Rubina Sadiq and her family worked frantically to open her new bakery, Cakes by Rubina, on schedule at the end of May. “We could hardly sleep,” says Sadiq. Fortunately, she’s had experience working while exhausted: “My [medical] residency really came in handy.”

Born in Pakistan, Sadiq was a pediatrician there until her husband, Sohail, took an IT job in Australia. She decided not to get recertified in medicine–“One residency is enough!”–but she did pick up a degree in public health from the University of New South Wales. And, she says, “I always loved baking and desserts–it’s kind of a weakness.” Sometimes, she and Sohail would stay up all night making a special treat for their two young children.

When her husband was recruited by Borders in 1997, Sadiq chose to stay home with the kids here. She did a lot of volunteering, including launching the Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad with Pattengill teacher Dee Vayda. And she began to look at baking as a potential business.

After experimenting on her family and friends, she launched Cakes by Rubina in 2008–right in the teeth of the Great Recession. Sales her first year, working out of the Main Dish Kitchen on Jackson Rd., were “terrible.” But, helped by a website Sohail created, things picked up. She says that for the past few years, sales have doubled every year.

So last year, when Main Dish’s owners announced they were selling the business, Sadiq decided to make a bold move and rent her own space. It’s at the back of the Courtyard Shops, near Midwest Bike & Tandem. (It used to be the Cancer Support Community’s by-appointment-only bridal gown resale shop, which has relocated within the center.)

When we dropped by in June, just after the opening, Sadiq was working in the kitchen in back; son Haris [HAH-ris], a recent U-M grad, and daughter Maria [MAH-ria], a U-M senior in economics and international studies, were tending the small, immaculate customer service area.

The decor reflects the family’s cosmopolitan background: one wall lists twenty or so countries where they have connections (the inclusion of Azerbaijan, for instance, honors a family there who ordered cakes for their son while he was a U-M engineering student). Countries where the Sadiqs have lived are highlighted in gold. On the opposite wall, a photo mural depicts an attractive couple beaming over a three-tiered wedding cake. But customers may find it hard to lift their eyes from the display cases offering ginger coffee cake, raspberry chocolate cupcakes, a Belgian chocolate brownie, and other treats–including, tucked away on the bottom shelf, a Pakistani rice pudding.

“When I came to Ann Arbor, I didn’t find the kind of desserts I wanted to see–cakes from across different parts of the world,” Sadiq recalls. So she started out making some of the ones she missed–Eastern European pastries, an Italian sponge cake, and a lentil poppy seed cake from Pakistan. But she found that what her customers like best are traditional American desserts. Among teenagers and college students, “red velvet is very popular,” she says. “Raspberry chocolate is very universal.” And “ladies of twenty-five, thirty-plus like lemon [cake] with lemon filling.”

What she finds most exciting–and challenging–is making custom cakes to order. She shows off photos of a groom’s cake that matched the shoes he wore at his wedding; a “mailbox,” complete with fondant “letters”; a bust of Lionel Richie; a Godzilla stomping through a town. For that one, she recalls, “we literally had to make a skeleton” to hold the figure together. (Sohail helps by doing 3-D modeling.) Many buyers leave testimonials–“The Sculpted Elephant cake was absolutely amazing,” writes one.

Sadiq is reluctant to talk about the price of the custom cakes, but, given the amount of labor involved, they can be considerable. Her ready-made cakes are priced in line with other artisanal baked goods. Cupcakes are $2-$2.50; a small blueberry cheesecake is $30, a larger one, $45.

Sadiq says she’s often asked how it feels to trade medicine for baking. Her answer, she says, is that the amount of work is similar, it’s just that baking is more physical. But it’s every bit as satifying she says, “when I give a cake to a very happy client.”

Does she have a favorite cake for her own celebrations? “On my birthdays I don’t get a cake [from anyone else] and I refuse to make one for myself,” she says firmly. “We usually go out for dinner.”

Cakes by Rubina, 1689 Plymouth Rd. (Courtyard Shops). 730-5090. Daily 11 a.m.-3 p.m. cakesbyrubina.com