Hello!
Thank you so much for visiting Silver Spoon Events!
I hope you enjoy looking at all my sweet creations!
I entered the world of sugar at, pushing 10 years ago and what a ride it has been! It has been full of challenges, hard work, learning, building, growing and falling in love over and over with what I have the privilege of doing everyday! I'm inviting you into my world of sweets but before sugar entered my life we have to go back in time... way back...
Wow, where does one even begin? Where do we start? If I jump directly into the professional side of it all we miss the miracles that lead to where I am today. It's not really a story of cake. It's a story of seeing the mercies of God, being handed what I never thought possible, a tale of victories that broke through my cynicism and seeing what I deemed impossibility become reality. There have been so many "how could it be?" moments in my life that only His hand can explain.
Every symphony begins with one note, every painting with one stroke, each story with one word. The beginning, many times doesn't make sense. The simple notes don't sound grand, the added line doesn't feel magnificent; no melody is heard, no picture is formed. Beginnings are frustrating, irritating and impatience mounts. Dreams begin to feel not distant but impossible, doors feel closed and hope disappointed. But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind the hands of time even further.
The Early Years
I was born into a family with a precious Mom and Dad that poured love into
both me and my older sister. Our home was peaceful, kind, safe and sweet.
We were the light in our parents' eyes and my early childhood was a happy one,
filled with playing, homeschooling and peaceful harmony. One may be curious
if my early years were filled with baking and cake decorating and I can answer
with a resounding, NO! I was a little girly girl and being a ballerina seemed
more charming to my young fancy. I was enthralled with beauty and was
drawn to angelic voices, pretty dresses and heels that clicked when I walked.
I had, growing up, a plethora of interests but I can say, that being a cake decorator
never entered my imagination. As I grew into my pre-teen years new dreams were
formed along with all the frustrations of adolescents. I was a dreamer and would
imagine a myriad of exciting scenarios of where I wanted my life to take me.
The world of music began to fascinate me and the sound of the violin and dancing
symphonies enthralled me. I loved Mozart and Vivaldi and places like
Salzburg, Austria and Venice, Italy sounded magical. I longed to meet my musical
heroes in the modern world and play beautiful cadenzas to an astounded audience. These various longings grew and multiplied and becoming a figure skater like Tara Lipinski joined the list of dreams in my full head. Lol! Oh the dreams I dreamed!
As I grew with these, perhaps some, impractical dreams in my heart, I also began to feel great cynicism at the seeming impossibility of them ever coming true. . I longed to do something big and exciting but began to believe that God would never give me my heart's desire and deep disappointment planted itself even deeper in my heart. I began operating from a place of believing that my hopes were nothing more than a closed door and that negativity took many years to break.
I graduated from high school and yes, there were some avenues pursued in my childhood and teen years that I loved. Ballet was a big part of my life for a season and I began playing the violin as well and played in an orchestra! I taught ballet, played the piano, taught sign language, did some horseback riding, explored floral arranging, learned to knit, crochet, and cross stitch. It wasn't until my 20's that a catalyst occurred, a crescendo in the symphony of my life, that wasn't realized at it's start.
The Sweetness of
Childhood
Memories
Catalyst One
When I was in my 20's, a string of hurricanes came through southern Louisiana leaving a path of destruction and misplaced families. The evacuees stayed at churches, shelters and campgrounds and many volunteers rallied to lend a helping hand. My mom, sister and I became helpers in the kitchen at Scottsville Camp and Conference Center. I had grown up helping my mom in the kitchen but had never worked in a commercial setting with large amounts of food and serving whole groups of people. We got our feet wet in this new setting and it wasn't long until all three of us were offered jobs! Our duties consisted of dish washing, meal prep, serving and cleaning. I found in time there was something about this work that I enjoyed. It wasn't the food prep per se but the intensity of it all. It was fast, there was a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. Little did I know that a seed was being planted in my heart. I worked at the campground for years and took on responsibility and was eventually offered the position to be the head cook. What a season of learning! Let's talk about being thrown in the deep end and
learning how to swim! It was hard!
I was responsible for menu planning,
inventory ordering, kitchen staff, and
making sure meals were out on time
for groups of up to 200 people! Mistakes
were made, but I was learning and......
I WAS LOVING IT! I was shouldering more responsibility than I ever had but the process
of dreaming up menus, extensive planning, meeting deadlines, being in charge and seeing
a massive plan come to fruition only to do it all over again fueled me up! I was learning to
juggle many balls at once and yes, it was overwhelming at times, pressure was great, but
something about this work was satisfying and made me excited. I love good food and having
the freedom and opportunity to create and dream up menus is something I miss today.
