Appleton Bundt House: Where business meets batter

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

March 9, 2026

APPLETON – When she unlocked the doors to Appleton Bundt House at the end of January, Carla Manns said she wasn’t just opening a bakery, she was unveiling her latest entrepreneurial venture – one shaped into a fluted ring of cake.

But Manns said the idea for the bakery didn’t begin with flour and frosting – it began upstairs.

The serial entrepreneur said she has long operated her hair business, Shear Images by Carla, on the second floor of the property where Appleton Bundt House now resides – where she and her daughter, Allayah, rent chairs.

When the first-floor restaurant space became available, Manns said she saw the ideal chance to grow her entrepreneurial footprint.

“The restaurant wasn’t being utilized the way it could be, and I knew I was going to [do something with] the space, but wasn’t sure what right away,” she said.

Initially, Manns said she considered offering sandwiches and salads in a brown bag, grab-and-go setup.

But she said she was concerned about holding meats, maintaining fresh bread and contending with recalls on lettuce and other produce.

Baking, Manns said – a passion she had rediscovered during the COVID-19 pandemic – offered a sweeter, more manageable path.

“I love baking – it’s very relaxing,” she said.

As she brainstormed ideas for the first-floor space, Manns said her thoughts kept returning to baking.

During the pandemic, she said she had experimented with cookies, selling them to two local restaurants – but this time, she drew inspiration from her daughter’s love of Bundt cakes.

Manns said the family’s weekly tradition of “family day” often revolved around one destination in particular.

“We have family day every Sunday, and that includes asking what they want to do and where they want to eat,” she said. “Every time, [Allayah] would want to go to Green Bay for Nothing Bundt Cakes.”

Seeking a venture that offered fulfillment rather than pressure, Manns said she made the decision to open a bakery.

“At this stage in my life, I wanted to bring something that brought me peace and joy and not pressure,” she said. “Bundt cakes became a natural thing to do because they’re housed in these beautiful little containers.”

Going the independent route

Manns said she considered opening a franchise but found it cost-prohibitive and too limiting for the menu – especially since she wanted the freedom to include family-tested, approved recipes, making a fully independent bakery the natural choice.

“I’m from the South and wanted to bring some of my southern roots into what we do instead of just traditional flavors,” she said.

Though adjusted for the Bundt shape, Manns said many of Appleton Bundt House’s offerings are based on family recipes, with the original flavors remaining at the heart of every cake.

A Bundt cake, she said, is defined by the pan it’s baked in – a distinctive, doughnut-shaped mold with fluted sides inspired by the traditional European Gugelhupf.

Manns said the result is a cake known for its decorative appearance and dense, moist texture, often finished with glaze, icing or powdered sugar.

Many sizes

Manns said her vision for Appleton Bundt House was to offer Bundt cakes in a range of sizes to satisfy any sweet tooth.

The offerings, she said, start with Bundt Bites – mini cakes available in a custom variety box or a signature four-pack featuring the bakery’s most popular flavors.

The next size up is the Bundt Delight, Manns said, an individual cake in the bakery’s signature flavors.

Bundt Together, she said, is a medium cake – ideal for sharing with eight to 10 people, while the largest, Bundt Celebration, is designed for special occasions like birthdays, showers, weddings, holidays and other gatherings.

“We tried to cover everybody’s needs,” she said.

Manns said the menu balances southern tradition with crowd-pleasing classics – a breadth of flavors that make it challenging for customers to pick just one, hence the variety box for taste-testing.

“We have 10 flavors that are consistent, and then we change our spotlight [flavor] out monthly,” she said.

When Appleton Bundt House first opened, Manns said the chocolate velvet flavor, featuring three layers of chocolate, was hot “out of the gate” with customers until they discovered the Lemon Love cake.

“Everybody loves this lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting on it,” she said. “That is, until they discovered the pineapple upside-down cake.”

Not commonly found in Bundt form, Manns said the pineapple upside-down cake reflects the southern influence she wanted to incorporate.

This golden cake, she said, features sweet crushed pineapples and maraschino cherries baked into buttery perfection.

