12. Mert's Cakes - The Sweet Taste of Bourbon

It is interesting around here though because it is more studio than it is a kitchen.

We're here in the consulting room, so I guess you would bring the client in here and consult. Absolutely. I just walked out there just like right off the bat where the magic happens. You know me, you got to get down right down to the heart of it.

Most men do. They walk in the door, they come right back to where we're working. But what's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that. It's just women are different. They'll stop at the door. Where men, they come in and they're very straightforward. I like that. I don't care.

That's a nice way of saying we're rogues, Jim. Rogues. Rogues. Ruffians. Rude.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Randy. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank Virginia Rankin from Mert's Cakes for sponsoring this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about Mertz Cakes, their wonderful Louise Derby Cake, and all their cake products at MertzCakes.com.

So Jim, what a fun show today, man. Oh my goodness. Who doesn't like cake? I'm telling you, let them eat cake. And Mert's cakes is one of them you probably want to eat. I'm telling you.

I cannot believe she said her cakes are inebriated.

That's my new word now for... Putting bourbon in food, period. It's going to be inebriated with bourbon. Now, after talking to Virginia in this episode, for sure. It's so funny. And some of the incredible people she's actually been able to make cakes for and just the whole process and the detail. And, you know, I'm a fan because I've had one, you know, that I actually had for my wife's birthday. And folks, they're excellent. Excellent.

I like to think I'm pretty handy in the kitchen, but I have not yet attempted to add bourbon to food. So I guess I need to try that.

Oh, you do. And like I said, one of these times when we're sitting around third floor, we need to invite Julianne because she loves doing that and eating the teaspoon. It's like Virginia was talking about in this episode here. Forget the teaspoon. We need to douse this thing a little bit.

Not enough to make you tipsy or anything, but you get the flavor of the bourbon with the food. See, I always thought when somebody makes like a bourbon ball or a bourbon cake or bourbon waffles or whatever it is, that, you know, in the cooking process, all the alcohol is going to disappear, but they don't put it in before they cook. It's on the cake. They're pouring it on after the cooking is done.

Yeah, man. And, you know, when you have clients like Brown Foreman that are very pleased with the product, you know it's got to be pretty good. Yeah. And you need to listen up because I love her, I loved Virginia's, her description of what she thought the bourbon culture was.

Yeah. You know, as many times as we ask that question, it seems like we get a different but accurate answer.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And everybody's different on a different place on the bourbon road. That's right. Let's get to it. All right. Sounds good. Thanks.

Hello and welcome. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Randy Minick. And this is the Bourbon Road and we are in Middletown, Kentucky today, just outside of Louisville.

Right. It used to be an old stagecoach stop, I think.

Kind of the halfway point between here and Frankfurt, right?

Yeah, something like that there. Or Shelbyville. Wonderful, quaint little town and nestled back in behind some buildings is a place called Mertz Cakes. Now, some of you are wondering what in the heck does Mertz Cakes have to do with bourbon, but you're about to find out. We're here with the owner proprietor, Virginia Rankin. Welcome to the show, Virginia. Virginia, welcome to the show.

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

So, before we get started, we're going to go into our first pour. We usually do this with our guests. And today we have something that's a little bit special because one of the reasons you're on the show is because I came in here to order a cake for my wife for her birthday and something caught the corner of my eye. And it was a bottle of Blanton's. But when I looked closer, it was not a bottle of Blanton's. It was a replica you had done with, I guess, fondant or something like that there.

That's right. It was a groom's cake, actually. And the project when they ordered it was that the favorite thing in the whole world that this guy wanted or loved, with the exception of his bride, was Blanton's. And so the groom's cake the night before the wedding needed to be representative of that. So we did a fantastic chocolate cake poured with chocolate ganache. It was beautiful. And then on top of it, we made a Blanton's bottle that was totally edible. That set up, it was 3D. It was wonderful. They loved it. And that's the only thing that matters. They were happy.

Who would want to eat that though? I would want to save that. Oh my goodness.

Randy, you're so sneaky. I am.

So we thought it would be apropos to start off with. Our first pour being Blanton's. I don't think we've done this on the show. We haven't had Blanton's before on the show. I thought it would be apropos today. And, you know, good old 93 proof stuff. This one was bottled in January of 18. So you were joking earlier about this being a Dusty because Blanton's doesn't stay on the shelf long.

Yeah, I know. It usually doesn't last in the store very long when it shows up and you got to grab your bottle when you can.

Well, it doesn't last long in this kitchen, I'll tell you that much for sure.

So when you're done making the cake or whatever it is, the bottle tends to not stick around very long.

I don't know if it's politically correct for me to say that's accurate, but it is accurate. We like bourbon.

One for the cake, two for me. One for the cake, two for me.

Well, let's go ahead and enjoy this and we'll talk about it. Cheers.

