Bake September/October 2021 - 20

ingredient-focused pizza joints, and we wanted to open
a Hasiba to pay homage to my (Or's) background and
Israeli cooking.
BAKE: What is your strategy involving instore and
online sales - and marketing?
LODGE BREAD: We don't pre-sell! We've been really
lucky in that word-of-mouth has carried us far. Our
communities in Culver City and Woodland Hills have
CHARCUTERIE CAKE
Creative new products are also a surefire
strategy to achieve greater success.
As consumers plan to resume
larger gatherings of holiday celebrations,
here is a distinctive new idea
from Columbus Craft Meats.
Evan Inada, director of charcuterie
at Columbus Craft Meats, shares this
creative idea - perfect for the holidays
- for a delicious charcuterie cake.
You've seen the same white cake with
colored icing roses at every wedding.
Plain vanilla gets a little redundant,
doesn't it? The celebratory centerpiece
of your next event doesn't have to be
just desserts anymore.
Stand out from
the crowd with
a charcuterie
cake - complete
with Columbus
Craft Meats
Fresh Salami -
that will make
the savory
snack lover
rejoice. The Italian
Dry and Calabrese
pouring out of the cut
cake is not only decorative, but
delicious. An assortment of grapes,
fresh figs, strawberries, gooseberries,
and dragon fruit slices pull it all
together and add a little bit of sweetness.
BAKE:
This sounds like a true
show-stopper idea. How did you come
20 < SEP-OCT 2021 | bakemag.com
up with the idea to create a delicious
charcuterie cake?
EVAN INADA: My daughter loves
rainbow cakes, so that was the start
of the inspiration there-how do you
make a cool cake with the cut in the
middle that wows everyone when they
see it? That was the goal there.
Target was not involved in the
creation of this charcuterie cake, but
they are one of our retail vendors.
COLUMBUS Craft Meats products are
available nationwide in Target stores,
providing a convenient way for consumers
to grab our products and easily
recreate this cake at home.
BAKE: How did you work on the execution
of making the cake, and how
did you decide on the ingredients?
EVAN INADA: I worked on the execution
of it as inspired by making a
rainbow cake. I chose the best things
to go with the cheese to start off with.
The Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog is
a chevre, so the salami I chose is the
perfect pairing for that in terms of
elevating the flavors of sweet with the
creamy chevre. I wanted to fold the
salami, so it was overflowing, coming
out of the cake itself so that people
understood it was a charcuterie cake.
When it came to doing the roses, I
wanted to make sure it had that wedding
cake aspect. That was important.
The fresh fruits were chosen based on
what was in season at the time. The
figs, the gooseberries in the husk, as
well as strawberries, have the right
sweetness and acidity to go with this
pairing, while also giving the perfect
aesthetic look to grab your attention.
BAKE: How did you fine-tune the
procedure?
EVAN INADA: I actually just tried
it in one take. I found a rainbow
cake picture that I wanted to use as
inspiration and then made it work
with salami. I think my charcuterie
building experience came into play,
but finetuning it down the road for
a bigger scale one would be great in
the future, although this test-run was
very successful.
BAKE: What are your thoughts on
the final result?
EVAN INADA: I was pretty happy
with it. Being on a pedestal, it stood
out with another board in front of
it. It is an attention-grabber, so it's a
great suggestion for any type of event
or something like a wedding. This is
the type of cake that would be perfect
for a happy hour or cocktail hour
before an event. Because of the size
of this, it could serve up to 75 people,
and it could be easily adjusted to accommodate
a larger or smaller audience.
You could play with the components,
add more salami, as needed,
etc. A 5-pound wheel of cheese was
used for this with a 1-pound wheel on
top. About 1 pound of thinly sliced
salami was used. It was about 10-12
inches tall.
spoken highly of us, and the media has received us
well, too. That's part of why we look to open locations
in community-oriented neighborhoods. Beyond that,
we've gotten on all the major delivery platforms in the
city to ensure folks who can't swing by the in-store
location can try what we have to offer.
BAKE: Other thoughts?
LODGE BREAD: We're excited for our upcoming
COLUMBUS CRAFT MEATS
http://www.bakemag.com
Bake September/October 2021

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