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See the tutorial on page 54 of this issue created for Cake! magazine by Debbie Goard
Is there anyone you would love to work with?
I’ ve never taken a class because I am wary of losing my personal style. We have all seen protégés whose work is indistinguishable from their tutors. That said, Mike McCarey has so much structural knowledge to impart, that working with him would be an invaluable experience.
What tools could you not live without?
I love my airbrush so much I always have a few spares on hand. I am currently using the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS.
Are there cakes you’ re dying to make but haven’ t yet had the opportunity?
Always! I have a long list on my phone of things I want to cake or maybe just elements I want to try. When I get the chance to finally make one of these I put a checkmark beside it. The checked items outweigh the unchecked ones, but a few still elude me. I’ d love to make a realistic flamingo.
Incredibly, you create every cake on your own. Is it important to you that you are responsible for every aspect of each cake you design?
I do confer with my boyfriend who is an industrial designer re: structural advice, because it’ s great to make a cake in your studio but ultimately it needs to travel to the client and survive delivery. I’ ve learned so much about general construction from him. In general, I have pretty specific ideas about how I want things to look, [ so ] I think it would be hard to cede control to another person. Business wise, it would be beneficial to have a staff but my artist vs. businessperson are always in conflict over this.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to develop a niche for their cake business?
Be consistent! It’ s not an easy path because the general public only knows‘ cake’. If you have the word cake in your business they assume you can do any and every kind of cake. It’ s been a lot of educating my clients. If you decide to focus on just one thing, you’ ll be able to really hone your unique skill set. It can be tempting to take on other projects, but resist the urge, or if you need to take on a random project, don’ t post it. You need to have a consistent message to customers about what you offer.
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facebook. com / debbiedoescakes
debbiedoescakes. net
See the tutorial on page 54 of this issue created for Cake! magazine by Debbie Goard