Well, Jim, right off the bat, I don't know if it's because of where we are. I'm getting cake batter on mine, the nose on mine.

I've had blends several times and I don't think I've ever gotten cake batter on the floor.

Everything in this building is covered with powdered sugar. I mean, you can't get away from it when it's your business and that's okay. There are worse things.

The sweet smell of this shop, right?

This is so delicious.

The affection for confection. We're going to get to that in a minute.

No, really. So we're just kidding, folks. We're not really getting cake better here. Randy's just being a little funny here.

Anyway, no, I love the smell of this place when you do walk in, but this Blanton's on top of that.

This is such a beautiful liquid.

Yeah, Blanton's always pleases, there's no doubt about it. This particular, and it's been a while since I've had Blanton's actually, but this is a nice dark amber. It has a good color to it. What's the proof on Blanton's? 93. So, blends is always rich and creamy. It's got a little bit of brown sugar and caramel flavor to it. Which goes really well with baking. Yeah, one of the reasons it's great in baking, I'm sure.

It's really delicious on cakes. And over the years, I've found that there are better bourbons to put on cakes. And when you sit down and drink it, it's one thing. But then you put it on a cake and it turns into something else. Blandons is a nice product to use on our cakes. I've done it before.

And as Blandons, as you say, Randy, rounds the corner.

Rounds the corner really well.

You start to pick up that oak richness in the back end and it just finishes very nicely.

Yes, I do like this. It's one of my more favorites, but we hadn't had it on the show, and I was like, yeah.

Well, it's really on my palate, real caramel-y, and the afterburn is so nice. I like it.

Yeah, it sticks with you.

So I guess we'll jump on into this since we have had a little taste there. So one of the first questions we usually ask guests And with you being all around the fringe of this big bourbon boom that's going on, what does the bourbon culture mean to you?

That's a really interesting question, especially languished like that, because it is a culture. To me, I believe it's all indicative of excellence and Pride quality. What I know about bourbon and how the state of Kentucky has become associated with bourbon or vice versa is that it does represent an integrity involved with the industry and that bourbons are special. You can't go into your kitchen and make bourbon out of water and any other ingredients. It's a commitment of time. And the ingredients have to be good. And so therefore from, in my opinion, therefore from bourbon being treated as well as it has, it is synonymous to excellence in quality.

That's good. You know, we ask this question at each of our interviews. It's kind of our, I don't know, signature warm-up question. And as many times as we ask it, we get different answers, and they're all true. And they're all true. So sometimes it's hospitality. Sometimes it's, in this case, excellence. Sometimes it's fellowship. And just on and on and on, it seems to invoke that warm feeling.

It seems to be a personal experience, doesn't it?

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's what the Bourbon Road is. Everybody's in a different place on the Bourbon Road, and it's kind of a journey.

So where did you grow up?

I grew up on a farm in Arkansas, southwestern tip, a tiny little place.

Southwestern tip. Help us out here.

Close to Ashdown, Texarkana. Actually, our farm was a mile from Oklahoma and about six miles from Texas, right in that little nook. So nobody knows where farm in Arkansas is. That's where I was raised.

F-O-R-M-A-N.

There's an E in there, F-O-R-E-M-A-N.

Okay, got it. Like George Foreman. That's right.

That's right. That's where I was raised. I was the youngest daughter of three girls, snow boys, and we had a farm, a working farm.

And what did you raise on your farm?

Big fat cattle and coastal Bermuda grass. That was it.

When you reached adulthood, did you say, I'm never going to live on a farm again?

Absolutely not. My sisters had a different experience than I did. I never thought about our way of life being anything other than magical and wonderful. We were hardworking people, but no. I did end up leaving Arkansas as a young adult, but it wasn't because that was my quest. It was just that my life took me in a different direction.

Was it a career that took you somewhere else or education?

Actually, marriage. I married a military officer and we started traveling and I experienced a lot of parts of the world that I thought I would never see. It was wonderful.

So how did you end up here in the Ville from Arkansas?

Well, that's a long story. The first time I moved to Kentucky, my first husband and I divorced and I had a special needs baby. And the first time I came to Kentucky was because of the endocrinology department at UK Hospital in Lexington and they treated babies like I had. There were a handful of them and that's what brought me to Kentucky the first time. But then after that, as a single mom, I realized I needed to make money too. So I got into sales and marketing, took me other places, and then that's why I'm in Louisville. Moved to Louisville with a company I was working with at that time.

And when was this? About?

87. 87?

Okay, so you've been here a while.

I have. Shortly after I arrived in Louisville, I realized that the career I had chosen at that time was not really going to put me in a position that I could be with my children like I needed to. I was flying out and being gone a lot. So, I chose to leave that company and start my own business. The cake business had always been a hobby of mine.

