When you experience our cakes and desserts, it’s more than just the taste - it’s an engagement of all your senses.

The flavors unfold on your palate, the textures provide a sense of extreme delight, and the visual presentation stirs your emotions together capturing your uniqueness and essence of your story.

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Meet
Alicia Hemphill-Permenter

Founder, Baker and Cake Artist at Sweet Elevations Cakes and More

Alicia was born and raised in Prince Georges County, Maryland.  She’s the third oldest of four girls, and mom to her amazing son.  Alicia enjoys various crafts, design, crocheting, traveling, the beach, relaxing, movies, good food, baking…… and there’s a lot more.  She always knew that she wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.  Went to college.  Developed more of a love for cooking and baking, and the science and design of it all.  Went to graduate school.  Began baking small cakes for friends and family.  Went back to school to receive my Admin 1 certificate.  Taught for about 14+ years.  Now I’m the “Cake Lady”.

How did you go from being an educator to baking cakes?

Growing up, we always had a cake or dessert of some kind at various celebrations.  It wasn’t only just about the way that it looked, but the taste was also important.  Our family would order cakes from one baker by the name of Ms. Tobias who baked amazing cakes with the perfect design, moist cake texture, and just the right amount of frosting.  As a child, it was hard to keep from going back multiple times to the cake box to get a slice or two, knowing that I wasn’t supposed to. We eventually lost touch with her and were never able to find another cake baker that created cakes close to the way Ms. Tobias made her cakes. 

My mother and I are huge cake and dessert connoisseurs.  We’re always thinking of the perfect cake or dessert to take to family functions or have after holiday meals.  Sometimes, we just want to buy the cake or desserts because we just don’t feel like making it, but after realizing that we haven’t had much success in the past finding the perfect baker in our community, the only option is to then bake the cake or dessert ourselves. 

In 2018, I discussed with my mother the idea to sell a few cakes during the Christmas season.  I wanted to provide the community with delicious dessert options to share with their friends and family for the holiday season.  Of course, I did my best to create a cake that looked pleasing to the eye, but it was also about the experience I wanted them to have after each bite.  After watching my mother bake a few pound cakes and cookies growing up, I figured I had enough skills to make this happen for the holiday.  

My mother and I planned out all of the details for the sale and sold all of the desserts within minutes.  With inspiration from my mother and motivation from various family members, friends and colleagues, I decided to follow my passion for baking and Sweet Elevations Cakes and More was created.  I gained an assistant (my Mom) at the same time, too! There was no room to stop because the orders were flying in.

When the CDC alerted the nation about the COVID outbreak in 2020, the school systems were sent home.  The time at home gave me the opportunity to think about where I was in life, my current career, the talent and skills I had to offer to the world, the success of my part-time business, where I wanted to see myself in the next few years, and my next steps.  After praying on it, I made the decision to resign from my full-time job and walk away from my career in education.

Are there any regrets?

At times, I do miss the friendships that I built with my colleagues and the many relationships that I have built with my former students and their families, but I have social media to thank for helping me to stay in contact with most of them.  Some of my former colleagues and students’ families have supported Sweet Elevations and have purchased items for themselves or family events multiple times which has given me the opportunity to see and catch up with them from time to time.  

But any regrets? None at all.  I believe that there are phases in our lives.  I completed one of my phases (very grateful for the experiences that came along with that phase) and now enjoying every single moment of the phase I am currently in with Sweet Elevations.  There is nothing like the joy you feel when a person picks up their cake or dessert order, sees it for the first time and either screams with happiness and excitement, or has the biggest smile on their face.  After all is said and done, the texts, emails and social media posts about their experience and how delicious their cake or dessert was, confirms that I’m doing the right thing.  To be part of memories – graduations, engagement parties, weddings, baby showers, 1st birthdays, Sweet 16’s, birthday celebrations every year, celebration of new businesses, celebrating life – there is no feeling like it.  To be able to be part of their memories AND provide them with a cake or dessert that not only looks amazing, but tastes amazing, too, is a gift.  

I’ve been hundreds of people’s “Ms. Tobias” since 2019 and I hope to continue to share this gift with the community for years to come.

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Over the last several years, Alicia has had the opportunity to create wedding cakes, custom cakes, and desserts for local celebrities, event planners, church and school communities across the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area.

Alicia’s most recent experience was the opportunity to enhance her cake decorating skills by taking part in a week-long course – The Wedding Intensive – taught by the internationally acclaimed cake designer and sugar flower artist Maggie Austin.

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