Today we’d like to introduce you to SOCA Cake Design. They and their team shared their story with us below:
SOCA Cake Design was started by two best friends, Catreace Woods & Yolanda Lopez, who are both professional chefs. While working in a winery in the beautiful North Georgia mountains, we decided to take our careers to the next level. We then poured our talents into something we both loved: cake design and pastry arts, and with our move to beautiful Charleston, SOCA was born. Catreace Woods has been a pastry chef for 22 years and has had the opportunity to live in many parts of the United States and work as the head pastry chef at upscale resorts, fine dining restaurants, hotels, wineries, and county clubs as well as opening and operating various pastry cafes. She has worked alongside many chefs from Europe, India, and the United States. She graduated from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, and has been chasing her passion ever since. Her pastry creations have been featured in various magazines, newspapers, and television. Yolanda Lopez came over to the United States from San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the tender age of 15. She began working in the culinary industry at a young age and now has 24 years of professional experience. She has worked under and along with many chefs from France, Japan, Spain, India & the United States in various fine dining backgrounds. She has taken her talents over the past 24 years and poured them into every chef position she has held. She has worked as a chef in fine-dining restaurants, upscale hotels, bistros & wineries. At one of these upscale hotels, she met her now best friend, who would later become her business partner. Her best friend’s passion for pastry art and the unique way she viewed the art intrigued her and piqued her interest, which caused her to strive and learn as much as she could about cake design and pastry arts under Catreace’s tutelage and guidance.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Some days are smooth, and some are not, but such is life. Some of the challenges have been getting our name out into the Charleston area, which we have been working on, and due to this, the business is starting to increase. Yay! We’ve been in culinary arts for a long time, so we’re patient, and as our motto goes, we’re trusting God along the way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The two of us combined have 46 years of culinary arts experience, with pastries tied into that. We specialize in unique pastries and tall cakes that look beautiful and taste amazing. The greatest thing we specialize in, however, is the needs of people, getting them what they desire and striving our best to meet those needs. Our unique way of looking at pastry art sets us apart from others. We offer an extensive array of upscale petite pastries and tall cakes. Our menus are seasonal, and we strive to use the freshest ingredients, as all our pastries and cakes are homemade.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to us is the look on the customers’ faces when they have ordered something from SOCA and then hear excellent feedback about how it was as good as beautiful. We strive to live by our motto: always chef-inspired and house-made, for His glory!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: SOCA Cake Design & Pastry
- Facebook: SOCA Cake Design & Pastry