So when you were younger, did you spend a lot of time in the kitchen?

I did spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It was my grandmother that inspired me to bake and to enjoy the process of making a good cake.

So we understand that you actually bake with bourbon. Yes. But let's talk about your first bourbon experience. Where were you? What were you drinking when you said bourbon? Let me try that.

Do you want to know my first experience or the experience that made me realize that bourbon was a wonderful thing? My first experience was when my mamma mur walked around when she had made eggnog and poured a tablespoon of bourbon in each cup. That was my first experience with bourbon.

What bourbon was it? I have no idea.

I was five. I do remember vividly though when I moved to Lexington and was invited to my first Kentucky Derby party. That was a new experience for me. I was 28 at the time and I had heard about mint juleps for a long time, had drank one and was not impressed. And the host of this particular party had made his own simple syrup and it was delicious and wonderful. And he gave me a mint julep and I've never gotten over them since. I love mint juleps.

So you're a big fan of mint juleps.

I absolutely am. But I make my own simple syrup.

There you go. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's wonderful.

Yeah. You can have a good one, but most of the time you're having a not so good one. So you really have to have somebody that knows what they're doing.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Now Tim knows how to make a good Minjulo.

So you were talking about your grandmother. Yes. And baking. So where did your, I guess, shall we say, affection for confection actually, that epiphany, when did that start?

That's really interesting, Randy. I never thought much about it when I was a young child. It was just all around me. My grandparents were simple folks, and my grandmother loved to make a really, really delicious butter cake. She did it in a way that most people can't identify with today. She actually went to the hen house and got eggs. It was an all-day process. Churned butter, that sort of thing. Nowadays, you talk about churned butter. People don't even know what that is. You say, where does the butter come from? The dairy aisle at Kroger's. I know where butter comes from. So when I was two, I actually spent time on her countertop waiting for her to turn her head so I could put my finger in the bowl. That's when I fell in love with cake and never got over it. But she did one cake. It was a butter cake with pineapple fillings. It was amazing. So by the time I was a teenager, I started experimenting with how to make that cake also look pretty. So when my friends had birthdays in high school, junior high, I gifted them with their birthday cake, whether they liked it or not. You know, they had a cake from me, and that's where it just began, with that.

And so I guess your grandmother's name was? Mert. Mert.

That's Mert's cake. That's right. Her name was Myrtle. Myrtle Alexander, Calhoun County, Arkansas. But she was my mama Mert. And by the time I actually grew this hobby into a business, she was gone. She had never seen me in my work. And so I felt like it was appropriate for me to name my business for her.

So she's kind of here with you.

Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. I believe in all that.

So at some point along the way, you decided to incorporate bourbon into your cakes.

I did about 15 years ago.

Oh, yeah. Okay. And so how did that go?

It went really, really well. At one point, I realized after I turned this into a real business that I was the business completely and that if I ever had any desire to retire or semi-retire, that I needed to develop a cake that I didn't personally have to touch every one of them. And so I developed the Louis Derby cake at that time. It's a boxed praline cake. It's amazing. It ships all over the country and has gained great notoriety. in its little lifetime. But at that time, I started experimenting with bourbon. And I knew that that was the key. And we actually do use real bourbon. We don't suggest it, and it's not a flavor. And we actually put real butter and real eggs in our cake. It's really, really wonderful. I'm proud of it.

For you saying that, it leads me to believe that there are places who supply cakes out there who use a flavoring instead of the actual bourbon. Is that the case?

It is absolutely the case. Okay.

All right.

It absolutely is.

A lot of us who are not in your business probably wouldn't know that that's happening. Absolutely. So you have to ask.

It's a way that it's marketed and if you have a great marketing team, You can make the public believe just about anything. We're pretty simple here. We keep it real. And I've never started using powdered eggs or any of the things that might be less expensive. And I'm not going to apologize for the fact that our cakes are more expensive than the ones that have flavors in them. But we have real bourbon in it. And it goes on the cake after it's baked. So it's not baked off. Our clients actually get a bourbon experience when they eat our cakes.

So what bourbon or do you use several different kinds depending on the cake or is there one particular go-to or what?

There are bourbons that I prefer on the cake, but they vary. We have clients that dictate what we use. They have requests of us using a particular kind of bourbon. We're happy to do that. We've used many ones, as you've witnessed earlier today. We probably have 14 different kinds of bourbon around here right now. I love Blanton's. That's what we're drinking right now. I think it's really, really nice on our cakes. over the last two years. The two that we've used most off is Heaven Hill and Old Forester on our cakes. We like both of those. Woodford Reserve has been used quite a bit too. I like Woodford. I love that as a sipping. It's, in my opinion, lost a little bit on the cake. So we go to some other brands regularly.

Just regular, the regular Whitford. It's not the double O.

