I have been making cakes for all occasions for 16 years and recently started selling the creations I love. I grew up in a large loving family where there was always a birthday to be celebrated. The birthday cakes my mom would make for us kids were tremendous! She’d bake a sheet cake and then carve it into anything we asked for. She’d then load it up with store bought candy, licorice, and little to
y knick-knacks. I wanted to recreate that joy for my son and nieces/nephews and started baking my own cakes for their birthdays. Before I knew it I was making my own interesting shapes and even elaborate scenes. My family loved them, but I was just doing it for fun and love. I then started dabbling in cakes for occasions other than just birthdays. I’ve done graduations, weddings, welcome home-- you name it, I made it. Most of the cakes I made were free because I loved doing it. But as the cakes got larger, more complex, and took the better part of a day or more to make, the cost in goods alone was becoming too much. I never wanted to lose the passion I had for making cakes and I feared charging people for these cakes would extinguish that passion and it might become “work”. However, I realized I could charge a fair and reasonable price for my creations that make my clients happy and helped me keep that passion burning. Regardless of price, when my husband and I deliver and set up their creation, my clients always say nice things about the cake. But seeing the reactions on their faces when they first see their finished cake is the most rewarding for me. My creations can take from 6 to 16 hours or more to finish and I enjoy every minute of it and have found a happy balance between passion and reward. I don’t think I’ve used much store bought candy or licorice like my mom used to put on our cakes. And although my creations are larger and more complex, I remember how much love my mom must have put into her carved cakes for us and I try to put that much into every one I create.
