FROSTED by Danielle Plummer is the registered name of a one-year-old venture operated by sole proprietor Danielle Plummer from home base in the parish of Manchester.

The trained nutritionist and experienced quality analyst discovered a her new calling following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frosted offers customised cakes for just about every occasion: birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, showers, and more.

It all came to pass after her family’s love of her cheesecake evolved into a business idea. Under pandemic conditions, the young women got the opportunity to spend more time at home and got immersed in her baking.

Plummer told the Jamaica Observer, “I can’t say that ‘starting a business’ was at the forefront of my mind.” Starting with a cheesecake for her husband’s birthday during COVID-19, the idea of operating commercially was slow in coming.

A commercial operation was not the initial plan. “I just knew I had rediscovered an interest I have loved ever since.”

Plummer loved making desserts and would share pictures on social media. She says she was surprised when requests started coming in.

The part-time baker started to consider her hobby as a new occupation from which she could make a living. In April 2021, she took the plunge, moving on to register her business and starting commercial operationsd. Since then she has not looked back.

Plummer said, “My main motivation is that I can make a living doing something I love; I never saw myself being stuck in a job I didn’t love for the rest of my life.” Currently, she is the sole employee for Frosted by Danielle Plummer.

She feels that her training as a nutritionist and previous work as a quality analyst has provided a competitive advantage.

Plummer comments, “I understand the importance of remaining consistent in the taste and quality of my products. Similar to most chain restaurants, the taste remains the very same with every purchase, unless of course there is deviation from that standard recipe.”

She states, “Here at Frosted, my clients aren’t merely exchanging their cash for a piece of cake, but also an uncommon customer service experience.”

Products are marketed through social media and from feedback, character cakes (usually involving the use of fondant) is the most in-demand dessert.

Fondant is a sugar paste (with the consistency of play dough) that’s often used to cover iced cakes. Plummer explains, “It gives a ‘polished’ look everyone loves! It can be moulded into just about any and every shape or figure.”

The baker has become an expert at cake decoration. She said, “Fondant isn’t the easiest thing to work with; in fact a lot of bakers tend to shy away from it. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but with practice I started to see improvement.”

Frosted’s icebox cake as well as cheesecake and chocolate cake with ganache are also crowd pleasers, the owner states. She says her formulas are “designed to hit all the right spots.”

Frosted’s target market are people living in Manchester and surrounding parishes. Plummer shares, “I find that my audience spans between ages 24 and 55, with 99 per cent being females.”

Plummer shared, “One of my biggest challenges with starting up (and still is somewhat of a struggle) was product costing. It’s the task I enjoy the least, but perhaps is one of the most important. [It is] time-consuming but necessary.”

Sourcing capital was also a challenge; Plummer used her own resources. She disclosed, “My main source of funding came from the salary earned from my then day job.”

The company has just ended its first financial year. The entrepreneur said, “Frosted would be classified as a micro-enterprise based on cash inflow. Over the 12 months we’ve had a steady increase in sales of approximately 35 per cent.”

She feels that Frosted is still in its launch stage, so the focus is on marketing the company to the people of Manchester and surrounding parishes.

The entrepreneur estimates that the company has less than two per cent of the market with much room to grow. She posts new creations on Instagram: @frostedbydanielleplummer.