there are a few staples that make an appearance most weekends. “Our top three at this point are the Detroit Bumpy Cake, our Polish Apple Pie, and our Lemon Velvet Cake” said Odowski.

(Image: Cakes + Trees)

Along with their bakery items, Cakes + Trees hosts dinner pop-ups where customers can order online and then swing by and grab a premade dinner filled with an entreé, side, salad, and sometimes throw in a cake for dessert.

“Our next one is going to be Friday, August 13th and it’s going to be a parm night,” said Odowski. “That one’s fun because we do the classic chicken parm, but we also offer the eggplant parm for vegetarians, and we do our own pakora vegetable fritter as a vegan option.”

Cakes + Trees also has a private dining room where parties of 6-12 people can rent out a table for a chef’s tasting menu dining experience. “That’s more of Erik’s area,” said Odowski. “He gets to shine with the dinners.”

As for the “Trees” part of Cakes + Trees, the idea comes from Odowski’s upbringing. “I put my two passions together,” said Odowski. “I’m from Florida. I was born and grew up in Orange Groves. Everyone in my family has green houses and amazing yards, so plants have always been a big thing for me.”

The freedom of an always-changing menu in a cafe where you can also rent out a private dinner space and buy a house plant after your meal is unconventional, but it’s what Odowski and Jackson find exciting about their new restaurant.

“I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but having a small business is not as much fun as it sounds,” said Odowski. “It’s hard, especially now in 2021, so if there’s anything we can do that’s fun, we’re doing it.”

Because of the pandemic, it’s hard for anyone to be confident in making long-term plans, but Odowski and Jackson embraced the uncertainty and ran with it. “We’re excited to eventually, as the pandemic hopefully wears off, turn this palace into a little cafe or little dinner spot with little tables amongst the trees,” said Odowski. “We’re looking forward to the future of Cakes + Trees and what it grows into.”

Cakes + Trees is located at 509 13th Ave. You can learn more at cakesandtrees.square.site.

 

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SeattleCarol
SeattleCarol
2 years ago

Living on the block I can confirm the cakes are amazing and remind me of cake walks, church basement dinners and of course Grandma.
Current favorite is the Vegan Carrot Cake, but shout out for the Polish Apple Pie too.

Caphiller
Caphiller
2 years ago

Thank you for profiling this business and the many others around the neighborhood. Gives me ideas for new spots to check out. This one is now on my list!