How 6 layers of cake, 2 pastry chefs and a walk-up window saved Tacoma’s pandemic soul

“Cake guts” splayed all over the counter, laughter in the air.

It’s another halcyon day at Tacoma’s favorite cakery, one kitted with a cake bar and a cake window — you know, everyday amenities — where cake seekers from near and far retrieve a generous slice to carry with them. Perhaps their journey takes them home, or to work, or to a friend’s house: somewhere, anywhere, everywhere in dire need of cake.

Can a slice of cake from a walk-up window in a mid-sized city save us from ourselves? It will cost you $9, but if you can manage, it might, at the very least, save your pandemic soul. It helped save mine.

This experience is humbly and joyfully brought to you by pastry mavens Julia (Catherine) Brown and Terryn Abbitt. Together they are The Cat & Rabbitt Cake Shop, and since November 2020, they have sold tens of thousands of slices in more than 100 flavors.

“We just didn’t know what to expect,” recalled Brown in December, precisely 13 months since the day that proved selling cake from a walk-up window was, as Abbitt promised when she approached her former boss with the idea, a viable way to make a living.

On that otherwise typical PNW Sunday — high of 48, partly sunny with scattered showers — a line formed outside the corner of Sixth Avenue and Pine Street. As the duo prepped the modest kitchen, where they had logged many hours as pastry chefs for X Group Catering, Brown’s husband peeked outside. He turned the corner, sauntered past Engine House No. 9, and returned to alert the new business owners: The line was not only down the block, he reported, but slithering down several.

“We made more cakes in one day than we ever imagined we’d make,” said Brown, who had for many years sold custom cakes on the side while leading the X Group pastry team. She estimated they had whipped enough buttercream and stacked enough layers to last a minimum of six hours.

They sold out in two.

It’s not quite so a year later, but it sure is persistent: The bakers and their tight-knit staff, which includes Abbitt’s sister and new TikTok manager Tori, call it “the centipede line.”

“It constantly regenerates itself,” laughed Brown.

We’ve been talking for maybe 10 minutes in the prep space no larger than a modest home kitchen, lined with a few fridges that are always full, and Abbitt has already stacked and iced six layers of cake — twice.

“And I was trying to be slow!” she said.

‘Tis the season, so today featured chocolate cake — based on Abbitt’s mother-in-law’s dairy-free recipe — with peppermint cream-cheese icing and Cookies & Cream Birthday, speckled with crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos, but not according to Nabisco).

The latter is one of many iterations on the annual celebration theme, ranging from the classic vanilla flavor to fresh strawberry, with homemade white chocolate “funfetti” chips. The growing portfolio has also starred Buttermilk Apple, Candied Yam, Orange Creamsicle, Brown Sugar Cinnamon Brulée, Chocolate Potato Chip Caramel, and Lemon Curd. In the summer, locally sourced fruit beauts included Berry Lime and Fresh Blackberry Coffee Cake-Cake.

On a typical service day, the shop plows through 12 to 15 cakes that each yield a dozen hefty slices, packed into nondescript takeout boxes handed through that magical window. On Thursdays, they add pretzels and on weekends scones and cookies; on Sundays, the line starts early for their max-four-per-order cinnamon rolls, a laborious brioche dough rolled out over six feet before rising in several trays.

They also offer whole custom cakes by pre-order only, but they are limited by space and time.

“Cake needs to rest,” explained Brown. Grab a forkful warm from the oven and you’re bound to notice the metallic taste of baking soda or powder.

“Cake should be eaten at room temperature,” added Abbitt. “Think of it like trying to spread cold butter on your toast.”

These baked 9-inch rounds thus sleep in the fridge. In some cases, they also benefit from a soak in espresso, citrus juices, milk or other flavorful liquid; under cost-cutting measures, commercial bakeries often resort to corn or sugar syrup.

“We’re not about over the top sweetness,” said Brown, referencing, for instance, shaved carrots as the main ingredient in their incredibly moist, nearly savory version of the classic.

The other differentiator: butter, butter and butter.

Arriving at the bakery around 7 a.m., they slice each round, like a log, into three layers, selflessly iced at every stack and deft turn of the Ateco.

The finished product is ravishing yet rustic, and the experience of buying — and eating — a slice, cut to order, is both energizing and, le sigh, easy. We can all empathize with cake.

THE CAT & RABBITT CAKE SHOP

▪ 2811 6th Ave., Tacoma, thecatandrabbitt.com

▪ Winter Hours: Wednesday-Friday 12-4:30 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (or until sell-out)

▪ Details: cake by the slice plus mixed pastries, weekend specials; find daily flavors online by 11 a.m.; follow Instagram for sold-out updates

▪ Online pre-orders: very limited for whole cakes, plus other treats on select holidays

This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 10:00 AM.