You know, there's an artist in Western North Carolina whose medium of choice isn't paint or pottery or even glass.

Her medium of choice is cake.

Producer Clay Johnson and videographer Erik Olsen take us to her studio in Polk County, a custom cake shop called Valhalla Bakery.

[upbeat music] - [Clay] Lynne and Dick Perlmutter love going to Valhalla Cakes and Cafe in Tryon and taking their dog Pierre.

- He loves coming here.

It's the perfect spot to hang out, and if he's lucky, he gets a little bite of croissant.

- [Clay] Cake artist Sam Slade owns the shop and runs it with her fiance, Jason Bailey.

- When I first came into this bakery, I fell in love with them.

I got, it was like immediate friends with Sam and Jason.

- He came and saw me and he had been a regular at this point that we really like and you see at least once a week, and he was like, "It's Lynne's birthday.

"I'd like to do something with Pierre."

And I was like, "Yes, I love that dog."

He's pretty famous around here.

- She showed me some things she had done, [upbeat music] [camera clicking] and she was obviously unbelievably good, talented.

She was a real artist.

- [Sam] He sent me probably like 50 photos 'cause I always ask people like, "Oh, well, send me pictures."

I don't think he knew what to expect when I showed him and it really blew him away.

- I said, "Oh my god, look."

You know, I said, "I don't think I wanna touch this."

So I had her hold the cake so I could take a picture of it because that might be the last time we'll ever see it perfect.

[wistful music] - We had a couple friends over, and then he brings out this cake that's got my dog on it.

It was amazing.

- Then he sent me pictures of her seeing the cake for the first time, and that made me really happy 'cause that's my favorite part is, and I don't get to see that part.

- [Clay] The Perlmutters say the cake tasted as good as it looked.

- Wasn't too sweet, very high quality.

- [Clay] And the cake top Pierre?

- We took it off of the cake and we stuck it in the freezer so our kids could see it.

[chuckles] And then one of them came over and ate his head.

- [Sam] So the cake is supposed to look like a wheel of cheese for our friends over at Looking Glass Creamery.

I've met a cow named Rosie, and she's great and she's kind of their mascot.

- [Clay] Sam and her craft were born in Chicago.

- [Sam] And my dad had bakeries growing up, and I would go with him to work all the time.

- [Clay] She majored in sculpture and illustration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

- I went and interned somewhere at a cake shop in Chicago and didn't know people were making cake into sculptures, and it was like actually artists who are all doing this mostly.

You have to be quick.

You don't have time to say, "Oh, I wanna change this little detail and," 'cause it's food, it's gonna go bad.

I look at it and I say, okay, it's done.

I can't dwell on it much longer.

And it goes and brings someone joy, and then it's gone forever.

Rosie.

[giggles] - [Clay] Sam ran her own cake shop in Denver for eight years called Valhalla Cakes for her love of Norse mythology, but she and Jason wanted a less hectic life.

They moved to Polk County, close to his hometown of Shelby.

- It's a lot slower paced here, which I like.

I see the same people all the time when I go anywhere now, and I love that, versus in Denver.

- [Clay] Sam opened a new Valhalla Cakes and Cafe near downtown Tryon in June 2024 and started growing a customer base.

Then Helene hit.

- [Sam] The hurricane kind of screwed a lot of that up for us.

That was like, we were gaining momentum and then just everything, it felt like we started over.

- [Clay] So they did.

In addition to custom cakes, the shop serves pastries, breakfast sandwiches, focaccia pizzas, and gourmet coffee roasted by Sam's brother in Chicago.

- He's making a great product, so all I have to do is not screw it up on this end of things.

The lion's share of the feedback has been really positive and people have loved it.

We've got a lot of repeat customers, so, you know, people keep coming back and it feels good for that, so.

[chuckles] - [Sam] Everyone's gathering here.

We get worried when someone doesn't show up.

It's awesome.

I really, you know, it makes us feel like we're doing a really good job.

- [Lynne] It's a beautiful, beautiful spot.

There are always people coming in and out.

It's a picture perfect bakery.

[upbeat music] - Indulge at Valhalla Cakes and Cafe located at 90 Pacolet Street in Tryon.

They're open Thursday through Monday from 8 to 2, and to find out more, you can give them a call at 828-440-1264 or put in a custom order at valhallacakeshop.com.