If you’re looking for cakes that will give you a sugar high, even make you feel a little tipsy, then head to the Drunk Baker on its Facebook and Instagram pages. A brainchild of Joey Silvestre, whose regular day job has her working in Corporate Affairs and Communication at one of our prestigious banking institutions, these cakes of Joey are laced with liquor and spirits and will literally be your ‘spirit in the pie’ (or cake).
With a background in baking, Joey gave birth to the Drunk Baker during the first year of the pandemic. It was a recurring phenom back then to read about budding entrepreneurs who turned their passion into a home-based business. In the case of Joey, she made baking her COVID therapy, would send her products to close friends, and unanimously, they encouraged her to turn it into an online enterprise—her signature olive oil cakes and whiskey brownies were that good.
Two years on, she launched Drunk Baker on June 12, 2020. While her banking job has her constantly busy, she’s managed to keep one eye on Drunk Baker, and it’s still very popular. She’s experimented with her cakes, adding flavors and variants, and it’s now an exciting list of olive oil cakes that should satisfy the whims and predilections of most dessert lovers. The olive oil is her healthier substitute for butter.
The signature lemon olive oil cake is still the Drunk Baker’s hero product, but I like how she’s created permutations. The rum-laced cream cheese topping is a winner, and I especially loved the one where it’s topped with berries—strawberries and blackberries in the one I had.
There’s the chocolate olive oil cake and it’s dark and rich, with options to add a dark chocolate ganache, or to put fruit toppings as well. The Kahlua olive oil cake hits you with just the aroma alone. Think of a very rich, moist mocha cake, infused with Kahlua liqueur.
The one that Issa and I devoured over two sittings was her carrot olive oil cake, with rum cream cheese frosting. Here, the alcohol element remains subtle, enhancing the frosting without overpowering the carrot cake aspect of the cake.
It’s nice to see Joey being successful with this business of hers. And you really should check out @The.Drunk.Baker, to appreciate the range of products she now offers. There’s also a coffee-chia, and a mango cake, that I’m curious to try.