The Pound Cake on Eight Mile

Patrice Davis baked pound cakes and other desserts for her family for years, and most Sundays there was one made from scratch. After she retired from teaching special education in Detroit Public Schools, she started Grannies Pound Cake, in part because she couldn't find a pound cake as good as her own. She now sells it from a shop on W. Eight Mile Road, and on Meijer shelves. In written answers to Detroit Community Thrive, she talked about her first cake, the lemon glaze her Aunt Amy would critique, and the customer who cried in her car.

Why Grannies

Davis said she baked pound cakes for herself and her family, along with many other desserts, and most Sundays there was a dessert made from scratch. She gave two reasons for starting Grannies Pound Cake: she “couldn’t find a pound cake that tasted as good as mine when I didn’t bake one,” and she wanted to keep busy after she retired.

The first cake

Davis said her first cake was a Betty Crocker yellow cake from a box, topped with canned chocolate frosting.

“It was pretty good, considering it was my first attempt! My first cake made completely from scratch was a carrot cake, and it turned out delicious as well. Best of all, it didn’t stick to the pan, unlike a few cakes I baked afterward!”

Before the cakes, caskets

Davis's first business after retiring from Detroit Public Schools, in 2018, was selling caskets, BridgeDetroit reported in 2024. She said she never came close to sticking with it.

“I became discouraged after mailing out sales flyers and not receiving a single inquiry about purchasing a casket. I had no desire to send out another round of flyers. To be honest, I was hesitant about the business from the beginning, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Sometimes you have to explore an opportunity to discover that it isn’t the right one for you.”

Aunt Amy's glaze

Davis modeled her lemon glaze on her Aunt Amy's. She said her aunt would have one note about it.

“She would probably say, “It’s good, but that glaze needs to be a little thinner!” Her glaze was much lighter than mine. You could barely see it on the cake, but you could definitely taste it. Over the years, customers would often ask for more glaze, so I gradually started making mine a little thicker. I think Aunt Amy would approve of the flavor, even if she had a little something to say about the thickness!”

From the classroom

Davis said teaching special education prepared her for running a business, because the work never stopped at the end of the school day: lesson plans, grading, paperwork and classes to keep her certification.

“Today, I wear many hats at Grannies Pound Cake, including baking, deliveries, social media, bookkeeping, sales and research. From the time I get up until late at night, I’m usually working on something related to the business. When the store is open, I’m working in the business. When the store is closed, I’m working on the business.”

“I remember watching an episode of Shark Tank where an entrepreneur was turned down by one of the Sharks because they still had a full-time job. At the time, I didn’t understand why that was such a concern. Now I do! Running a business can feel like working two full-time jobs.”

Getting on the shelves

Davis said getting onto store shelves was not the hardest part. Meijer came through an email from RangeMe, a product-listing company, announcing a new-format Meijer store in downtown Detroit. She submitted her interest, a manager sampled the cake, and Grannies was in. The cakes were also sold at the airport for a time, after a representative bought one and later emailed to ask whether she would sell there; they are no longer sold there.

“The real challenge isn’t necessarily getting on the shelves. It’s getting customers familiar with your brand and moving products off those shelves consistently and in high volumes.”

“I’ve learned that having a great product is only part of the equation. Marketing, brand awareness, and in-store demonstrations are just as important. Of course, marketing requires money, and demonstrations require a team. Those are two areas I’m actively working to strengthen as Grannies Pound Cake continues to grow.”

At the counter

Davis said one customer came into the store and told her about her late mother, who used to bake pound cakes. After buying Grannies Pound Cake for the first time, the woman sat in her car, took a bite and began to cry, because it tasted like her mother's.

“As she shared that experience with me, I could barely hold back my own tears. Moments like that remind me that pound cake is so much more than a dessert. It’s nostalgic. It brings back memories of our mothers, grandmothers, family gatherings, and special moments from our childhood.”

A tip for home bakers

For a while, Davis said, her cakes would sometimes sink in the middle. A coworker asked how she got her cakes to turn out the same every time without a kitchen scale. Davis started weighing her ingredients in grams, and the problem stopped.

“My advice to home bakers is to invest in a good kitchen scale. Baking is a science, and consistency matters, especially when you’re baking for customers. You want that cake to taste just as delicious the tenth time as it did the first!”

Source: Patrice Davis, written answers to Detroit Community Thrive and follow-up message, Oct. 14; BridgeDetroit, Dec. 13, 2024

Visit

• 14015 W. Eight Mile Road, Detroit
• Noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, according to the banner and home page of granniespoundcake.com; the site's contact page lists Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Call ahead.
• 313-458-4965, [email protected]
• Instagram: @granniespoundcake

The cakes come in three flavors, butter classic, butter lemon and butter pecan, as minis and as whole cakes that serve 12 or more. Minis are $4 each, or three for $10 on the website.

Source: granniespoundcake.com