No, exactly. Okay. Exactly.

So are you saying that bourbons that kind of have a pronounced character tend to stand out more in a cake? One of the things that Woodford is known about is the fact that their bourbon is extremely well-rounded and balanced, that it doesn't really jut out in any one particular area, that it sort of touches all parts of the flavor wheel. But then you've got a bourbon like Blanton's or a particular rye or Old Forrester that they kind of stick out a little bit in one area and they say, hey, I'm Old Forrester. Right.

I think sometimes that sharp characteristic comes through a little bit stronger when you pour it on something sweet like a cake. So with the Woodford, In my opinion, you're losing why you would invest more money in a bottle of Woodford when you poured on a cake.

Well, I mean, that's a good answer, I think.

No, I get that. Which leads me to, I guess, a thought before the next one. So my wife does this wonderful French toast with this bourbon-infused whipped cream on it. And she was reading the recipe and she goes, a teaspoon? Oh, no way. And she started pouring. She goes, a quarter cup. So I guess that leads me to my next question. When you put bourbon in or on your cakes, is it a Virginia secret how much you put, or do you have a formula for that?

Well, let's say yes and no and yes. Let's say that we most definitely have a formula. The reality is we put bourbon in a squeeze bottle. and my team, and I have an amazing team that's been with me for years. We start squeezing it on. We do not use a measurement. And it's not unusual for me to look over and say, Alicia, do it again. I want the bourbon to come through. We definitely know how much goes on. We don't want a child to get intoxicated over our cakes and we don't want it to be a taste that's only bourbon, but we want that to be a presence. We don't want it to be a suggestion and that we can say to our clients, oh yeah, there's bourbon in there, trust me. No, we want them to know there's bourbon in there.

So it's fair to say that you make spirit forward cakes.

Absolutely. They are spirited praline cakes that go out of this kitchen. Wow.

So do you use any other spirits besides just bourbon? Absolutely. Some people make rum cakes or whatever they call them. We do indeed.

I'm glad you asked, Randy. We also have a dark horse cake. We talked about the derby cake a little bit, and it's a butter praline cake moistened with bourbon. The sister or brother to it is the chocolate praline cake, and it's moistened with rum. And I like a gold Bacardi's on that. That to me is the best rum.

So still using Brown Forman products. That's right.

We've done a lot of work for Brown Forman. Oh, you have. Yes, we have.

We'll get to that in the second half. Absolutely. Well, Randy, I think this is probably as good a time as any for us to take a little break here and continue sipping on our blantons.

To mark this special occasion.

And then when we come back, we want to hear about the companies you've worked with, the people you've worked with, some of the special cakes you've made. We also want to find out what you brought for us to drink. We're kind of excited.

I got it.

All right. Sounds good. We'll be back.

This is Virginia Rankin, and my business is Mert's Cakes. We're in Louisville, Kentucky, and we specialize in baking excellence and happiness in our products. We use real butter, real cream. the real deal. Many of our cakes are also inebriated with bourbon and many other kinds of spirits. Our goal is to make you so completely happy when you visually see your cake, but it leaves you and your guests forever with that memory etched in their brains of how delicious and wonderful that cake was. You can find us online at MertzCakes.com or certainly call us at 502-244-6200. We'd love the opportunity to bake happiness for you. Wedding cakes, occasion cakes, gift cakes. Our cakes are available beautifully gift boxed, packaged to ship and of course we ship all over the country and into some other countries as well, primarily in the United States. You can find us online at MertzCakes.com or certainly call us at 502-244-6200. Okay, so we are back from our little break there and you've brought something for us to try.

What did you bring for us today?

I brought Angels Envy. That's a little different than a bourbon and I understand that. It's a rye. I brought it because I love it and I also brought it because it is in honor of some of my clients, the owners of Angels Envy. found me a year or so ago and realized that we did these amazing Derby cakes that shipped all over the country. They tasted them and realized that that was the quality product that would send the right message to their clients and friends and people that they wanted to acknowledge. So they wanted me to try it with their product to see how that would be. And it was absolutely delicious. In both the chocolate as well as the butter, what they chose were the butter cakes with their product on it. It was just amazing.

So did you use the regular Angel's Envy or Rye in the products?

The rye is what we used in the products. It was really, really good. They brought the bottles to me to use on the cakes, and we made sure that they were appropriately inebriated with the product. They were very, very pleased. You mean the cakes were inebriated? Yes, the cakes were inebriated. Are we getting out of here?

Are we going to get out of here today?

That's right. Just for those who are listening who may not be familiar with Angel's Envy. Angel's Envy has a number of expressions. They have a finished bourbon and they also have a finished rye and then they also have a cask strength finished rye. And there may be others I'm not familiar with, but they are a staple here in Loyola, Kentucky. Yes. And a good customer of yours, it sounds like.

