Cakes” on Food Network to relax. I loved watching them create these amazing artworks out of food and everyone seemed to be so happy. I decided to secretly start practicing making cakes( I had literally never even baked a cake until then). There was no such thing as cake tutorials on YouTube so I hit the book store to start researching. My first cake was for my friends daughters first birthday. It was so ugly but she loved it! I was hooked after that.
" Cake makes people so happy and who doesn’ t like to make people happy?"
Congratulations on the success of Sugar Geek Show, your subscriptionbased online cake decorating school. Do you prefer teaching or creating?
I love both! I have always loved sharing information and I can’ t think of a time in the last few years where I made anything and didn’ t share in some way how to make it or at least documented it. I just love social media and the ability it gives people to share ideas and techniques. Because information can be shared so easily, I think that it causes people to come up with new techniques and ideas more frequently. The industry right now is bursting with new ideas all the time. I love it!
What goals have you set for yourself over the next few years?
I’ m so amazed at the success of Sugar Geek Show, I definitely did not expect it! My focus is to continue to nurture that and make it even better by incorporating more fun aspects into the website, like special badges for completing tutorials,“ graduate courses” and an online store featuring my own line of products. We’ re currently looking for a larger house with some land so we can build out a really nice finished studio for filming and for instructors to come teach! I never thought in a million years that would be an option, but here we are!
What does a regular week look like for you now that you are no longer taking on cake orders?
Coming up with new ideas is actually a lot of work! I release a new video every two weeks so that only gives me about 10 days to research, make a cake, edit the video, promote it and then onto the next! My husband Dan is in charge of editing photos, putting the video up online and helping new members on the website. It’ s basically non-stop. When I travel to shows it really throws a kink into the schedule so I have to be careful not to fall behind.
You are very generous with your recipes and advice. Have you always enjoyed baking from scratch?
I was a cake decorator for two years before I even baked from scratch. I didn’ t understand how to bake from scratch so I did doctored cake mixes, which was fine but I really wanted to have the ability to make any flavour I could imagine. I decided to go to pastry school at Oregon Culinary Institute here in Portland. I took the weekend program so I made cakes all week, went to school on the weekend and basically had zero down time for about ten months! It was hard but oh so rewarding! I’ ll never forget the first time I made a proper buttercream and a chocolate cake that was so moist. Learning the science of a recipe was confusing but once I understood it, it has been invaluable information for me and has given me the ability to create my own recipes exactly the way I like them. That’ s like having a super power in the baking world!
You are a published author, television personality and globe-trotting teacher. What’ s next for you?
Haha it sounds so impressive when you say it like that. I try to just stay open to the universe and see where it takes me. So many wonderful things have happened in the last two years that I don’ t know if I could have planned for even if I wanted to. Often times I am scared to do something new but I try to just be brave and remember that I only have this one life so don’ t hold back. I’ m currently working on
a line of acrylic skull moulds that I use for my bust cakes, and I’ m focusing more on creating rather than competing so that I can teach the next generation of competitors how to win!
You have a young family. How do you successfully manage the work / life balance?
I honestly could not do it without the support of my husband Dan. Because we both work from home, we can take turns watching our daughter Avalon so the other can get work done, depending on who’ s got the more important deadline. When you work from home, it’ s easy to never stop and get over-worked so we set strict guidelines for ourselves that work ends when dinner is on the table and we spend the evening together as a family. We choose one day a week to just get out of the house and do something fun so we’ re not cooped up all the time. Sometimes there are exceptions to these rules but mostly we stick to it and it works well for us.
You’ ve appeared on television programs such as Duff‘ Til Dawn, and Food Network’ s Outrageous Cakes. What was most surprising about competing in a televised environment?
I think the most surprising thing for me is that I really enjoy it, haha! Competition is really fun for me and I love feeling challenged. I am also fascinated by how shows are made. I’ m always asking the producers and sound guys questions about equipment or cameras. I think I would make a great producer in another life!
What are your three favourite cake decorating tools?
Ah that is a tough one! I am a tool junkie. I could not live without my PME dresden tool, my yellow clay tool and my sugar shapers! All of these are basically modelling tools but they feel more like extensions of my hand!