The Daddy Cakes' story starts with a little bit of a mistake. Bill Fiander was at the auction trying his best to make his wife happy bidding on what he thought were cupcake pans. What they turned out to be were Texas-sized muffin pans. Bill and Allyson thought about it for a while and decided that if they were going to make a store that specialized in cakes and put so much time and care into making each cupcake the best then it should be something special to eat. The jumbo muffin tins soon became known as the daddy sized pans and the regular cupcake as the baby pans. Behold the birth of Daddy Cakes. It's all about bigger and better. The mission at Daddy Cakes is simple…to go where no cake has gone before. Daddy cakes are real, original and fun.

Pastry Chef and co-owner, Allyson Fiander, has over 20 years of culinary experience. She studied pastry and bread baking in France and attended the San Francisco Baking Institute. She has worked in such highly esteemed kitchens as Stars Restaurant in San Francisco, Club Med in Florida, The American Restaurant in Kansas City and worked as an apprentice patisserie for Boulangerie Bidal in Colmars, France.

Prior to Daddy Cakes, which she owns with her husband Bill Fiander, she owned Boulangerie Philippe, a French Bakery/Cafe‚ in Prairie Village, Kansas.

She was honored in The Pitch of Kansas City in 2005 for best dessert in a fine dining restaurant for her version of a Strawberry Shortcake.

Chief Tasting Officer and co-owner, Bill Fiander, brings to Daddy Cakes an eye for detail and extreme enthusiasm for his wife's adventures. Bill is involved in everything from installing new hardwood floors to the details of what he refers to as the "nozzle finish" on the signature daddy cakes swirl. Bill is becoming quite the expert on pastry terms like ganache, meringue and discerning when to use butter cream and when to use rolled fondant on a wedding cake. When he is not in the bakery, Bill is the Deputy Planning Director for the City of Topeka.

Be sure to visit the Recipes page to find Allyson's famous Southern-Style Red Velevet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Crushed Pecans recipe as featured in Kansas Magazine's Spring 2010 edition.