They are. And I think I spoke earlier about how I feel about the bourbon industry and what it means to me and quality and integrity. I really got that from the owners of Angel's Envy. The Hendersons are fine human beings, in my opinion. and I enjoyed working with them and I sincerely look forward to seeing them again.

Well, that's great. Well, let's get into this. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Isn't it beautiful? Yeah, it's beautiful. Look what pretty and it's such a great color.

Yeah, so it's a little bit golden amber. It definitely sticks to the glass a little bit. I was going to say, look at the legs on that girl.

It definitely has legs.

Down, Randy.

I really enjoy the taste of this on my tongue and going down my throat. It has that little burn that it leaves. I really, really like this product.

But you know, I really am getting cake batter on the nose this time. Are you really?

Well, this is a rye. And so I tell you what, on the nose, I'm definitely getting the rye spice. It's good. But I can pick up the finishing, the barrel finishing on it. I'm getting a little bit of a kind of a cognac kind of.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's true. Yeah. That's a good way to describe it. Yeah.

For me, I really pick up on, like you said, the spices on it. It's almost a slight cinnamon in the back of your throat. Like I said, cake batter. Cake batter. That's why this was so amazing on our butter cakes. It really came through in a real nice, strong way, but not overpowering. It was a wonderful compliment to the product.

Yeah, so this Angel's Envy finished rye gives you such a nice warm feeling on the sides of your tongue. It's sweet, but the same token, it's very rich. It's a very rich flavor.

Yes.

I like it.

I do too. I don't think it's too sharp either. No, it's not. It's very mellow. I like it.

Yeah, it definitely lets you know it's a rye. There's no doubt about it. But I think the finishing on this was expertly done. No doubt about it.

It rounds the corner very quickly to that finish. And the finish actually stays with you for a little bit.

I'm glad you like what I've brought for you today.

Jim is making me a fan of ryes, believe it or not.

Yeah, we've been sampling quite a few ryes lately, so Randy's on that road too, on that bourbon road that leads into Rydale.

You know, I'm like batter in the bowl, I can be whipped into whatever we need to make here. Um, so anyway, like I said, we, I came in here for a custom cake. Correct. I saw that bottle of Blanton's, you know, and I'm sitting here looking at this bottle of Blanton's. Oh, and it's an L by the way, for those of you wondering. And I looked at, I'm looking at the detail on this bottle and there was enough detail on the one you did in Fondant to make me stop. Did you do all of that by hand?

Everything was done by hand, including the horse on top. It was made out of modeling chocolate. I had great assistance from my assistant, Alicia, and I so respect her. Yes, we want people to look at what we're producing and know what they're looking at. We've had a lot of folks that have come to us for that very reason. They realize they want their guests to be able to look at the cake and know what it means.

Okay. In that vein right there, I came for a unicorn cake for my wife. She goes, you're just going to love it. I'm like, how does this woman know what I'm going to love? She didn't even talk to me. And she goes, I got this. We got this taken care of. So a custom cake. Where do you get your ideas?

That's a good question.

If I understand, you've got some artistic background in there a little bit too, don't you?

I'm beginning to understand that I do. It's not something that when I got on this path, I acknowledged. But my clients have been really instrumental in helping me realize that I'm actually an artist. And a lot of my ideas come from nature. So do you get down it?

I'm going to go take a walk and see if I can get inspired today. Is that how that works, or do you just sit around and do yoga?

I spend a lot of time in nature. Some of that also came from my mom, because not only did she enter her famous butter cake in the fair, but also her dinner plate dahlias at the same time, and they all won blue ribbons. That's nice. I do spend a lot of time in nature and appreciating that, so I get a lot of ideas from that. But also things like wallpaper and fabrics will inspire me to do something with a cake. When someone comes to me like you did with a special request, I don't want to see somebody else's idea of their interpretation of a cake that looks like a unicorn. I want to come up with that myself or actually look at a picture of a unicorn. Or in this case, don't give me a picture of a cake that looks like a Blanton's bottle. Give me the Blanton's bottle. So we're inspired by the real thing instead of somebody else's impression of that.

So let me let me ask you this. I mean, the Blanton's bottle is a fairly unique bottle that's not like any other known worldwide. I mean, certainly you go anywhere in the world. Let's just say this anywhere in the world. And you talk to people who are urban aficionados. They know what a Blanton's bottle looks like.

Correct.

Did you feel any kind of pause there before you started trying to recreate something so well known?

Absolutely not. To me, it was very straightforward, and that's how most of the projects are. That was the charge. I said yes to it. Did I know exactly how I was going to get there when I said yes? No. But that's my job, to figure out how I'm going to deliver that. When I looked at that bottle and was thinking cake, the components on the bottle that were really important was the shape, the bevels in the bottle, and the horse on the top. So then that's how I approached it. How do we get that? And then from there, how much D-Celt-Dell can we put on the label and that sort of thing?

