The baked goods corner of social media is rife with images of gooey and salt- and sprinkle-flecked treats. But working diligently from a spacious facility in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn – with a focus on creating memorable, if occasionally messy, cakes – Clio Goodman has managed to secure an enviably robust following.
Describing bakers as “artists” has become an industry cliche, but in Goodman’s case, the cakes she sells at ByClio are very much works of art – both despite and because of their imperfections. She’s less interested in scoring likes than making pieces that beguile, and her petal-strewn cakes call to mind edible flower crowns. “People often say the way I frost my cakes has a painterly quality to it,” Goodman says.
Working with a four-person team, Goodman evokes the work of the French impressionist painter Paul Gauguin, whose pieces played up the sultry power of florals. Beyond being beautiful and a reliable crowd-pleaser, Goodman says that flowers “help me connect to my femininity”.