Among the countless varieties of bakeries located within the vastness of Orange County, only one has the power to brighten the day for the blackest of souls. Located in a semi-industrial shopping center in Los Alamitos, Dark Craft Desserts specializes in heavy metal themed cookies, brownies, cakes and more, all custom baked to order. Among metalheads in Southern California, this it has come to be known as the underground metal bakery.
Dark Craft Desserts creates exquisite cakes, brownies, cookies and other delectable desserts designed with logos and artwork by bands like Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, Venom, Sadistic Intent, Immortal, Emperor, Infernal Majesty and more, including cakes and pies decorated with your favorite underground extreme metal bands, whose logos are so distorted no one can decipher them.
Owner/Executive Pastry Chef/Decorator Amanda Kologie recently allowed the OC weekly to visit the industrial kitchen, where all the magic happens. Dark Craft Desserts has been open in Los Alamitos for just under a year and does not have a storefront, desserts can be ordered online and picked up, or delivered within a 20-mile radius.
Kologie’s background began with studying the culinary arts. “I graduated from culinary school in 2013 in New Mexico, then moved out here and worked a bunch of jobs,” she says. “I worked at Porto’s, The Marriot Hotel, and at Angel’s Stadium as a Pastry Cook.”
Along with her fellow baker and test taster Arthur M., the two began baking metal cookies for fun, a couple years ago. “It started with us doing metal designs on cakes and cookies, and taking them to shows,” she says. “People were excited, we got a few people asking, ordering, and after a while, it took off. This is why we decided to get our business licenses to open up here in Los Alamitos. It took a while, but we have been here now less than a year.”
As Dark Craft Desserts built a website and began using social media to promote their heavy metal logos and artwork on desserts people, including the musicians in the metal scene, began to take notice.
“Social media is very big part of the business,” Kologie says. “I think Instagram has been the best tool for us, it’s just pictures we post, and hashtags help people find our stuff easier.”
She says she is living a dream combining a love for baking and a passion for heavy metal music. “I love metal, I have been listening to it my entire life,” she says. “Arthur and I always play metal when we are here baking, either CDs or a soundtrack.”
The cool thing about Dark Craft Desserts is that you don’t have to be a metalhead to enjoy these baked sweets.
“We make regular traditional desserts, with no designs. We bake cakes, cookies brownies, and more, all available we on our menu on our website.”
Dark Craft Desserts can also cater to any of your baking needs. They do wedding cakes, birthday celebrations, and more. “We do a lot of cakes for little kids birthday parties,” Kologie says. “From Hot Wheels to Moana, to Dragonball Z and Pokémon, we do it all.”
Kologie says that feedback and interest in the bakery are growing. They work closely with and have their desserts available at the heavy metal hamburger joint, Grill Em All, as well as record label Nuclear Blast, among others including music festivals like Psycho Las Vegas and the California Death Fest. Most recently, Dark Craft Desserts created Immortal Brownies for an album release party at Grill Em All, and a Carcass themed cake, designed after the legendary UK death metal group’s 2013 album, Surgical Steel. “We’ll also have an Alice in Chains Cake coming out soon, which is cool.
Kologie says that as of now, most of the business Dark Craft Desserts gets is from heavy metal designed creations, but she doesn’t want this to be limiting, in terms of the bakery’s output.
“We are open to doing any desserts, any genre of music or non-music related. We make traditional baked desserts as well, like pies, cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls and more, and would love to expand.”
Dark Craft Desserts will be appearing at the San Diego Metal Swap Meet on October 28. For more information on Dark Craft Desserts, including how to order, please visit www.darkcraftdesserts.com
Alex Distefano is an established freelance writer and music blogger from the Los Angeles area. With over a dozen years under his belt as a published Journalist, he covers the worlds of heavy metal music, punk rock, current events, cannabis culture, comedy, radio, food, tattoos, the paranormal, and ‘conspiracy theories.’ He graduated from California State University Long Beach in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Journalism and Ancient History. Aside from his professional writing endeavors, Distefano works as an Educator, and delivery/rideshare driver.
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