Cake Concoctions in downtown Bangor to close its doors this week

Basant Paradis, the owner of Cake Concoctions, takes cookies from the oven during a summer camp for kids, which teaches them the science of baking, on Monday at the shop in Bangor. Gabor Degre | BDN

Basant Paradis, the owner of Cake Concoctions, takes cookies from the oven during a summer camp for kids, which teaches them the science of baking, on Monday at the shop in Bangor. Gabor Degre | BDN

Cake Concoctions, the downtown Bangor bakery and cake-making business opened last summer by Old Town baker Basant Paradis, announced a few weeks ago that Friday, Sept. 30 would be its last day in business — at least, for the time being.

“Bangor can’t handle the prices that I need to be charging for my products,” said Paradis. “A lot of people want custom cakes, but they just don’t want to pay for the labor.”

Paradis said baking her made-from-scratch cakes and the elaborate, hand-sketched drawings she can apply them can take four to five hours to create, upping the price to the $400 range, which is out of the reach of some consumer’s budgets.

“Some people won’t bat an eye at paying $150 for a specialty cake… others want some beautiful hand-sketched cake, but are not willing to pay for the labor associated with it,” she said.

Paradis said she’s planning to close her bakery, located at 6 Water St., adjacent to Fork & Spoon, for the next few weeks to reassess her business model. If she feels she can reopen with a different structure, however, she will.

“We might try to bring in tables and have some sit down areas for folks to come in and have a cupcake,” she said. “Nothing is set in stone. People still want my stuff… I just want to see what we can do to maybe reopen.”

Friday’s hours of business are 8:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Emily Burnham

About Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham is a Maine native, UMaine graduate, proud Bangorian and a writer for the Bangor Daily News, where she's worked since 2004. She reports on everything from local bands to local food to all the cool things going on in the Greater Bangor area. In her quest for stories, she's seen countless concerts and plays, been lobster fishing, interviewed celebrities, hung out with water buffalo and played in a ukulele orchestra. She's interested in everything that happens in Maine.