Have you ever needed a custom-decorated cake for a special occasion? Have you ever wanted to raise money for one of Case Western Reserve University’s most successful varsity athletic teams? Well, thanks to the basketball team, here is your chance.

Cakes at Case is a fundraiser in which basketball players deliver customized cakes to CWRU residents and employees. The team’s head coach, Sean McDonnell, created the organization during the 2012 winter season.

“Like all good ideas, I stole [Cakes at Case] from a friend, who is a Division III athletic director,” McDonnell said. “Cakes at Case simply makes it easy for people to recognize CWRU students, faculty and staff.”

The process begins at athletics.case.edu/cakes. Using an online form, buyers select the cake size, cake flavor and frosting flavor, written message and specify the delivery location. A member of the varsity basketball team, either a player or coach, will then deliver the cake to the on-campus location after at least 48 hours of ordering.

Although the pastries can only be delivered to locations on campus, off-campus recipients can organize an on-campus pickup location on the site.

All cakes are baked daily on commission by a local bakery, who chooses to remain anonymous.

“The bakery has requested anonymity, because they provide us with a small discount that they cannot pass on to every campus group,” McDonnell said.

However, he assured The Observer that the cakes are freshly baked and decorated, and delicious.

Prices range from $20 for a single-layer eight-inch round cake to $65 for a full sheet cake. The cakes are available in five flavors: chocolate, white, yellow, marble, red velvet and carrot. They can also be glazed in regular or chocolate buttercream icing.

Freshman forward Eric Black expressed his satisfaction with the Cakes at Case fundraising program.

“The program mostly runs through the more senior players,” he said. “It has pretty much been [captains] Person, Klements, Edel and McLaughlin delivering cakes; I haven’t made a delivery yet.”
However, all of the players have enjoyed the fruits of the Cakes at Case program.

“Someone sent a cake to us,” Black said. “They sent one for all the players after we had the best start in program history.”

The men’s basketball team has a 12-2 record so far for the 2014-2015 season, the best start ever for the Spartans. This week, they replaced Amherst College to earn the 25th spot in the Division III Top 25 Poll, coming off an 83-81 overtime win against Brandeis University.

The team kicks off a four-game conference away stretch this week, with their next game on Friday, Jan. 23 in Atlanta against Emory University.