I got my first two paid commissions as a pastry chef last week, designing two birthday cakes. Challenging they were, but most definitely fun.



Sam's cake kind of came on the heels of Laura's cake (pro bono) from the week before. So I borrowed some ideas.



Lauren's cake is loosely inspired by a somewhat generic china pattern.



I really wanted to make a set of "teacupcakes" and a teapot for Lauren's design (tea party theme), but I wasn't sure how much creative freedom I had with it, not to mention how much the customer was willing to pay, so I went more traditional. My "agent" also seems to be pushing fondant as the covering of choice. I'm not complaining, but it does cost about $7 to cover a 9-inch layer cake with fondant, not counting any other fondant pieces (for example 18 pink and purple flowers).

I'd really like to try out the "teacupcakes" concept, so if anyone's planning a tea party and would be willing to pay an extra premium for art disguised as dessert, I'd like to talk to you. :-) The entire "tea set" would probably be able to provide dessert for about 20-25 people. And if you have a particular china pattern you'd like to lend me for inspiration, that'd be even cooler. And actually, there are pastry chef competitions in which a piece of china is selected/provided, and the chef must design a cake inspired by the china pattern. My friends seem to think I'm going to become some world-renowned, international celebrity of a pasty chef. We'll see.... ;-)

In the process of creating these two cakes, I remembered why I enjoy this so much: it's all about putting a smile on someone's face, whether a smile of wonderment, or excitement, or something in between. When I'm engineering software no one ever says to me, "Hey, man, great code! I love it!" But hearing about the face of a little girl named Sam light up at the sight of her pink and purple cake makes me feel satisfied and fulfilled, like I made a difference in somebody's life, if even for a brief, fleeting moment in the Grand Timeline.

¶ 12:11 AM