The staff in the kitchen became a family of sorts and so many sweet, hilarious memories
happened during the long hours of food service at Scottsville. Special bonds are formed
when a team is all working toward the same goal and I still count those kitchen mates
as friends!
An Unlikely Meeting
Every experience in life seems like a random note in a symphony, unimportant, insignificant, but as we grow older those notes multiply and a melody is born. At first it sounds out of tune, wrong even, but each note serves a purpose. Enter.....catalyst two.
During my time at the campground, I also began helping a friend getting a new business venture off the ground. She was living in a large beautiful home and had the hopes of turning it into a venue for small gatherings. This new endeavor was underway and so quite randomly I went to an estate sale right up the road from my house with the hopes of finding appurtenances for the fledgling business. I found some dishes that I thought might prove useful so I spoke to the hostess of the estate sale and shared for what purpose I was desiring these dishes. She then informed me that she was a caterer, florist and did wedding cakes and had for 20 years. She showed me her work in her phone album and on the spot offered me the chance to come learn under her guidance. I had never met her before, she didn't know me from Eve and she had just offered for me to come to her house 4 hours away in Tomball, TX! She had a large wedding on her schedule and she said I could come and help and learn. The bizarre thing isn't only that she offered but that I went! Door one opening to a girl who believed that doors just didn't open.
I went to Tomball and helped with the wedding, then another, then another! She became a dear friend and still is to this day. Love you, Mrs. Bobbie! I so looked forward to her calls when she would say she had another gig and off I would trek for another adventure! It was at one of these weddings as I tied bows around a collection of chairs that a thought entered my head, an idea, a new ambition. I thought, "I want to do this." I wanted my own wedding business, to cater, arrange flowers and make wedding cakes. A new seed planting, a new chord played in the symphony of life. I already had food service experience and some floral design but cake was something of which I knew nothing. So something had to be done about that;)
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Enter... Cake
That year for Christmas, I requested cake decorating lessons so my parents purchased
a set of classes for me under the tutelage of Mrs. Amy, a friend of ours who had done
cakes for years. In my teen years, I had taken cake decorating lessons but believe it
or not, it wasn't something at the time that I wanted to pursue. But here I was, years
later, well into my 20's, giving it another go. My buttercream wasn't smooth, my
flowers were wilted but I managed to produce a cake of which I was semi proud.
Little did I know as this new instrument entered the orchestra of my life that it
would become the soloist for years to come, that the spotlight had fallen on an
unlikely performer and that melody would take me where I never thought possible.
The Lord had heard the longings of that little dreamer's heart but had plans to fulfil
them in ways I never expected. I was still working at the campground at this time so
I used my time there to practice my new found hobby. I experimented with flavors and
decorating and began posting those early cakes on social media. I found a drive inside
me to challenge myself and wasn't satisfied with easy. I pushed too hard at times but that pressure forced growth. Those early fb posts resulted in my first cake sales! They weren't grand but it was a start and I was learning, discovering how time consuming cake is and the logistics to get from baking to delivery. I created new cakes when I could and would challenge myself with each new design. I would at times design cakes that were almost outside my own cake knowledge but would find a way to produce cakes that were pretty and artistic. I wasn't satisfied with the status quo and was ever reaching. I would watch cake videos on YouTube and having been homeschooled all my life, did a lot of self teaching. When I have an interest, I dive headlong into it and drink in what information I find. I stumbled upon two cake artists, Food Network Champion, Joshua John Russel, host of Man About Cake and You've Been Desserted and Royal Cake Maker David MacCarfrae. The intricacy of designs created by David were like nothing I had ever seen. He had been internationally sought after for his masterclasses in the art of Royal Icing but I'd never be able to do something like that.... Would I? I learned a tremendous amount from watching Joshua's show. He seemed to answer so many of my cake questions and was profoundly instrumental in my journey through something as simple as a YouTube channel. These giants in the cake world were celebrities as far as I was concerned and the thought of ever meeting them never crossed my mind as a possibility.
