By RHIANNON CORBY

A multilevel cake with sculpted cream flowers and apricot-colored ribbons summons passers-by into a new wedding shop in downtown Santa Cruz.

The Wedding Stop & Cake Shoppe, which opened about two weeks ago, offers an all-in-one wedding consulting service for brides and grooms-to-be. In addition to the wedding cakes, catering and photography provided by the shop's three owners, referrals are available for almost any wedding whim, from fire dancers to henna artists.

But attention inevitably falls on the cakes, which Stephany Buswell, one of the owners, bakes up in flavors "both comfortable and adventurous," she said.

Jill Heizman, wedding cake manager at The Buttery, said "the hardest part of baking cakes is having the cakes taste as good as they look."

Buswell, who spent 10 years at the Buttery as head cake decorator and production manager, has no problems there. Her flavors include "Fleur de Sel," a chocolate and caramel concoction sprinkled with French sea salt, a coconut chiffon cake with passion fruit filling and coconut cream cheese frosting, and "Black Velvet," a recipe Buswell favors because it cuts out the massive amounts of food coloring required for its popular bright-red counterpart.

"I love feeding people, what can I say," she said with a smile.

On the weekends the shop turns into a cupcake bakery.

"I offer cupcakes as a way for people to try my cake flavors," said Buswell, insisting this aspect of her business is not a nod to the recent cupcake fad.

Buswell's experience includes jobs at Gayle's, The Buttery and Beckmann's, and years teaching cake decorating at Cabrillo College.

She said she's always dreamed of owning a little cake shop downtown: "Sometimes you just put things out to the universe and it all comes about."

Buswell owns The Wedding Stop and Cake Shoppe along with Mary Ryhanych from NewViewPhotography.com and Andrea Mollenauer of LifestyleCulinary.com Catering.