Local 'Cake Boss' Passionate about 'Creations'

Adrianna Martinez may be a Spanish teacher by profession, but her free time is spent in her Plainfield kitchen pursuing her second passion: baking and decorating edible creations.

Martinez is the woman behind Adrianna Creations. While she's been making cakes for family and friends since the age of 15, she went professional just his year by launching an online business.

There's no limit to what she can do, from small cakes for just two up to massive undertakings that can feed as many as 55. The creativity comes with the decorations and fillings, and she can be as detailed or as simple as a customer desires.

Of all the cakes the Minooka Community High School teacher has done, the cheesecake torte remains the most popular, Martinez said. A layer of cheesecake is added to the middle two layers of cake and filling. The best combination is white cake, cheesecake and chocolate cake, with raspberry filling between each layer, she said.

“It’s my favorite,” Martinez said.

Candace Baker, a Minooka High social studies teacher, said she never understood the phrase, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” until she had an Adrianna Creations cake.

“Her cakes are so beautiful and unique you will want to keep it forever,” Baker said. “ But it would be a huge mistake because they taste even better than they look.” 

Lauren Sandeno, echoed Baker’s comments.

“Adrianna is a wonderful artist,” Sandeno said. “As an art teacher, I know she has skill, creativity and wonderful technique.”

A simple beginning

It all started when she took a cake decorating class when she was 15. A year later, that training landed her a job at a local Baskin-Robbins ice cream store as a cake decorator. For five years she worked at a Naperville bakery, which specialized in wedding and tiered cakes. 

During her time at the bakery, Martinez had her first opportunity to work with butter cream and rolled fondant, two techniques she uses in decorating cakes today.

“Many bakers get compliments that their cake looks good, but it doesn’t taste good,” Martinez said. “ I fortunately get both. Not a lot of bakers can say that. I really like making people happy.”

To that end, she is happy to cater a cake to a customers' vision.

“I like it when I get a theme,” Martinez said. “It leaves open the several opportunities that I can do with a cake.”

Popular themes include princesses and sports logos. A basic 8-inch cake starts at $28, and goes up from there depending upon decorations, layers, fillings and so on.

“I have purchased three cakes from Adrianna and every time they are a hit,” said Jenna Ponio, head varsity cheerleading coach at Minooka High. "The cake becomes the main topic of conversation at every party that I have hosted with one of her cakes.”

Martinez’s custom cakes are featured on her Web site, www.adriannacreations.com, where you can also find information on ordering cakes.