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Owners plan for Valhalla Cakes to open in late April

 

TRYON—Tryon is home to many artists who work in mediums like painting, pottery, and glass. It’s soon to be home to a new artist working in an entirely different medium: cakes. Cake artist Sam Slade is opening a shop in Tryon where she’ll make custom cakes and other baked goods.

“It seems like a really great hub for people all around to be able to get my cakes,” she says. “I just really like the vibe of the whole town.”

Growing up in the Chicago area, where her father owned several bakeries, Slade was exposed to baking. She attended the School of Art Institute of Chicago, studying design, sculpture and illustration. Afterward, Slade started working in bakeries and decided on cakes as her artistic medium. She moved to Denver and opened her own cake shop.

“It was awesome. I was doing cakes for shows at Red Rocks and the Pepsi Center and just a bunch of really cool cakes I got to make while living there,” she says.

After ten years, Slade says she was tired of the Denver scene, and she and her fiancé decided they wanted to live closer to Shelby, his hometown. They moved to Columbus in October of 2022. Slade wanted to open another cake shop and decided to rent a space at 90 Pacolet Street.

“This was a great opportunity for me to have a fresh start, get a full staff and really make it what I’ve always wanted it to be,” says Slade.

Just like the shop she ran in Denver, the Tryon shop will be called “Valhalla Cakes,” inspired by Slade’s love of Norse mythology. The store will sell custom cakes, pre-made to-go cakes, cupcakes, pastries, cookies and coffee. She hopes to open by the end of April.