Winner
Birch & Butter by Black Dog Bakery
Growing up in a large family, Chelsea Radke always saw food as the heart of celebration — and dessert as its shared, joyful finale.
Radke has been the owner of Birch & Butter by Black Dog Bakery since 2016, creating wedding cakes that reflect a balance of culinary expertise, creative design and consultation-led personalizations.
Birch & Butter specializes in modern, editorial-style buttercream cakes with sculptural elements like wafer paper sails, unexpected uses of colour and layered piping techniques. The multi-tiered creations also often feature vintage touches, interesting textures and flowing botanical designs.
As a Red Seal chef, Radke prioritizes the bold and unexpected flavours that lie beneath the cakes’ ornate exteriors. Besides tried-and-true flavour profiles like zesty lemon or creamy Earl Grey, Birch & Butter’s menu features unconventional seasonal favourites like roasted strawberry and sumac or raspberry, rose and rhubarb.
Radke even draws inspiration from classic cocktails like the tequila sour-inspired passionfruit, coconut and tequila cake.
“I’m a chef for a reason,” laughs Radke. “I like the alchemy of it. I get really bored with overly sweet, generic flavours. I want something that’s a bit layered and not too sweet.”
For Radke, a wedding cake is more than the final course — it’s a thank you to loved ones and a shared moment on a day of carefully considered details.
That means creating cakes that truly encapsulate your wedding day as Radke says: “beautiful, meaningful and uniquely yours.”
blackdogbakery.ca, @blackdog_bakery
Runners-Up
Bake My Day
1109 8 St. S.E., 587-327-5241, bakemydaycalgary.com, @bakemydayyyc
Gold Box Bakery
3011 48 St. N.E., 403-390-0458, goldboxbakery.com, @goldboxbakery
Chartier
403-861-8785, chartieryyc.com, @chartieryyc
Pretty Sweet Bakeshop
536 42 Ave. S.E., 587-356-1225, prettysweetco.com, @prettysweetyyc