Donna's Cakes Makes Custom Braille Cakes

Donna's Cakes owners Donna Grandy and Jody Bissonnette have been making cakes with raised Braille since Grandy started experimenting with chocolate and fondant eight years ago. It wasn't until last week that the greater public caught a glimpse at their technique.

In a Facebook post, the non-profit braille publisher National Braille Press promoted the festive cake, and has over a hundred likes and almost a hundred shares. People are tagging their friends with children who are blind and have never seen a birthday or holiday cake.

Grandy remembers the first time she realized that some customers couldn't fully experience their cakes. "Someone came in whose grandson was blind. Every time we made a cake, we would put a little toy on it so he could feel a part of it." They began going to a now-closed recreation center with programs for the blind down the street, where Grandy began asking if there could be a way to make a readable cake. She began working with royal icing, fondant, and chocolate until coming up with the best mixture. Managers at the center gave her a braille alphabet to work with, and she learned how to distinguish the different characters to improve the cake calligraphy.

She told Patch, "The final version, we use chocolate, melt it into a mold, and I make little marks on it, then add chocolate as little braille dots." In this way, people can read the letters instead of digging into the cake itself, and the top portion can be removed for eating, and the cake beneath cut into. Bissonnette began talking to The Carroll Center for the Blind, where administrators recommended she reach out to the National Braille Press to let them know about her cakes. She sent over a cake sample.

Brian Macdonald, the President of the National Braille Press (NBP) , told Patch, "We love promoting braille at NBP so we were excited to showcase Donna's braille cakes on our social media pages. Braille is literacy for blind individuals. Having tactile braille on your cake makes it even more special."

A recently created braille cake

Donna's Cakes has been receiving several calls since the post. "We've had probably around 12 calls. There's a man in California who wants a cake, but we're thinking that shipping the chocolate disc might be the best option." Donna's Cakes is on Facebook, and can be reached at (617) 327-5916.

Image: Donna's Cakes