Amy Stack, the owner of Pink Canary Desserts in Long Island City, can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t baking.
“I’ve been baking since I was a little kid because dad and grandmother and dad were big on baking,” she said. “We never had Oreos. They made homemade cookies. I don’t remember not baking or not having that smell in that house.”
Though her background is in art administration and art therapy, a few years ago she took a sabbatical and worked with her sister who has 15 years of experience in baking and cake decorating. The experience was enough to make her switch careers.
Pink Canary Desserts, located at 13-11 Jackson Ave., started as a cupcake shop before Stack officially took over and turned it into a custom cake shop. She, along with two other employees, make about 20 cakes a week.
Stack makes everything in house and from scratch, which is not common for cake shops. Customers bring her photos for inspiration and Stack works on making their visions a reality.
“It becomes more personal for people to come in and smell stuff baking,” she said. “They get to come in and sample stuff or be a part of the start to finish process.”
Stack works on a range of products from birthday cakes to sweets for MoMA PS1’s fundraising events. Since her background is in fine arts, she enjoys creating sculptures and working on other intricate projects.
“I like a good challenge,” she said.
One of the more interesting cake’s she has worked on include replicating a model of an eye for an optometrist.
In addition to custom cakes, Pink Canary also serves cookies, pies, bars and can make custom dessert tables for all events. The shop also has a cafe where customers can pick up coffee or tea. Customers can also rent out the space for special events.
Stack said she enjoys being located along Jackson Avenue and that the area has grown to include more dessert and ice cream shops.
“Jackson Avenue is changing in the last three years and it’s going to change even more with all these residential [buildings] going in so it’s nice to be a part of a community,” she said.