Doors Opening
I started where most of us cake decorators do, with buttercream. I decided to expand my knowledge and began an online search for cake classes. I searched in the Houston area because I wanted to stay with Mrs. Bobbie while I took the classes. My searches resulted in finding Cake Craft Shoppe owned then by Sheila Brooks. I found a fondant module that piqued my interest so I reached out to Mrs. Sheila to inquire about the class which was in Sugar Land, TX, an hour away from Mrs. Bobbie and an impractical drive each day for class. So I naturally asked Mrs. Sheila if I could stay with her for the duration of the module, again, a lady I had never met before and she said I could. Whaaat? So, off I trekked to Sugar Land, Texas to stay with a complete stranger.. Mrs. Sheila was a kind, generous hearted soul and how I miss her presence in this world. One day she and I were sitting on her couch and she shared that she had two instructors coming to teach at her shop. This was pre-covid when the cake industry was booming and acclaimed artists would travel to cake shops and shows and teach to enthusiastic students. How I miss those days! Mrs. Sheila
said that one of the artists coming was none other than JOSHUA JOHN RUSSEL?
What??! Could it really be that I would have this unbelievable opportunity to meet
one of my cake heroes? Are you kidding me? Doors began swinging open for me in
ways I had never seen, I felt a precious permission to walk through these doors and I
not only walked through, I ran! That disappointed little dreamer was no longer
finding disappointment but a beautiful melody of possibility and it felt incredible!
The second instructor was the great James Rosselle who decorates cakes with
flawless technique and who is a master at sugar flowers. I have been a recipient of
James' sweet spirit and have since asked him many a cake question which he kindly
has answered. Thank you James!
I completed the class with Mrs. Sheila which opened up a whole new world in cake
design. I sold my first real, custom cake order and the wheels of this business had
begun to slowly turn. I never thought it possible that something as grand as a full
time cake business could ever be a reality. I simply made cakes when I could and
made a few little sales. I took the class with James and Joshua and wow! How cool
is that?! I got to meet these two cake greats and maybe they still don't really know
how I can't tell my cake story without telling of them. Mrs. Sheila was so very instrumental and years after those classes would give me honest advice about what needed work in my cakes. That grew me and made me understand what made a cake go from ok to great and how a critical eye is key to excellence.
Through all my internet learning, I had discovered a cake competition called the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show, created by the one and only Kerry Vincent. The cakes online looked grand and the idea of competition sounded intimidating but I eventually decided that I wanted to give this a try. I spent weeks on my competition entry and tried to use various mediums and techniques. It stretched me and raised my standard of what is acceptable in the world of great cake making. I came home with a second place ribbon and new experiences under my belt. I got to see James and Joshua again, meet Kerry Vincent, Marina Sousa and Ceri Griffiths. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm thankful I got to experience the joy of this cake show only two years before Kerry retired and the show ended. The "YES, GO FOR IT!" I felt inside me and the support from my family to pursue this cake world fueled my heart but little did I know, this was only the beginning. More doors were about to open and the Lord was going to show me just what was possible.
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Silver Spoon Events
Being an entrepreneur was never something I had wanted. Receiving a standing O at Carnegie Hall for a flawless violin solo, or landing a triple loop, perhaps, but owning my own business didn't sound exciting to me. It sounded boring and anticlimactic.... boy was I wrong!
Being a young adult can be a discouraging time. Comparing our lives and accomplishments to our peers can leave us feeling unaccomplished and "behind" everyone else. I wanted to have a good job and do adult things like buy my own car but the voices of "can't" and "impossible" still echoed in my mind and heart. I had sold more cakes so a small business was slowly forming. I had quit working at the campground and had bought a shop which would in time be transformed into a cake studio and kitchen but in the mean time I was making cakes in our home kitchen.
It wasn't until I attended my first local bridal show that I got my foot in the wedding industry and the wheels of business growth began turning.
One cake a week turned into two, then three, four, five! Before I knew it, this was becoming my job, a real, full time, grown up job! Every cake I made was posted on my social media and my name began being synonymous with cake. I pushed really hard in those early years and said yes way too much, but I believe it was necessary at that time to get myself established and stretch me as a new business owner. I learned that entrepreneurship is hard, it's not for the faint of heart but I also discovered that I had been given my niche in the world and I LOVED IT! I got to dream with each cake I made and then fulfil that dream with each passing creation, for a dreamer, that's some job satisfaction. I got to experience the intensity that I had loved at the campground and the multifaceted quality of my work kept it interesting. I experienced the joy of standing back and drinking in the beauty of a cake just completed and felt the smile play on my lips as I basked in the joy of creating beauty. I felt the excitement of a long week completed and the immense sense of accomplishment that came after delivery day. I felt the stress of long hours and high pressure while simultaneously feeling the joy of completing difficult tasks. I remember one day in particular that I sat down and totaled out my invoices for the year and I was shocked! I had a business! It was that day where the word "possible" dawned upon me for accomplishing my grown up goals. I never considered myself a bold , brave person, in fact, I would have described myself as quite the opposite, but through the world of cake, the Lord in His sweet goodness gave me boldness, courage and victories I had never experienced. I embraced challenges and tried bigger, harder and taller cakes. Cynicism was replaced with possibility and God broke through what I thought I knew about Him and proved many of my narrow views wrong. Dreams that only He and I knew were being fulfilled in the sweetest of ways. Cake was satisfying something deep inside me. Every note added became a melody and how many times have I basked in the joy of this symphony I get to live!
