The Origins of the First Pancake Art Company


Dancakes is an events and entertainment company, performing live pancake art at nearly any location worldwide and creating both commissioned and original content for social media at their studio in St. Louis, MO. Founded in December of 2013 by Daniel Drake (Artist) and Hank Gustafson (Manager) the company has expanded to include 6 total Pancake Artists, three of which share an equal ownership equity in the company along with their Manager.

Dan and Hank - Founders of Dancakes

Dan and Hank – Founders of Dancakes

Initially, Dancakes was a name coined for the pancake art “parlor trick” that Dan developed while working at a small diner in his home town of St. Louis. Hired in 2009, he served his edible art in relative obscurity until a Reddit post documenting his process went viral in the fall of 2013. Very suddenly his rather obscure Facebook page, “Dr. Dan the Pancake Man”, started to gain a substantial following.  This exposure culminated in an invitation to appear live on a broadcast of NBC’s The Today Show; visibility from that broadcast led to a myriad of phone calls and emails asking Dan if he performed pancake art outside of his diner gig. With encouragement from his best friend Hank Gustafson, the pair formally incorporated Dancakes, becoming the world’s first professional pancake art company.

In the following years, Dan and Hank produced video content for their increasingly popular social media channels, which in turn led to exponentially greater demand for the company’s event services. As demand increased, the pair began to look for additional artists. A friend and fellow musician, Benjamin Daniel, became the second Dancakes artist in 2015, followed shortly thereafter by artist Dana Baldus who the team discovered via social media. Ben and Dana now share an equal ownership of the company with Dan and Hank.

The company has been featured on TV and social media platforms for hundreds of companies, including Disney, Dungeons and Dragons, BuzzFeed, and many more. They’ve been hired internationally in Brazil, England, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore, with more to come.



As the brand has grown and demand continued to rise, Dancakes has brought 3 additional artists into the fold – Lee Goldberg, based in Phoenix, AZ; Jenny Harrison, based in Los Angeles, CA; and Ryan Lewin, based in Dallas, TX – with plans to train others and expand their presence into different avenues. Looking to the future, Dancakes has begun to create custom, preserved pancake art pieces for galleries, and has been working with manufacturers and retailers to launch an original professional-quality pancake art kit, plus educational content to share the novel medium of pancake art with others. 

Zoe Beattie
Zoe Beattie
2022-06-16
So much fun! Well organized, personable and entertaining!
Rachael Melniker
Rachael Melniker
2022-06-07
Dancakes is unreal! We hired them to entertain at our son’s bar mitzvah and they were adored by kids and adults alike. Dana and Ben are so talented, and kept people engaged from the first minute to the last. They took any and all requests, no matter how strange or challenging. Wouldn’t hesitate to have them back again anytime!
Kim Gaertner
Kim Gaertner
2022-04-21
Dancakes was the PERFECT addition to our party! Everyone ENJOYED the experience!!!!! Our artists, Ben & Angelique, were AMAZING!! Their artistry & attention to detail was INCREDIBLE! Dancakes made our party extra special and one that we will never forget!!!
Laura Lotz
Laura Lotz
2021-12-09
Dancakes and their artists were amazing and created beautiful pancakes that were enjoyed by kids and adults alike. Watching them create the pancake was half the fun! It was easy to work with them and create what we wanted for our event.
The Broskies
The Broskies
2021-11-22
Thank you, Dancakes, for adding the fun to our birthday brunch! The adults and kids alike had a blast. Dan was an amazingly talented artist, professional and courteous. We will definitely be hiring Dancakes again!
Meghan Moloney
Meghan Moloney
2021-10-29
We recently had the Dancakes team do pancake art at our wedding reception, and it was so much fun!! Our guests loved it. The team was so kind and professional. I would highly recommend them for your wedding or any event that you’d like to make memorable!
Courtney Brown
Courtney Brown
2020-10-19
Wow!! I ordered a custom pancake for my wedding from these guys and it turned out awesome! Perfect addition to our cake table and went with our theme of breakfast for dinner. Incredible customer service when a problem occurred and got the shipment quickly and on time! Highly recommend!
Chad Rabinovitz
Chad Rabinovitz
2020-10-06
Absolutely incredible talent. Fantastic service. It's such a unique form of entertainment that's added tons of value to our event.
tony michel
tony michel
2020-10-06
I'm typically not the type of person to give ratings, but I think that Dancakes has the most cool and unique and talented people in regards to what they do. Also their work is impeccable and so fascinating!!