Wow. Yeah, because it does have... Blanton's bottle has a lot of detail on it compared to... Well, let's say that Angel's Envy sitting there. Correct. It's pretty straightforward, very simple, the logo and very nice looking bottle. This one here has got a little bit of detail on it. That's what I was... That impressed me and made me stop in my tracks.

Well, I'm very fortunate at this point in my career because enough of this community has seen our work to know that they should call us if they want something really, really special. And I'm very, very proud of that. Not only is it going to be beautiful, but it's also going to be delicious for their guests. So we've been asked to do some really nice projects for corporate people as well as individuals.

Let's talk about some of those other projects. Some more notable companies maybe or projects that you've worked with. Can you talk about those?

One recently that we did, and I think Randy's aware of this, just a couple of weeks ago, Old Forester approached us. They were going to be celebrating their first birthday downtown and wanted something that actually looked like Big Penny. And for those of you that have been in their distillery, you realize that they're still is very representative of their business. And I don't know, she's two or three stories tall and is all copper. And so that was an interesting project. And I did what I normally do. I just said yes. And then let's take a look at what we have and figure it out. So it's interesting when you do those kinds of projects, and they are cake. Because unlike maybe some of those cake shows that you see, I spent probably 10 hours in Lowe's during that project trying to figure out what am I going to use to make this really look like they're still. And it's going to be beautiful, yet it's going to be cake. And it's going to look like cake.

Now a lot of our listeners are probably sitting out there going right now thinking, I wish I could see it. Can they see it?

I think Randy's asked to have some pictures that could be posted and we're working on that for you so that they can see the finished product. The thrill that I had doing that project, and it's not unlike a lot of projects we've done, is the fact that the client was so happy at the end of the day. And that's why I'm doing what I do.

Because unlike a lot of things in this world that are created, yours are destroyed soon after. They are indeed. Well, I don't say destroyed, consumed. Consumed.

No, I still have a unicorn horn. I'm just saying.

No, not everything. So if you don't get a good picture of it, it's gone forever. Right. Yeah. So we'll make sure we get some of those pictures.

We will try to get as many as we can on the website folks.

We're also trying to find a picture of the Blanton's model too.

Like I said, that's the one that stopped me. I go, okay, I came to the right place to get this done. All right. This is going to be good.

So you're making cakes for some fairly notable people.

We have been very fortunate to do that, yes. We have.

And you're kind of their go-to.

I would like to think so, yes.

That's great. That's awesome. Brown Foreman, our old forester there, who else is on this, an angel's envy on this list?

It is so vast, and I feel so fortunate, too.

What did you do for the angel's envy one?

Actually, we do a line of Praline cakes that are shippable in gift boxes, and they're beautiful, by the way, and delicious. And for several years now, people have used that during the holidays as their Christmas gift. or a holiday gift. They also use it throughout the year to acknowledge special people. But during the, I would say the week before Thanksgiving to the week of Christmas last year, we shipped close to 4,000 of those cakes all over the country and still no advertising. Everything is word of mouth. And we started 15 years ago with maybe 30 or 40 cakes that we shipped out and 10 people have told 10 people that told 10 people and now this Christmas is going to be interesting. So that's what we're doing and we have a who's whose list of people that have received a cake from us and now they're sending it to all of their loved ones and that's how the Henderson's found us and liked our product and now they've sent it to all of the people they love.

So they're using it as a corporate gift during the holidays.

And I think it was beyond that. It was a corporate gift as well as the individual in a family and loved ones. One person that I would like to say hello to and that is also a client of ours found us because he was gifted one of our cakes through the Breeders' Cup. They are also a client of ours and they used our cakes a few years ago when they were at Keeneland.

Do you put a horse on it or make it in the shape of a horse?

No, we just put lots of bourbon on it.

That works every time.

It was in a beautiful box and it was gifted to their important guests that they brought in. This was a jockey that received one of our cakes. Mr. Lewis says,

It seems like Sage has been in the news here lately, hasn't he?

I think he has. Every time I have the ability to put money on a horse that he's riding, I'm going to bet on him. We won't get into that whole Derby thing this year. That's right. He loves our cakes and he actually orders cakes from us now.

So, okay, there's some people who know custom cakes, right?

That's correct.

Okay, say I'm a jockey and I come in here and I say, I want a custom cake. Yes. What is the procedure?

The procedure is, I need an understanding of what the project is. What are you requesting?

What is it for?

That's correct. And sometimes the request is one thing and we arrive at something else that is doable. That's my job to kind of mediate how we go about pleasing them. Because many times I've found that they don't really know what they want. They have an idea. putting it in my professional lab to say, okay, this is what can be done. It's going to be amazing and wonderful. Why don't we look at it like that? So it works out. That's how we approach it.

