Beneath the Buttercream: The Heart and Craft at Vancouver’s Simply Sweets

Simply Sweets by Jen

There’s a certain reverence to walking into Simply Sweets by Jen. The bright little bakery sits on Columbia Street in Vancouver, Washington, but the moment you push through its door you could just as easily be stepping into a loved one’s kitchen. Warm vanilla and buttercream fill the air. Customers lean on glass display cases, catching up with staff they’ve known for years. This is where Jen, a baker who never meant to become one, quietly turns simple ingredients into memories.

A conversation over cakes

Jen from Simply Sweets

I sat down with Jen between batches of buttercream to learn how her modest cake shop became a community touchstone. We started with the obvious question: for people who don’t know Simply Sweets yet, how would she describe the business? She didn’t hesitate: “I’d say our treats are homemade and very reminiscent of my childhood. American desserts, cookies, cakes, brownies. Things I grew up learning how to make with my tutu, my grandma.” Each batch of batter is a page out of her family history.

Some of those recipes come straight from her grandmother. The gingerbread she sells every winter uses a formula more than a century old, one she still stirs by hand. As a child she would stand on a stool and lick the KitchenAid beater; as an adult she still instinctively tastes every batch. “My passion for sweets has continued into my adult years,” she told me, laughing. “I tried cake decorating for the first time the day before my wedding. What could possibly go wrong?”

Jen’s early experiments became a calling. While working in an emergency room years ago, she baked after shifts to unwind. Coworkers quickly devoured anything she brought into the break room. “If it didn’t make it past the nurses’ station, I knew I had something,” she joked. When I asked if there was a specific cake that convinced her to go into business, she shook her head. “Honestly, I never thought it would work as a business. I thought, ‘What have I done?’” She does, however, remember a pivotal nudge: a physician she respected asked why she hadn’t opened a bakery. Around the same time, someone close to her told her people wouldn’t pay for her desserts. That contrast stuck with her. She invested her savings, taught herself everything she didn’t know and opened Simply Sweets with more determination than experience.

Cakes that grow up with you

Jen quickly discovered that running a bakery was about more than baking. She decorated cakes in a window at Vancouver Mall so shoppers could watch. It was a strategic move: she wanted teenagers to see her work and remember the name years later when they planned their own weddings. Eventually the tiny mall kiosk couldn’t keep up with demand, and she moved the business to a larger space. Today, Simply Sweets occupies its own building on Columbia Street, and the strategy has paid off. Families come back at every milestone. As Jen put it: “We’ve done cakes from fifteenth birthdays to weddings to baby showers for the same families. Watching kids grow up, that’s the biggest thing for me.” That continuity has made the bakery part of Vancouver’s life cycle.

Designing stories in buttercream

When I asked what she hopes customers feel when they see their cake for the first time, she didn’t mention appearance or flavor. “That we nailed it, that we understood their vision,” she said. Jen collaborates closely with clients, pulling inspiration from wedding dresses, engagement rings and invitation fonts. For birthdays she creates centerpieces that can stand alone without decorations. In her words, “This is about happiness. Cakes are expressions of love.” Her home page echoes that philosophy: custom cakes and tiered towers of cupcakes are a way to commemorate life’s moments.

Jen doesn’t work alone. She has built a team of designers and bakers who share her obsession with quality. She coaches them, looks for hidden talents and moves people into roles where they thrive. “Sometimes someone hired for the counter turns out to be an amazing decorator,” she explained. She believes people want to belong; when they find pride in their role, they become great employees. Running Simply Sweets means more than baking. It’s payroll, hiring, fixing ovens, answering emails and fulfilling orders. Jen admits she might have been terrified if she’d known everything up front, but experience has taught her that persistence matters more than certainty.

Giving back without making a fuss

Leaving the ER didn’t mean leaving behind her desire to help. Simply Sweets’ generosity is quiet but steady. Every month Jen donates cupcakes and cookies to food banks, schools and hospitals. One delivery still brings her to tears: on Halloween she brought cupcakes to a children’s hospital in Portland. A little girl, bald from treatment and wearing a princess dress over her hospital gown, hugged Jen and asked if the treats were for them. Her father, exhausted, smiled for the first time that day. “That hug mattered more than any ad we could buy,” Jen said. “That’s why we give back.”

Near the end, she teaches and listens

Toward the end of our conversation I asked Jen what she would tell her day‑one self. She thought for a moment. “Slow growth was good,” she finally said. She reinvested everything, avoided debt and learned from mistakes. The only thing she wishes she had more of is time, to teach others. Her grandmother taught her to decorate cakes, and she wants to pass that knowledge on. She envisions classes where parents and children learn to bake together. Baking, to her, is generational.

What you’ll taste when you visit

After hearing Jen’s story, it’s impossible not to want dessert. Simply Sweets’ menu is as varied as the community it serves. Weekly favorites like Simply Vanilla, Simply Chocolate and Red Velvet anchor the offerings. Traditional flavors include vanilla raspberry, chocolate strawberry, lemon coconut and strawberry vanilla. Retro selections, German chocolate, Southern butter pecan and snickerdoodle, nod to old‑fashioned classics. More adventurous cakes play with mocha, hummingbird cake and caramel zebra, while playful picks like princess cake and cookies‑and‑cream appeal to all ages. Romantic choices feature red velvet and dark chocolate raspberry. Seasonally, you’ll find s’mores and key lime in summer, pumpkin and sweet potato in fall and candy cane or gingerbread in winter. The bakery also introduced pies made with local ingredients, pecan, apple, pumpkin, marionberry and cherry.

Awards are not why Jen bakes, but they speak to her reputation. Simply Sweets has earned multiple WeddingWire Bride’s and Couples’ Choice awards. A 2014 report by The Columbian noted that she moved the business from the mall to downtown, assembled a team of talented people and produced not only artistic cakes but an assortment of baked goods, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, scones and brownies.

When someone asks how to place an order, Jen answers, “Come on in.” She likes to see the person behind the cake, understand their story and listen to their excitement. It’s that face‑to‑face connection that sets Simply Sweets apart. There are no order forms, no impersonal transactions, just conversation and the promise of something sweet to celebrate life’s milestones.

Vancouver’s Simply Sweets is more than a bakery. It is a workshop where stories are translated into buttercream and batter. It is a meeting place for families over generations. It is a reminder that business doesn’t have to be loud to be meaningful. Beneath the buttercream, there’s heart, craft and a commitment to community that has quietly made Simply Sweets one of the city’s most cherished spots.