Humphrey, Royal Icing and Europe
We all have those milestones that we dream of reaching, graduation, get a job, buy a car etc. That list of accomplishments that make us feel like adults.
I still remember the day as another one of my "impossibles" became reality as I drove in my new car back home. This vehicle would become my "cake-mobile". I was amazed that I had just bought a car who was later affectionately named, Humphrey. I had waited a long time for this moment and here I was living out what I once thought had been an insurmountable goal. This cake business had allowed me the freedom to get my first car! Wow!
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The years rolled on and I continued to live the life of a full time caker and business owner. Life was a juggling act of planning, ingredient buying, baking, dish washing, mopping, cake decorating, delivering cakes, typing invoices, sending quotes, attending bridal shows and somehow finding time to sleep and eat, hey, welcome to entrepreneurship.
One day I was scrolling through Instagram and stumbled upon the page of David MacCarfrae. Remember that name? I had discovered his talents years ago when I first started this journey. Yes, of course I sent a message because that's what you do in the social media world;)
I had created a replica of William and Kate's wedding cake so I sent a message and a video of the replica. to him. He kindly responded! He shared that he taught classes online! Whoa! I was going to take classes from another cake great! I signed up and took two in depth cake modules exploring the world of royal icing. David opened up a whole new world of creativity and business sense to me. I found the elaborate piping to be stunning to my beauty loving eyes and who I was as an artist and business owner expanded and changed after those classes.
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I've now been living this caker life for about 10 years! Where has the time gone? I have seen the provision of God time and time again. Doors He opens, He sustains and no one can close them. Last year He opened another door that took me across an ocean.
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I was once again scrolling on Instagram (crazy what pops up on there;) and saw a video of a beautiful location in Amsterdam. I messaged my cousin who lives there and asked her if she had ever been to the place in the video. When she responded she had not, she also shared that her family ( my aunt and my cousins) were going to be vacationing in Europe. My interest was piqued! I reached out to my cousin and asked if I could be a tag along for this European adventure and she kindly said I could! As she shared the list of locations for this tour I was blown away to find that all the countries were exactly my bucket list places with Salzburg, Austria and Venice, Italy being in the line up!!!! How in the world could they have chosen the exact places that I had dreamed of seeing all those years ago?! What explanation can there be but a merciful God who knew the desires of my heart?
As this trip to Europe was being planned, I reached out to David MacCarfrae to inquire if he would be willing to host a live class in his hometown of Liverpool, England. I figured since I was already crossing an ocean that I might as well do as much as I could in one adventure. When David agreed to an 8 day course I began the task of reaching out to as many cakers as I could to get a group of students gathered for this incredible opportunity. I called and emailed every caker both far and near and at last I had the group needed to make the class complete! The plan was in motion and I was Europe bound! I took a master class with David MacCarfrae, I saw Mozart's violin, ate in Beethoven's house and walked the streets of Vivaldi's city. That little music loving dreamer got to see those far off places and I beheld more splendor and beauty than can be fathomed. I still am in awe that I lived this grand adventure! The splendor of Europe and all I got to see fills me with wonder!
The Continuing Story
All these experiences, all the single notes that didn't feel special in the moment were leading to a culmination planned by a Master composer conducting a symphony of wonder that I could have never imagined! I have lived my dreams and continue to do so. Life isn't perfect, there have been dark times, seasons of tears, grief, heartbreak, loss and deep sadness, but through it all I have also had seasons of feeling my heart beat again after grief, seeing the sun peek through dark clouds, feeling healing and the thrill of victory. I still feel the smile play on my lips as I see another cake come to life before me, I still feel the excitement of a new cake booked and a new treat added to my product line. Being an entrepreneur is still hard but it's worth it! I have seen miracles happen in my life and have found the sweet satisfaction in finding a niche in the world. I have seen the goodness of God. Who knows what adventures lie ahead!
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Sweetly,
Autumn