So sometimes you get some pretty wild requests and you have to bring them back down to earth, right?

Yes. And I'm really good at that, by the way.

Well, I've seen cake shows and they have a construction crew. Yes. I'm sitting there going, that's not a cake. If I can't eat it, what good is it? That's correct. I get the fondant. I'm not a fondant guy per se, but you've got to do some molding chocolate and stuff to make your figures. I get that kind of thing there. This show would probably be better hosted by our wives instead of us, Tim, that could ask you more detailed questions about this kind of thing. You know, at least. I don't know, Randy.

I'm pretty handy in the kitchen.

Are you? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, but you and I, we deal with the meat. We don't necessarily deal with the cakes. Of course, I do like, my brownies are hard to die for, but anyway, we won't get into that just yet.

We do some pretty good brownies too. Do you? Yeah. I do.

Bourbon balls?

Yes, we've been known to do bourbon balls and we've had plenty of cakes where that's what they wanted to do. They wanted bourbon balls on their cake, even wedding cakes that had bourbon balls because we are in bourbon country.

So what bourbon did you put in those bourbon balls? Just depended on the day?

Which time? Yeah, exactly. When?

So how do you decide that? I don't know. You know, some people have their go-to.

We have so many clients that are bourbon specific, and that helps us.

So you don't even have to think about it.

We really don't. They make the request. That's why I have so many different bourbons here in the kitchen.

I guess so. So somebody comes in and says, make my cake and you use half a bottle of bourbon. You got to put that bottle somewhere and then they tend to accumulate over time.

It's a real challenge. Yeah.

It wouldn't be for me. It'd be like I said, two for me, one for the cake, two for me.

So which one perks you up when they come through the door? Which bourbon really perks you up?

If I'm going to sit down and drink a glass of bourbon, I'll probably choose Woodford. However, I have to admit, I've been so impressed with this Angel's Envy, and that's why I'm sharing it today. I love this product on my cake.

This is a very good ride.

It's really nice. It's really nice. And I knew nothing about it before the client came and said, this is what we want. I didn't know anything about Angel's Envy, but I'm a real fan now.

Yeah, we had a guest on, and I won't mention specifically who it was, but we had a guest on a while back, and he's quite the Bourbon evangelist, so he gets some friends coming over to his house, and they'll have a gathering, and he'll introduce them to a Bourbon, and then he's got this program that he employs where he, at the end of the day, he gives them the Angel's Envy finished product.

Nice.

And they just go, wow, that's so amazing. And he introduces them to what bourbons can be using a finished bourbon like that.

That finished, I call it a dessert bourbon. And it's one that I would, if somebody came and they go, I don't know much about bourbon. I've tried some whiskey or angels envy might be something I would use as a liaison to get them into some bourbon.

And as we said before, we all know that angels envy because of the finishing process is not truly a bourbon. But it is a finished bourbon.

Right.

And, you know, he said, if I would have given that guest at my home the Angel's Envy right off the bat, he said I would have lost him.

Right.

Interesting. But I give him that, you know, that Buffalo Trace or that Woodford or that standard, you know, bourbon first. And then I introduced him to this. He said, get some every time.

Nice.

Get some every time.

So you have something here called the Cake of the Month Club.

That's correct.

What is the Cake of the Month Club?

Cake of the Month Club is our praline division. When I say praline division, that is different than the frosted cake division. We do birthday cakes, wedding cakes, then we have our praline cakes. All of the praline cakes are a shippable product. They are in a beautiful gift box. So they are shipped out and then someone has the joy of opening it and consuming it.

so praline if i'm not mistaken means pecan pecan that kind of thing there

It's nuts. I think New Orleans is synonymous with pecans.

In South Georgia, it's synonymous with pecans. Correct.

We like to use walnuts. We have definitely used pecans, but we like walnuts in our product. That's what we historically use. We actually make the praline here. We use lots of real butter and real heavy whipping cream. in the process of making it. And that all goes in the pan and this amazing cake is baked. And then after that process is when we inebriate the cakes. And so depending on what it is, We have wonderful inebriators in this building that like to do that. We have developed the Cake of the Month Club because the cakes during holidays and at Derby became so important. They wanted something bigger that they could give as a gift, not just one cake. What do you have that would keep giving all year round? And so I developed the Cake of the Month Club. And we have a lot of clients that during the holidays or for a birthday or Mother's Day might give a subscription for a whole year of cakes that show up on mom's doorstep every single month, the same day every month. And it's something different.

Yeah, that's 12 months. Correct. So that means it's 12 different cakes, right?

That's right. That's right.

So name some of them. What are we looking at here?

