Feature image: Yes, that bucket of oysters is really a cake! Owner Anna Echols also offers doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies, and more in One Belle’s café area.
One Belle produces its fair share of traditional, tiered wedding cakes — they’ve made as many as 18 in one weekend — but is best known for its custom creations.
Think Madame Tussauds meets Willy Wonka: An ice-cold keg. A big bucket of shimmery-shelled oysters. That bass you caught fishing last month. They look like sculptures but are actually carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, or banana cake with chocolate fudge, or coconut-rum cake with pineapple custard.
From start to finish, most designs take three days or more. One Belle has even constructed a replica of Kenan Memorial Stadium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The assembly alone occupied four decorators for more than eight hours. To owner Anna Echols, disbelief is the best compliment: “I always want someone to ask, ‘Is that a cake?’”
One Belle Bakery
1616 Shipyard Boulevard
Wilmington, NC 28412
(910) 769-3280
onebellebakery.com
In Gorges State Park and other remote areas of our state, swinging suspension bridges — practically woven into the woods around them — transport hikers over rivers, across creeks, and into the past.
North Carolina’s state symbols make up a one-of-a-kind collection that tells our story. They include our native plants, the art we create, the crops we grow, and so much more.
He was smitten with the flavors of her Zimbabwean cooking. She was intrigued by his rural North Carolina upbringing. Together, they created a life in Durham — and a namesake restaurant that was the first of its kind in the entire country.
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