Mustang Sally’s Offers One of a Kind Creations with her Cake Business

Jody Whitehead-Conser started a cake business called Mustang Sally’s after her husband died six years ago and her daughter was planning her wedding. She started the all-organic baking business because she has always loved cooking and art and it seemed like a good way to make some extra money at the time. She started baking birthday cakes for friends and posting them on Facebook before expanding to creating cupcakes for other people. Since then, the business has grown into a busy and passionate enterprise. Each cake is a work of art that can take up to 17 hours to create, as each cake is hand-painted. Jody wants her cakes to be an experience for the eyes and the palate, “I want people to say, ‘Wow’,” she said.

She enjoys creating an experience for people. One customer told her, “Just so you know I don’t like cake, but I had one of your vanilla bean cupcakes and it was the best thing I have ever eaten.” “That was rewarding for me. It’s good to know that people enjoy my work.” she said. Jody says the difference is in the ingredients she uses. She only uses high-end ingredients and will even ship ingredients in from overseas for her creations.

While she does have a Facebook page, most of her business is through word of mouth, and a lot of her cakes are for return clients. She has had orders that ranged from six cupcakes up to 1,000. Each cake that Jody does is a one-of-a-kind creation. When she does weddings, she interviews the bride to see if they are a good fit for each other. She will take some information from the bride, and then create something unique for the special day.  She also does a lot of donations. One time she made 1,000 cupcakes for a donation. She donates to her church, the community soup bowl, and others. Right now she doesn’t have a limit on how many orders she will take, and she will provide the same level of detail to each order.

Jody taught herself how to bake and decorate cakes. In school, she flunked home economics because she changed colors and directions from what the teacher wanted her to do, but Jody was just experimenting with her passion for art and design and has continued to do so ever since.

Baking and cake decorating are only some of Jody’s talents. “There’s nothing I can’t do if I learn how to do it. It’s a matter of figuring it out.” Jody Whitehead-Conser casually mentioned while listing her many ventures. It’s not often you find somebody who is an artist, baker, singer, and interior designer around working and family life.  “You should never limit yourself. If you want to do something, learn how to do it. Everything is achievable.” she said.

Jody is an artist whose art you can find in local galleries (when it’s not sold out). She does acrylics. She paints her dreams to create aboriginal modern art. Her big passion is Dremel skull art, because of this she frequently receives skulls as gifts. She uses a Dremel machine and carve into the bone and then stains or paints the piece. “It’s modern and wild looking art.” she said.

Jody sees her cakes as art. Jody enjoys creating good flavors. Some of her flavors have become popular among her customers. Her top three include: death by chocolate, a trifecta chocolate cake with European chocolate ganache, and chocolate ganache frosting with fruit;  vanilla bean cake with french pastry crème filling and vanilla bean buttercream frosting, which she also uses to fill cupcakes; and chocolate peanut butter cake which is a trifecta chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. She sells her peanut butter frosting to clients by the jar.

She also has some other flavors for customers who want something a little different. Her pistachio cake is very popular. Some of her other flavors include orange creamsicle, Strawberry crème, salted caramel and cheesecakes. Jody enjoys coming up with different flavors and will take recommendations from customers. Jody also adds molded chocolate and her homemade fondant.

Jody makes muffins for customers looking for something healthier. She uses all organic and ingredients and can make a low-carb option. She can make healthier cakes upon request as well. One birthday cake was sugar-free, gluten free and low carb. “Nobody could tell the difference.” she said.

The name Mustang Sally came from an old nickname Jody had when she lived in Nevada where she was known for having a good shot. As her business took off, she designed a logo with a 60’s retro punk theme.