Daniel Island baker whips up a sweet second act
When Louise Chauncey found herself with more free time, she headed for the kitchen.
Soon, she was baking cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets for birthdays, weddings, and celebrations around Daniel Island, turning her hobby into a small business.
Originally from Boston, Chauncey spent 30 years working in investment management. After her oldest daughter went to college, she and her family moved to Charleston. While she continued working part-time, she found herself turning to baking.
Chauncey had heard echoes from people encouraging her to pursue baking more seriously, but she wasn’t quite convinced. She even applied to and was accepted by the Charleston School of Law before ultimately taking a part-time role at Sugar Bakeshop downtown instead.
Pretty quickly, baking began to take on a life of its own.
She started fostering her own home-based baking business on Daniel Island, beginning with a New England classic: apple cider donuts.
“I've been doing it for about three or four years now, and almost all of my business is here on Daniel Island. It just kind of blossomed from there,” Chauncey said.
While most of her business comes from hungry Daniel Island residents, Chauncey also receives calls from people across the country looking to send something sweet to a loved one on the island. She has also partnered with Blume Designs on Daniel Island to offer cupcakes alongside flower deliveries.
As much as Chauncey likes making something delicious, baking also gives her a chance to be part of people’s milestones and learn the stories behind their celebrations.
“Everyone comes in here, and they love to tell me the stories behind their bakery needs,” Chauncey said. “I do a lot of things like gender reveals, which are really fun because now that I've been in business for a couple years. I'll do a gender reveal, and then they come back and want to do a smash cake for the baby's first birthday.”
Those returning customers are one of the parts of the business Chauncey especially enjoys. What begins as one celebration can turn into many more as families return for birthdays and other milestones.
One particularly memorable order was for a woman’s 103rd birthday. The occasion was made even more meaningful when Chauncey received a photo of the birthday woman enjoying the treats.
“People don't usually send me pictures – although I wish they would, because I don't get to see everything that happens afterwards – but they did. They ordered from out of state and sent me a picture of the woman in her wheelchair with her mini cupcakes,” Chauncey said.
Chauncey says baking wasn’t always such a major part of her life. She has fond memories of making cakes for her children and, of course, the iconic apple cider donuts, but she didn’t have the time for baking to grow into something more.
Now, she enjoys having the freedom to get creative with her orders. Along with her apple cider donuts, Chauncey said she has a great buttercream and makes an amazing chocolate cake, but some of her favorite projects are the ones where customers give her creative freedom.
A recent example was a Twix-inspired cake.
“I made a cake with all the ingredients of Twix, and I had a caramel layer and broken Twix bars in the middle, with caramel pouring over the top,” she said. “When people let me do something unusual, that's when I really have fun.”
When it comes to her own sweet tooth, Chauncey has a clear favorite: gingerbread. “I love, love, love anything gingerbread.”
Around Christmas, she puts that love to work, creating gingerbread cakes, cookies, and donuts that have become favorites among her customers.
Chauncey accepts orders by text or email, and because her schedule varies, advance orders are always appreciated. If a customer is looking for something sweet on shorter notice, she encourages people to reach out anyway.
“If I can do it on a short-term basis, I always try to. I hate to turn people away.”
To get a glimpse at the edible works of art by Louise Chauncey, visit louisecbakes.com.