You’ve mentioned that growing up, you didn’t dream of becoming a pastry chef, baker, cake decorator, or any other baking-related profession. What did you want to be? I wanted to be a lot of things, but the most long lasting was an Archaeologist. I still have a bookshelf full of the “Archaeological Review” and still think it would be pretty cool to dig up an ancient civilization. Not just the digging, I like the detective side of it, the puzzle-y aspect. There is just something totally fascinating to me about how people lived out their daily lives—women like me with kids and whatnot just doing their thing thousands of years ago; what did that look like for
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them? How did Buttercream Couture get its start? You know, I’m not entirely sure myself. I never had the intention to bake as a “career,” and there is no cake-y education or grande opening or anything so Buttercream Couture’s origins are a bit fuzzy. Most people set out to do this on purpose but for me it just kind of exploded, like the “big bang” theory. At first there was nothing and then WHAM—I’m a cake maker. I decided to make my niece’s birthday cake (which was the first decorated cake I ever attempted) and after that all these moms want me to make their kids’ birthday cakes so I was like “Sure, why not.” Then I got asked if I could do a wedding cake; fast forward a
few years and here I am. You seem surprised that people want to pay you to bake. Why is that? (Dissolves into peals of laughter.) Um, I guess cause I am not always so super impressed with what I do? Maybe? I really don’t know; it’s just odd for me. I’m actually surprised by a lot of things people do with their money, so maybe people paying me for cake is just an extension of that. What excites you about your business? What do you really enjoy doing? Checking emails. I’m not even kidding, I get totally excited about emails! There is always some really cool new thing for me to do in there—someone