Meet Ashea Myers | Owner of Straight Up Cake

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashea Myers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashea, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I’ve always been passionate about baking. As a child, I would cook with my mom at family gatherings in the kitchen in both Chicago and Alabama. I was raised on Southern baking. As an adult, TV shows like Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars, inspired me to continue baking. When the world locked down during COVID, I decided to make my dream a reality. Straight Up Cake was born from my desire to share my creativity with the world. The name signifies my passion for creating delicious cakes and delectables for my customers. I’ve always been interested in different dessert flavors. Unique European bakeries have furthered my desire to be creative and to use different techniques and flavors. I have a few southern baking books as well and use them to brainstorm. I want to feed everyone one cake slice at a time and show them the beauty of Straight Up Cake.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I make everything from scratch even; make my own extracts. It is just something about a homemade cake and frosting that makes me blow a “chef’s kiss.“ I make a really good chocolate cake. During COVID, I decided to make my own double fold bourbon vanilla. I spent so much time on the computer researching what beans and bourbon to use, calculating costs, etc! I invested a few thousand dollars of my savings and bought laboratory grade brown bottles for extracting, brown bottles and caps for filling, and labels for the bottles. It was definitely stressful to take on this project. I didn’t know how or who should want to buy my product but also wanted to be different and not just buy store brand for my baking which has so many additives nowadays! I started with a few gallons at first. Now I regularly sell these bottles at various pop up markets along with my baked goods and proudly tell my customers that I make everything with that vanilla!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
San Diego has so many fun things to do and a variety of places to eat. I would take them to Coronado to admire the drive over the bridge, the Hotel Del, go to the beach there, and also take in the scenic drives in La Jolla and Del Mar. If we had enough time, we’d drive into Mexico for lobster! Oh can’t forget Balboa Park, the zoo and check out some museums! My favorite places to dine are: Cowboy Star for the delicious steaks and fine dining, Tacos el Gordo, The Friendly, Bronx Pizza, Mutual Friend for ice cream.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mentor is my good friend Omar. He taught me how to be more confident in the kitchen and advised me on how to start my business. He gave me advice, listed chefs whom I should study for inspiration. He also gifted me many cooking books for more dessert recipes. We worked in the kitchen numerous times where he taught me different techniques. Omar has seen me grow so much since the beginning and has been one of my biggest supporters and helped me push the button to start Straight Up Cake. Also, I would like to also thank my best friend and sister Vanessa. She was there for my very first pop-up, and served as my photographer and cheerleader.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/straightupcake_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatstraightupcake

Other: eatstraightupcake@gmail.com