It all started in my home kitchen. My cakes and treats got progressively more difficult and detailed and my family became less and less interested in eating everything I baked. Luckily, friends were happy to receive any of my baking and I used every opportunity to give treats away. Eventually, I had to consider how I was going to continue to finance the cost of the ingredients, the supplies and the courses. I let it be known that I was taking orders and that's when I needed to think about becoming a legitimate cake design business. We were lucky in that we suddenly had come into some extra space in our home, as my mother moved out of our basement and into a nursing home. We set about converting our basement office into my Sweet Handmade kitchen. There were lots of hurdles, but to make a long story short... today is the day! Insured, properly zoned and health board approved, let me give you a tour of my kitchen!
Both a handwashing sink and double sinks for dishes help make this a proper place to work. Above the long stretch of counter is one of my favourite features, the hanging area for my recipes and measuring spoons; handy and at my fingertips. My indispensible Kitchenaid is at the ready and the area to the right of my stove keeps my most often used dry ingredients within easy reach.
Here is the island. This is where I put the finishing touches on the cakes and cookies; make the buttercream super smooth; roll out the fondant; drape the fondant on the cake; craft the gum paste flowers; pipe the icing and sculpt the characters to make any cake more personalized and complete.
Here is shot of the rolling rack and also the storage unit for my cookie cutter collection - I have over 100!
We installed cork floors and used both new and reclaimed Ikea cupboards. While this space is in the basement, it has lots of natural light and is an absolute joy to work in. With cupboards dedicated to baking pans and cooling racks and drawers just for gum paste cutters and molders, rolling pins, mixing bowls, offset spatulas and candy thermometers; with mason jars full of chocolate, sugars and coloured sprinkles; a fridge full of butter and eggs, cream and milk, this is every baker's dream kitchen!! And now, what can I create for you?