“It’s made with buttermilk for a fluffy base and salty/sweet [flavor] and is such a southern treat,” she said. “We can’t keep them in the bin. I may make 12 at a time and think I’m good for the day, and half a day later, they’re gone again.”

Other signature flavors, Manns said, include a German chocolate, red velvet, confetti delight (available in both vanilla and chocolate), strawberry kiss (featuring chocolate with strawberry cream cheese frosting), peanut butter bliss (peanut butter cake swirled with peanut butter frosting), turtle Bundt (a chocolate Bundt cake with caramel frosting drizzled with chocolate and topped with toasted pecans) and the cookies and cream Bundt, a moist chocolate cake with crushed cookies and the creamy vanilla cookie frosting on top.

Then, she said, there is the monthly spotlight Bundt cake, which gives her a chance to be even more creative.

‘A visit for all senses’

Though flavors rotate and evolve, Manns said the experience inside the bakery remains constant.

Customers entering Appleton Bundt House, she said, are welcomed with the aroma of freshly baked cakes and a warm and inviting atmosphere.

“It’s really cozy and warm in here and reminds you of home – that’s why I chose the word ‘House’ in our name,” she said.

Growing up, Manns said she vividly remembers visiting her aunt’s and great-grandma’s houses to meet up with family and enjoy food – especially desserts. 

“I was an only child and got spoiled a lot, and the first thing I would do there was go to the dessert table,” she said. “Food is great, and I love it, but I wanted to be sure to leave room for specific desserts. They’d always have homemade desserts.”

Even the bakery’s color scheme, Manns said, was selected to evoke warmth and hominess, as she wants customers to feel at home and comfortable as they enjoy a Bundt cake. 

Each Bundt cake on the menu, she said, has suggested drinks that pair well with the flavor profile, with offerings including coffee, cold brews, lattes, Matcha drinks, milks, water, Celsius energy drinks and more.

Manns said it’s a visit for all senses, as she and her daughters serve up Bundt cakes as jazz music plays softly in the background.

“It’s always very cozy and a nice place to meet,” she said. “Customers are welcome to sit and read, and we even have regulars already. People have asked if we’re going to get more chairs, but I don’t want it to get so noisy that people can’t just sit and relax with their Bundt cake and a coffee.”

In addition to herself and Allayah, Manns said her other daughter, Alexis, also works in the bakery.

She said they form the core team, though her mother, husband, son and her children’s partners pitch in as well.

With business growing, Manns said she expects to hire additional staff in the near future.

In addition to in-bakery orders, Manns said bigger-scale orders are also starting to trickle in. 

However, because she’s working with a small but mighty crew, she asks for a month’s advance notice for large orders, like the one she’s doing for 200 individual Bundt Delights for a local business.

Manns said she also has a few weddings on the calendar for June and October, and though she’s open to booking additional events, she’s being careful not to overextend the team.

“I am very particular about setup, and I don’t yet have someone else to do setup,” she said.

Intentional location

Location, Manns said, was never incidental.

“I love the downtown area – love being in the hub of Appleton,” she said. “Things have really changed downtown in the past 10 years. They’ve done an amazing job of getting people back to the downtown [area].”

With a degree in marketing, Manns said she’s been able to pull together some of the marketing for the bakery’s opening at the end of January, including establishing its website, and is already signed up to participate in events hosted by Appleton Downtown Inc.

Other aspects of marketing for the bakery, Manns said, are familiar territory.

“There are some things that are the same across the board: you have to have great customer service, awesome displays and know your demographic,” she said. “[And] a great product is mandatory.”

Entrepreneurial spirit

When she first presented the Appleton Bundt House idea to her family, Manns said she made one thing clear.

“I told them I couldn’t do this myself, and I’d need their help getting it up and running,” she said. 

With Appleton Bundt House established, Manns said she is letting her family decide how involved they want to be going forward. 

“I’ve left it up to them if they want it in the future or want to step away,” she said. “It’s my dream, not theirs, and I don’t want to pressure them to maintain it. It’s always an option because I want it to be part of a legacy ripple. I wanted to create something my kids could pick up and run with. I have always shown them they can do whatever they want, and they have the entrepreneurial spirit, too.”

For more, head to appletonbundthouse.com or check out Appleton Bundt House’s Facebook page.