Wars?’” she said. “I definitely think the reality shows have contributed to us getting business.” Richardson found her way to cupcake decorating in almost the same way that Thomas did. When her daughter started preschool, she was a room mother and wanted to bring in homemade treats for the kids. Lots of people started commenting on the cupcakes and her sister-in-law, Amy, thought the two could make a business of it. “She’s very business-minded and very savvy. She does it all – the decorating, the baking,” Rachael Richardson said of Amy. “I just like to bake.” The key to turning out heavenly designs is practice, practice, practice, Rachael Richardson said. “Over and over and over and over, until you get it,” she added. “Sometimes I just practice on a paper plate until I can get the design right. I pull up YouTube and watch the instructional videos.” The Richardsons bake and decorate their cakes at night, filling the kitchen at Rachael’s house with fabulous aromas. Between the two of them, they have five children, so their schedules get pretty hectic. The business booms at different times of year – graduations in May are crazy, as is the Christmas holiday season, Rachael Richardson said. The business is fulfilling, and not just because of the money they earn.
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“One of my favorite memories is last year, we were at the Burlington craft show, and this little girl came by and got our business card,” she said. “We found out later that she kept it in her purse for two months. We got a call from her grandma, and she said it was her birthday and (the little girl) knew just what she wanted to take to school. That was really fun.” Being part of the cake and cupcake decorating world means you get to join in a lot of celebrations, Thomas said.
“I love doing fondant
work – it’s like playing with Play-Doh or clay
”
— KARA THOMAS, Owner “It’s just like delivering flowers to somebody,” she said. “It is awesome to see those smiles.” “We’re a part of people’s Christmas mornings. One mother is putting cupcakes under the tree for her kids,” Rachael Richardson said. “We’ve been part of an engagement; we’re part of people’s weddings, birthdays, anniversaries. We’re part of a lot of people’s big events in their life.” ¶
Transportation challenges One of the most fun things to watch on cake TV shows is how they get the multitiered extravagant cakes to the destination. One toppled recently on the Next Great Baker show. Kara Thomas, owner of Kake Atelier, has experienced the challenge of setting up a cake on location. She delivered a seven-tier wedding cake to the West Bottoms in Kansas City, Mo. It's an area where people are restoring and renovating old buildings. “When you get into these type of buildings, the air conditioning is not always good, and the flooring is renovated wood that they brought in and it's not the sturdiest and the most level,” she said. “When you put a round card table on that and expect someone to bring a heavy cake in, it needs to be supported and its needs to have air. “I got it in the room and got it all set up, and we were good to go,” Thomas said. “I told my contact thank you and I walked out the door. Not five minutes later, they were calling my phone and saying the top is falling. When I got back in there, I had three tiers on the floor because somebody hit the table.” Like any good decorator, Thomas doesn't leave home without straws (to insert in the cake for stability) and a survival cake kit. She scraped icing off and put layers back on and recreated the decorating on the spot. Unfortunately, the seven-tier cake became five tiers. Even though it wasn't her fault, Kara was devastated by the experience. “I felt so bad. You've just got to take a deep breath and recreate,” she said.