WASHINGTON — A Springfield, Virginia pastry chef is a step closer to opening a commercial bakery in Lorton now that she’s raised more than $10,000 through a Kickstarter campaign.
“I feel wonderful. It’s all moving fabulously,” says Tanya Logan, who turned to Kickstarter as a way to raise funds for a double convection oven, a still oven, a standing freezer and a mixer.
Soul Cakes by Tanya, Logan’s business, is a single-person operation. Logan currently bakes her pastries, decorated cakes, specialty cakes, fondant cakes, cookies and cupcakes in her home kitchen and then sells them at farmers markets and online. She also takes orders for special events, such as weddings and birthdays.
She set a crowdfunding goal of $10,000 and had an April 29 deadline to raise the cash – or get none of it.
With three days to the deadline, she was just $500 from her goal.
“I got the notification that someone had pledged – and then they had changed their pledge to $500 – so it knocked it straight up to $10,000,” she says.
On Kickstarter, she raised $10,445 from 122 backers, with four people donating $500 or more. Those backers will have a pastry item named in their honor. Logan will fund the rest of the bakery operation through bank loans and savings.
Logan’s original plan was for the commercial bakery in the Newington Business Park to be just a production facility, but the location at 8534A Terminal Road used to be a deli, so there is room for seating.
“We just got the architectural drawings of how we are going to lay out the space,” Logan says.
“We will have at least three tables for casual seating. We will have a display case so people can come in and purchase on the spot as well.”
Look for the bakery to open later this spring.
Soul Cakes by Tanya also has expanded to three farmers markets this year:
Reston Farmers Market
From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays:
12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.
Fairfax County Government Center Farmers Market
From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays, starting May 1:
12000 Government Center Parkway
Springfield Mall Farmers Market
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, starting May 20:
6417 Loisdale Rd.
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