CUISINE
THE ICING ON THE CAKE
Stefani Pollack found her culinary niche
By ERIN WILLIAMS
When it comes to planning a wedding, there are fewer details that
will carry as much weight as what kind of cake is served.
The possibilities - from the darkness of the chocolate to the detail
of the design - can be endless, and choosing who will do the job can
prove for some couples to be just as daunting as how many guests to
invite, or what type of music to play for the first dance.
Stefani Pollack decided to use an invitation to her friend’s 2007
wedding as an opportunity to teach herself how to make cupcakes
for the event - and to her surprise, the couple agreed. “I told them
they could pick their three favorite flavors because I wanted to give
them a few different options to choose from,” she said.
After spending nine months teaching herself how to bake the perfect
cupcake, and creating 250 gingerbread latte and soda fountainflavored cupcakes (which received strong praise from guests)
for her friend’s wedding, she decided to keep going and learn all
about cakes, cookies, pies, and other sweet creations in addition to
cupcakes - for which she now has over 200 different recipes.
She left her day job as a technical trainer to become a full-time food
blogger in 2009, which took the Cupcake Project to the next level.
“I was taking time off anyway because my son was just born, and
there was no reason to go back to my other job because my blog
had become a job,” said Stefanie, who is married to Jonathan, a
photographer. They are parents to Myles, who is now in kindergarten.
Being her own businesswoman has given her great freedom - and
great responsibility. “I’m trying to keep it more like a reasonable
workday. “The danger of being able to work from home is that you
just work all the time,” she said. “My son is in school from 8 to 3, so
I really try to jam as much as I can into those hours so I can spend
time with him when he gets home.”
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She’s worked as a contributor to “Feast” and “Parade” magazines,
and AllRecipes.com, has developed recipes for Paula Deen, and most
recently, created her own company, Zest Culinary Content where
she creates recipes for other brands. “I was so humbled and excited
GAZELLE STL