Graduation Daze

Well, I survived it... barely. Every cake-maker’s Olympics – graduation time! In one week I worked 57 hours with a team of 4 people to make perhaps 120 graduation cakes, maybe more. I lost count at some point. In between these were the other constants.. birthday and best wishes cakes for various occasions. I don’t know exactly how we did it and the amazing thing is that no two were alike. The week has ended with a cortisone shot to help the incessant cramping in my hand from carpal tunnel syndrome, and nightly dreams of frosting squirting from tubes, as I pipe "congratulations, congratulations, congratulations" over and over again.


Multiple high school colors, endless names, diplomas, graduation caps, stars, roses, edible senior portraits juxtaposed with baby pictures..... it was an experience I won’t forget. With each cake I felt I knew the graduate... the family... the weight of the accomplishment... I recalled my own daughter’s high school graduation and how we all felt. Throughout the ceremony I stared at this beautiful young woman who had once been my baby. She was all poise and grace. And still beneath that cap and gown I could see her as that tender infant I rocked to sleep; my precocious 3 year old who read books to her dolls; my darling eight year old companion who still wanted to grow up and be like me; and my sixteen year old rebel who experimented with hair color, cussing, and kissing boys. Throughout my daughter’s graduation my heart was breaking. I wanted to stand up and scream "Stop this madness!!! I’m not ready to let her go!!!" But then again, another look at those incredible blue eyes and all the hope and excitement that filled them.... how could I deny someone I loved this intensely all that life has to offer... college, marriage, career, babies, homemaking, travel, friends, exploration..... I too wanted it all for her, and so I sat there carefully concealing my agony, with the exception of the occasional tear that fell from the corner of my eyes.


It’s crazy I know, but my own life’s experiences somehow were woven into each one of those cakes and as I boxed them up and wrote their owners names upon the pricing stickers, I also attached my secret prayers. Prayers for each graduate and each parent. That life would be good to them. That these wonderful young people would come to know their strengths despite the humbling journeys that lie ahead. And that always they would know love.


One particular order struck my heart. A mother whose heart was all over her sleeve. She ordered two cakes. One with his school colors of red and white with a graduation cap and "Congratulations Christopher" on top. And a second, in pastel blue, coral, sea foam green, and pale yellow... that said "Congratulations Christopher and Meredith... We will miss you..."
I couldn’t help but ask.... "What’s happening to Christopher?" "He graduates this weekend and then he and his fiancé are moving to Florida." she replied. There was such pride and such pain in her response. A mother’s curse... We raise them up well and give them the world and then they take it and leave us. All we have left are our memories and prayers that they won’t forget us... and the sweets.... We serve them sweets at the time of our greatest pain and their greatest joy as they step away from their childhoods. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Meeting with Masters

I’m relatively new to cake decorating. One year to be exact. I never imagined that signing up for an introductory cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby would in less than a year’s time lead to a new career. I initially signed up because I was blue and needed to occupy my mind with something aesthetic and constructive, rather than wallow in negative thoughts. I was having depression over my job and a growing unrest that I felt there. The workplace and mission had changed and I was not on board with the changes. I also began to look at my colleagues differently. I no longer wanted what they wanted, nor could I find myself able to be what they required me to be. I fought this because I had invested much in my career. 23 years as a museum educator and 15 years at one place. Retirement was within site. But one thing was more in my forefront view than retirement. I was unhappy and needed to change. There was no way I could stay there another 12 years. If I did I would die of insanity or a broken heart.

As I developed skills in cake decorating I began to fantasize about making cakes for a living and I determined to do it as a side-line, to raise extra cash, and channel my creative energies. I thought having my own enterprise away from my full time employment would help me to compartmentalize my troubles, but the toxic environment of the workplace I’d been battling became more so. I became so tormented spiritually that ultimately, I had to leave. After a month of doing virutally nothing but crying and cleaning house, my husband and I took a trip around Lake Michigan. It was a much needed and healing experience. During the trip I decided that when we returned home I would work on identifying my skill sets and focus on rebuilding me. Upon my return the calls – from friends, began to come in, and suddenly I was making cakes for people and getting paid. God had opened a window for me.

It has now been 8 months since I formed Whisk Away Bakery. There have been orders every month and some most unexpected turns. Just this last month I was able to obtain employment at the local County Market Bakery and now I make oodles of cakes every time I work. I’m learning volumes and almost feel like I’m being paid to go to school. Even though the grocery store sells "kit cakes" and is perhaps a bit limited in it’s flexibility in designs, I have been fortunate to learn how decorated cakes are mass produced; what the most popular motifs and decorations are; how to price, label, and package cakes; how to airbrush cakes; and all about marketing strategies and techniques. It’s very valuable schooling.

Just before I was hired at County Market I’d had my first wedding cake order and was a nervous wreck over the affair. Several friends kept saying "you should go see Charlotte", an elderly woman in our community who is a master at making cakes. I kept putting it off, but as luck would have it I ran into her daughter one day when I was buying baking supplies and her daughter, who worked at the grocery store, said "It looks like you’re baking a cake. You should talk to my mother." So I did. I looked her up and introduced myself and told her about my worries regarding the wedding cake project. She offered me the reassurance I was seeking and told me to come see her when I’d gotten through it. A month later I finally had a day to myself and so I called her and she invited me over to her house. I love her to pieces and think that she is one of the most amazing women I’ve ever met. We spent 3 hours talking non-stop about cake designs and how she made them. She told me how she’d had 8 children and after the last one was born decided she’d better find a new hobby! She also kept saying she was a frustrated artist. She always wanted to paint or sculpt but never felt confident ... but when making cakes, she found she could manipulate frostings with some talent and in time she became somewhat of a local legend. The most amazing thing about Charlotte is that she is self-taught. Hearing her story gave me courage and helped me to realize that one need not rely on schooling or an institution to form you and make you a professional. Being professional – being a master at something can be done individually but it requires determination, focus, tons of practice, a willingness to learn from failure and accept some vulnerability, time, and faith in yourself.

Charlotte shared her secrets with me over a glass of iced tea and before I left presented me with a collection of cake decorator’s books she no longer wished to keep. She invited me to call her if I needed to borrow anything and we agreed to keep in touch. I will always treasure this meeting and the sisterhood of cake decorators out there. She gave me much more than baking and decorating tips.

I have only known one other Charlotte in my life but in the next week I would meet my third one. This one, also is a cake decorator. This Charlotte is my supervisor at the County Market and she too is wonderful and an amazing self-taught cake decorator. Both Charlottes have been making cakes for over 40 years and have tackled some phenomenal requests. They talk about these experiences with a calmness that I cannot fathom.

I am fortunate to have these two wonderful mentors in my life and it’s my mission to learn all that I can from them and to make them proud. Knowing them, has taken away all the sting of my departure from my former job. Their gentle ways have given me confidence not just in my work, but in myself. I have a mantra again... "If I think it and I want it, I can be it."
I am in a new world now. A world of making ephemeral, edible art for those celebrating the happy moments and milestones of their lives, and it is good work.