I am starting a new blog to chronicle my pastry arts work. I do this to share my other creative passion, even though right now in my stage of life, I can't indulge in it like I used to. Before I had my children, I used to make quite a few wedding cakes, desserts, and special occasion cakes and pastries. I love baking. I love being creative with not only the outward appearance of pastries, but the wonderful flavors you can combine in desserts, to delight the palate as well as the eye. I am so dismayed that so many people have yet to taste a real dessert; one that is made with preservative free, real and fresh ingredients. I too grew up on Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines cakes for birthdays and everyday. I can say that I thought they were pretty good... until I made my first cake from real butter, eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla. Oh how blissfully good, how completely different. There is no going back. Now as a side note, I still grab a cake mix or two for quick fixes for our family, but never in a dessert I would sell.
You may wonder how my journey into the pastry arts began. Well, it has many facets. I have always loved to eat dessert, and to help my mom in the kitchen. I loved watching shows with cooking segments on them and the beautiful way they presented the food. I loved my MINI MAGIC BAKE OVEN, and I have always read cookbooks like novels. I love looking at the beautiful presentation of food and desserts, and I love to eat them too. Dessert is my passion. I love the look, the textures, the tastes, all of it. Okay, so I also love chocolate, and that is motivation enough, right. I never knew I could make a career of something that was such a part of me. I honestly didn't know that until I was a junior in high school. Okay, so I am a little daft, as the Irish might say, but there you have it.
I decided to check into culinary schools. I must admit that was a bit daunting. I had plenty of home baking experience, but not anything professional. I knew I was gifted at baking and following recipes, but did I have what it took to do this professionally. I knew I wanted to have my own business someday, so I decided to get a business degree first at Wake Forest University. I did my focus in business in entrepreneurship, and even did a business plan there for that class to open a bakery. I presented my plan with fellow classmates to some local businessmen that my professor brought in. I even made pastries in the University cafeteria, where I was working decorating cakes and helping the baker there, to use in my presentation. I am not sure how well I really did on the plan, but the desserts delighted everyone.
After Wake Forest, I was accepted into the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. I was so excited. Two of the chefs I has worked with at Wake Forest were graduates, and they wrote recommendations for me when I applied. They pretty much cemented my decision to go to the best school for culinary arts. I know there are some who would disagree, but I don't. I took a Continuing Education course that was 9 months of hands on baking and pastry arts instruction. To say I learned so much, is an understatement. To say that I ate a lot of wonderful pastries would be an understatement too. The only way I didn't get fat, was that we were lugging 50 lb. bags of flour and sugar, and huge trays of breads, cakes, rolls, etc. everyday from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm. Plus I had a job outside of the school, and cooking for one stinks. So I managed to indulge but keep the weight off. It was a wonderful experience. I hope to someday go back and sharpen my skills when I can get back into the baking business.
So after that I had a string of blah jobs. I won't go into those disasters. But I finally found the job that was wonderful for honing my pastry skills. I worked for a wonderful dessert cafe in Durham, NC called Francesca's, on 9th street. I got to learn so much about making wedding cakes, and all sorts of other pastries. We made everything from scratch, no artificial anything. We couldn't even use food dye in coloring our icing for decorated cakes. It was chocolate, fruit purees, pure fresh everything. Oh, my word, it was heaven. The cakes we made to sell by the slice and for special order and restaurants all over Durham and Raleigh were exquisite. Most people around here have never tasted such bliss. I worked there for almost 2 yrs. before I moved here to Roanoke a new bride to my wonderful husband.
I worked for a few caterers here in Roanoke, hoping I would get to use my skills at homemade desserts, but alas they wanted, quick, cheap, not homemade. So I said, "no thanks," and started my own business out of my home. I started doing Christmas cookies and small cakes for friends of family and church family. By word of mouth from them, my business took off. I had made my own wedding cake (see the photo at top) and grooms cake, when I moved up here. Then a year later I made my sister in law's wedding cake and grooms cake. Between that and God's providence, I was on my way to a pretty good wedding cake business. Then Scott and I decided we wanted to have children. I kept doing wedding cakes up until our firstborn was about 1 1/2 years old, but it was clear that small children, a small kitchen and the breadth of work for wedding cakes wasn't a good mix. It's hard to do a good job on the cakes when your family needs you to be a good mom too. My family comes first, so I had to start turning people away, and saying I was giving up the business for now.
I started my Stampin' UP! business to keep the creativity going, but I do miss the baking. I am grateful to the gifts God has given me, and I pray that one day when my boys get a little older to be able to serve him with these gifts again. My boys love to help in the kitchen, so maybe it could be a family business.
I started this blog to share some of the things I have done, expound on the ideas I have or maybe share a good dessert I have tried. Who knows. It won't be updated too often, but I wanted to put it out there.
Thanks for letting me share my pastry journey.
Melissa
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