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You have over 125,000 followers on Facebook . What tips can you give to those wanting to raise their profile on social media ?
My following came as another complete surprise for me as I didn ’ t set out to grow my numbers . I ’ ve had my Facebook page since 2009 and had just under 800 followers up until 2013 which I was pretty happy with . When I stopped taking outside orders and started concentrating more on personal projects , family occasions and my own designs suddenly my numbers started growing . I also became more active in the online cake community around that time and participated in share days on other pages . Pages with big followings started sharing my work and within a matter of less than a year , I saw my numbers rise and surpass 100K . It was hard to wrap my mind around the sudden increase and I still can ’ t say what contributed to it the most but definitely being active in the community helped . Also , creating pieces that had my own aesthetic stamp on it , helped to get my work recognized and shared . I rarely find time anymore to participate in other page ’ s share days but I regularly host them on my page kind of as a way to pay it forward .
Who are your favourite cake decorators ?
There are so many great designers out there with so many different styles and strengths . If I had to name a few , and these can be easily interchanged with others on any given day , I ’ d have to say consistently I love the work of Tracey Rothwell , Calli Hopper , Lesley Wright , Shawna McGreevy , Jacinta Perkins , Karen Portaleo , Margie Carter , Zoe Clark , Jeanne Winslow and Pamela McCaffrey , Karen Keaney , Brenda Walton , Faye Cahill , Kristen Erich , Jo Orr , Lisa Grech-Staehr ... I literally could go on and on and on .
What ’ s the cake industry like in Canada ?
To be honest , I don ’ t really know as I am most active in online communities . I had looked for cake shows to compete in , way back when I first started out , but couldn ’ t find much at the time . Then I had my daughter so have been busy with her since then and have not really pursued much regarding cake , locally . I do know we have a great world renowned cake decorating school here ( Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionery Arts ). My daughter starts school soon so I plan to start researching more about the local cake industry as I would love to participate in a cake competition one day and find more venues for teaching classes .
Have you ever had a cake disaster ?
Oh yes ! Once , I made a tall sculpted three tier topsy turvy teacup cake and it had to be delivered 40 minutes away . My husband called me on his way to the venue saying he had hit a huge pothole and the cake had jumped up , landed hard and was now leaning to one side ! I quickly called the client to explain what happened and that we would be a bit late now as the cake needed to be repaired . Luckily we planned the delivery for two hours before the event was to start and she graciously told me it would be fine if it was a tad late . The bottom of the cake on one side was now smushed so I had to unstack everything and shave a bit off the bottom . Luckily it was well dowelled or else it would have collapsed completely . We made it to the venue just before the guests arrived and the client was ecstatic with the cake .
What has been your most memorable cake to date ?
That would be a toss-up between my Pink Fairy Garden cake and my Starry Night Christmas Cake . The first one probably got the most attention on social media with views , likes , shares and comments , and the second was my first ever cake to make the cover of a magazine this past Christmas on Party Cakes Magazine .
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