Oh my goodness. It's so endless. We have Kyle's famous carrot cake that is a Praline carrot cake. That's correct. We have a chocolate Andy's mint cake. We have a cake that has pineapple and coconut baked into it. The actual name that I gave it has escaped me.

These are not all spirit infused cakes.

Every one of them are. We really like a rum or even kind of a flavored rum on that. We've also used vodka on it, but rum's kind of our favorite. It kind of comes off as a pina colada kind of thing. They're all in beautiful gift boxes, and our clients can purchase 12-month, 6-month, 3-month packages. Oh, so it doesn't have to be 12-month. It does not have to be. So they can design what they want. They can also tell us what months they want the cakes to be awarded to their loved ones. So we try to customize it to suit them.

Wow, that's great. Well, sign me up, I think. Hey.

We had talked earlier about some of our clients and some of the people that have found us. And one thing that I'm very proud of during my career is that the Food Network found us. Oh, yeah. Really? And they did. During that process, it was a real education for me. I learned during that process because I had so many people across the country that called me and said, how did you manage that? What did you do to get on the Food Network? We've been trying for 10 years. I didn't know you had to do that. They called me one day and said, hey, it was Jamie and Bobby Dean, Paula Dean's sons. And their job was to find little hidden jewels in the food industry across the country. And somehow they found us and were very impressed with our product. and visited us, and we actually were used to open their entire show.

Wow. And do you remember the episode name and number for anybody that might want to try and look that up?

I don't, but I could certainly provide that.

Well, if you remember it or you're able to find it, let us know. We'll post it to show notes. Fantastic. So Mert's Cakes, Paula Deen, or what would it be? Her son's show.

It was her son's show. Road Tasted was the name of the show. I don't believe it airs anymore, but I was proud of it at the moment. Sure, absolutely. Nice.

Well, she just got through with the show or doing some things with... some of my peeps down there in South Georgia, former president Jimmy Carter and some of that entourage and his nieces and some of that stuff there. And yeah, I just remember seeing the Facebook post. So yeah, she's been doing well. And then her sons, I guess, broke off and at least the one is doing what I forget his name.

Nice guys.

Such nice guys.

I'll tell you what, I keep coming back to this this pour of angels envy and it's drawing me. It's drawing me and I'm trying to pay attention here. I'm doing a good job.

Notice how it smells. It smells like caramel to me.

Well, see, and that's what I pick up a lot of times when I go in a kitchen. vanilla. You pick up some of those spices and the things that the little ingredients, not the big stuff, the little stuff that makes it. That's what I pick up sometimes when I go to kitchens. And that's what I love about this place because you can come in here at any time. And you never know when there's a cake and something's happening. You go, wow.

So how much of this bottle do you need for your project?

It's mine.

Oh, it's yours.

OK.

I was going to say, how much do we have to leave in the bottle? Well, I think we should have another pour when we're tearing down.

You absolutely may. I will share. It is interesting around here, though, because it is more studio than it is a kitchen, per se. Yeah.

We're here in the consulting room. So I guess you would bring the client in here and consult. Absolutely. I just walked out there just like right off the bat where the magic happens. You know me, you got to get down right down to the heart of it.

Most men do. They walk in the door. They come right back to where we're working. But what's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that. It's just women are different. They'll stop at the door where men, they come in and they're very straightforward. I like that. I don't care.

That's a nice way of saying we're rogues, Jim. Rogues. Ruffians. Rude. Anyway, so if I wanted to get in touch with you, now I live around here so it was no problem for me to call and come in, but others who may say, hey, I kind of like the idea of the Louis Derby cake or maybe I could even talk to them about a custom cake. or something like that there. How do they get in touch with you here at Mertz Cakes named for your grandmother?

It's so easy. It's so easy. If you prefer emailing, you can do that at Virginia at MertzCakes.com.

And Mertz is spelled?

M-E-R-T-S. And of course, they can always telephone us. I'm really great on the phone. And that's 502-244-6200.

Okay. Well, we'll make sure we include those. Now, do you have social media accounts as well?

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

We absolutely do. So they can always communicate with us that way. Correct.

So it's M-E-R-T-S cakes. So they'll go onto Facebook and type that in and up will come your page and from there.

That's right. All right. And when it calls for a teaspoon, make sure that it's a quarter of a cup.

I think that's a really good philosophy.

I'm serious. Most of the ones out there are not inebriated by the inebriated, shall we say.

I love that word.

There you go.

I've had such a good time here today. This has been a blast. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Yeah, thanks for letting us in here. I know you've got things to do. I think what she said, Jim, was she had 2,400 servings of cake that she had to get done this week. We do.

And we're excited about every one of them.

Wow. So we don't want to keep you any longer, but we sure appreciate you being on the show today. Thank you. I've enjoyed this so much. We had a good time. Thank you.

We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.