Cake Man Raven and His Red Velvet Cakes Are Coming Back to Brooklyn
Photo via Food n Festivities
In November 2012, the Brooklyn red velvet cake world imploded: Cake Man Raven, revered for his fluffy, vermilion-hued desserts, closed his twelve-year-old Fort Greene bakery due to a rent hike. Raven Patrick De’Sean Dennis III—a Harlem native who spearheaded the Southern red velvet craze here and has baked cakes for Maya Angelou, Mary J. Blige, and Spike Lee—was beside himself: “I’m numb right now.”
On that Thanksgiving morning, customers started lining down the block at 2:30 a.m. to complete their Turkey Day spread with one of Dennis’ signature confections for the last time. His former staff later spawned red velvet haven Piece of Cake in the same space. Dennis temporarily sold whole cakes out of his East New York event space, CakeVille International through May 13th, though devotees looking to snag a $6 slice were out of luck.
But now, red velvet enthusiasts can rejoice! According to a message posted on Cake Man’s website, Dennis is in the midst of reopening a new shop, and will update his site “with our new location and opening on July 1st.”
We did our journalistic due diligence, and CakeVille’s voicemail provides mid-June announcement dates (after the 15th), but all we really need to know is that at some point soon, Brooklynites can once again stuff their faces with cream-cheese-frosted-cocoa-tinged treats from one of the borough’s best.
