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Can you imagine having the distinguished opportunity of making Patti LaBelle’s 80th birthday cake? Or creating a sugar-free dream cake for talk show host Sherri Shepherd? Well, these are exactly the opportunities that self-taught baker Ashley Huston, owner of DreamWorld Bakes has had within the last year.
Huston was born in Arizona but moved with her family to her parent’s hometown in Pennsylvania when she was a small child. From an early age, she was always eager to learn about what was cooking in the kitchen. Huston recalls, “I kind of always was in the kitchen since I was a kid. My mom always jokes that I was her only non-picky eater kid. When we would go out to eat, I wanted to go everywhere, I wanted to try everything.”
She became more inquisitive and drawn to all the happenings of the kitchen as she grew. Both of her parents were good cooks at home, and she would always ask them questions about what they were preparing.
Her grandmother was very influential too. Huston spent time with her trying to discover new things. “I remember being a kid and one of my strongest memories is trying to reinvent peanut butter and jelly with my grandma. So, she spent a lot of time in the kitchen as well and taught me some things when I was younger.”
Discovering and Reinventing Food
The desire to cook professionally began to simmer in her as a youth, however, her family’s values taught her that cooking was only something to be done as a life skill and not as a career. Nevertheless, cooking stayed on her mind, and she was certain that it would be something she would pursue as an adult, she was simply unsure about whether to go into culinary or pastry and sweets.
However, growing up, Huston had a sweet tooth, finding comfort in the snacks that dwelled in her home and wanted to learn how to create them. This urge caused her to start baking cakes while in high school for her friends’ birthdays. From there she kept practicing and in time their friends and family wanted cakes also, so baking cakes turned into a side hustle.
After high school, Huston attended Temple University in Philadelphia, graduating in 2013 with a degree in finance but soon discovered that it was not something she desired to do. Feeling conflicted about her next move, she recalled a discussion while in college about the Peace Corps and the benefits of travel that come along with volunteering.
A short time later, she entered the Peace Corps and was placed into the education sector. This took her on a journey to Tanzania where she taught math and English to high school students.
“I did some research, and I found out the Serengeti was there and other cool places and sites,” she says. Being in another country and so far from home gave her time to grow as a person and it allowed her to discover autonomy. The experience was so enriching that she hopes to go back at some point in the future.
Huston stayed in Tanzania for two years and traveled a little while afterward with the urge to cook still in her heart. “I knew I wanted to cook. Like, that is the only thing I wanted to do in this world. So, I moved back to Philly, and I’ve been here since 2016.”
From the Peace Corp to DreamWorld Bakes Cakes
While home in Philadelphia, Huston continued to learn, grow in knowledge, and bake on the side. She shares, “Before DreamWorld Bakes was even DreamWorld Bakes, baking as a side hustle was a great way for me to learn and experiment. I would go on YouTube and learn how to do different techniques and different types of cakes, and from there, it was other different types of pastries.”
She became even more consumed and wanted to know things like, why some brownies have a shiny crackly crust and others do not. Or how do you make the perfect chocolate chip cookie? What she discovered was that it all comes down to science, measurements, ingredients and rations.
In time, she came up with the name DreamWorld Bakes because her ultimate goal is to make the cake of her customers’ dreams, and with passion, her bakery was officially established during the pandemic.
From there, her notoriety grew allowing her the chance to bake for LaBelle and Shepherd in 2024, which also gave her visibility and helped clear the pathway to officially opening a brick-and-mortar bakery on January 2 of this year.
At DreamWorld Bakes, custom cakes are their specialty, and they create all kinds of wonderful and tasty goods including wedding cakes, birthday cakes, cakes for baby showers, and other events.
They also offer daily delightful bites for breakfast and lunch with the priority on making desserts that both taste and look good with original robust ingredients. To date, Baby Spice is their most popular cake.
“It was my first wedding cake, and it came from my former neighbor. I did a tasting for her and her fiancé. They wanted something spicy and citrus with a little floral, and I wanted to play with tonka bean for a while and I love cardamom. That goes back to Tanzania. I ate a lot of cardamoms,” Hutson explains.
“I think it is one of the best and underutilized spices in the world, so I added that along with passion fruit.” Huston placed all the flavors together along with mango chai mousse and Italian meringue buttercream and not only did her neighbor love it but so does the Philadelphia community.
Other popular cakes include The Green Machine, which is inspired by the Philadelphia Eagles and includes pandan and black sesame along with toasted coconut, and Adulting, a cake compiled with malt milk Funfetti cake, toasted milk custard, Funfetti crumbles and vanilla.
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Creating Community Through Cakes
“At the end of the day, I want my place to be a space where people can come and gather and create memories,” Huston says. DreamWorld Bakes’s bakery design is warm, inviting and calm. The smell is inviting and this hub has a nice family feeling to it.
In the long term, Huston has the goal of growing stronger and making sure that DreamWorld Bakes becomes a nationally recognized brand. “I want people to be able to come into Philly and say, ‘We can’t leave without trying DreamWorld Bakes.'”
Look for DreamWorld Bakes online and watch Huston on “Sherri” where she brings a sugar-free version of the Baby Spice cake and other goodies, and Shepherd gives her a vacation courtesy of Wyndham Hotels.
DreamWorld Bakes is located 2400 Coral Street and is open Thursday – Sunday, so when you are in Philadelphia, be sure to swing by and try these amazing cakes. Follow Ashley and DreamWorld Bakes on Instagram for what’s baking weekly.
