Hello! My name is Lara Martins and I’m originally from Northern Virginia and live in Temecula, California with my fellow pastry chef husband and two amazing children. Classically trained in pastry at The French Culinary Institute in New York City, I’ve worked in bakeries and wedding cake studios in New York City, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. Before beginning my career in pastry, I studied at New York University and the University of Washington and worked in nonprofit organizations serving immigrant communities.

After stepping away from pastry work for nearly a decade to raise my kids, I started LILA Cake Shop (named for my daughter) in early 2020. Starting a business at the onset of a pandemic was quite the ride, but allowed the cake shop to evolve and find its niche. Today, LILA has grown into a thriving wedding cake bakery that specializes in fine art buttercream floral cakes for couples all over Southern California. My cake designs continue to be rooted in a love of nature and a belief that wedding cakes should reflect the beauty of marriage and the union of art and dessert. 

As a licensed cottage food bakery, I take on a limited number of weddings per year and encourage couples to get in touch early to reserve their date. In the coming years, I would love to expand the shop to serve more lovely couples and look forward to creating online courses to share my knowledge with other cake artists.

Thank you for being a part of this wild and wonderful journey and for allowing me to be a part of yours!

XO,

about Lara + the cake shop

Lara Martins