Growing up, I was never much of an artist. I always preferred to use my words over a paintbrush or colored pencil. My creativity spawned and grew through writing short stories, not by arts and crafts. Once I hit high school, I despised all creative projects that didn’t involve writing, assignments or otherwise. As a perfectionist, I always felt too much pressure when it came to creating things. With words, I could edit and rearrange, delete here and insert there, until I reached a final product that I felt confident in. Once you mess up a drawing, or a painting, or a random craft – game over.
Somehow, decorating cakes is different.
I used to work at Baskin-Robbins, where their variety of ice cream products includes ice cream cakes. Once I became a shift leader, I had to learn how to write on cakes with icing so that I could personalize the pre-made ones we kept in the store for customers. I practiced a lot, but I never really felt confident in my writing. I got used to the routine of it, however, and slowly felt more comfortable with customers watching me write on their cakes.
After a few years working at BR, our cake decorator began training me to help her with our standard cakes. It was simple borders, chocolate drizzles, balloons and streamers. My first few attempts were intense – I was hard on myself and wanted to learn quickly. After some practice, however, I quickly fell in love. It was messy, it was fun; it was a new, untapped skill I never thought I could obtain.
Naturally, when I needed to find a job in Tallahassee, I thought it would be neat to find a cake-decorating job. As time passed, though, I had to settle for what I could find instead of what I wanted. As soon as I realized that job wasn’t going to work out for me, I began the job search again last semester. That’s when I found out that The Great American Cookie Co. was hiring, and I jumped at the chance to apply. I had no idea if I would even be given the opportunity to decorate, but I knew it was a risk I had to take.
And it paid off.
I have been decorating cookie cakes, cut-out cookies and cookie slices since Nov. of last year. If you would have told me in high school that I would spend my senior year of college working as a part-time cake decorator, I would have laughed or gasped in horror. Yet, after learning the fundamentals at BR, my love for decorating has only grown. It’s a hobby I never expected to have, much less be paid for doing.
Now, I’m no expert. I still make a lot of mistakes, but every day I have the chance to learn something new. Some days are more difficult than others. I go in, feeling sluggish and unconfident, and that’s when I tend to make the most mistakes. Sometimes, I spend my whole shift decorating, to the point that my hands are cramping by the time I clock out. Some days I don’t decorate at all. Yet, when I make a cake I like, I feel this sense of pride that I’ve normally only felt after writing a good story.
I take my job seriously, but I absolutely love it (well, at least the decorating part). It is so fulfilling, and it keeps me on my toes. I try my best to accommodate to what the customers want, just like that quote from Spongebob: “You shall never deny a guest, even the most ridiculous request.” Yes, that even includes putting a Gators logo on a cake, free-handed.
While cake decorating has been a relatively short journey for me, it is one I hope to continue for a long time. I plan on looking into cake decorating kits and refining my skills at home over summer. In the near future, I hope to start decorating cakes for loved ones’ birthdays. I want to feed into this hobby and passion, and I encourage anyone else trying out something new to do the same. You never know where you’ll end up.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest!