Siler City pastry chef Shonda Tuck-Strickland turns her mother’s recipes, a Facebook post and a helping of heart into thriving microbakery Fancy & Frosted Cakery
By Sharon Kinsella | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Baking her mother’s old-fashioned caramel cake takes Shonda Tuck-Strickland right back to her childhood, standing beside her mother in the kitchen. “Some of my earliest and most cherished memories are of being in the kitchen with her, learning by her side and spending time together,” she says. “As I make it, I can almost hear her voice guiding me, telling me when the batter and icing are just right.”
Those early moments sparked a lifelong love for baking that eventually led Shonda to found Fancy & Frosted Cakery, an NCDA-certified microbakery the pastry chef-artist runs from her Siler City home kitchen, recognized in this year’s Best of Chatham poll in the best desserts/pastries category.
But Shonda never expected to become a professional baker. In March 2011, she posted a photo of the cake she’d made for her daughter’s eighth birthday to Facebook. To Shonda’s surprise, someone reached out asking if she baked for the public. “Until that moment, I had never even considered turning my passion into a business,” she says. But she said yes, accepting her first order, and before long, one order became two, then three, and kept growing. In 2021, Shonda certified her home kitchen and began selling commercially, moving beyond selling to friends and family into coffee shop partnerships, vendor events and competitions.
Fancy & Frosted’s menu ranges from classic Southern staples, like her mother’s caramel cake, to elaborate custom and wedding cakes, cupcakes and dessert tables for special events. Weddings hold particular meaning for Shonda, who loves being a small but memorable part of a couples’ celebration. But the throughline across every order is her insistence that beauty and flavor go hand in hand. “I never want a cake to just look good,” Shonda says. “I want it to be something people genuinely enjoy and remember.”
That commitment earned her recognition as the winner of Raleigh’s 2024 Dessert Wars, the largest festival of its kind in the U.S. She then advanced to the national level and placed in the top 15. “That experience was an incredible reminder of how far Fancy & Frosted has come,” she says. “Being recognized alongside so many talented bakers gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment that I never could have imagined when I first started baking.”
When she’s not in the kitchen, Shonda treasures road trips and beach days with her family. Her husband, Donnie Strickland, their adult children, Ariyan Walden and Tyler Walden, and Shonda’s sister, Kim Tyson, owner of the I Am Cookie & Sugar Co. microbakery out of Sanford, have been her biggest supporters from the beginning. She also stays active as a volunteer with Webb Squared and the Siler City Downtown Organization Committee, work she describes as a “love cycle,” giving back to the community that has helped her business grow.
But Shonda wants to whip up more than sweet treats. “I want every bite to remind [people] of simpler times – of spending summer days at Grandma’s house, playing outside until the sun starts to set, then coming inside to enjoy a homemade slice of cake surrounded by the people they love,” she says. “If my desserts can bring someone back to those moments, even for just a little while, then I’ve done exactly what I set out to do.”
“My goal is to continue growing Fancy & Frosted while staying true to the things that got me here – the quality, creativity and personal connection that goes into every dessert I make. I want to … [bring] even more sweetness to the community that has supported me from the beginning.”
“My goal is to continue growing Fancy & Frosted while staying true to the things that got me here – the quality, creativity and personal connection that goes into every dessert I make. I want to … [bring] even more sweetness to the community that has supported me from the beginning.”
Get a Taste
There’s more ahead for Fancy & Frosted, though Shonda is keeping the details under wraps for now. “Keep your eyes open,” she says, “because there are more sweet things coming.”
In the meantime, stop by The Chatham Rabbit in downtown Siler City to enjoy Fancy & Frosted pastries with a cup of coffee, or view Shonda’s custom cake menu at fancyandfrosted.com.
