Former 'Cake Wars' baker says she believes 12-year-old Lehi girl will be the next big baker

In Addie Branham’s basement kitchen in Lehi, you can find a small, elegant slice of Paris.

There are Eiffel Towers everywhere — even the paper towel holder and trash can are inspired by the wrought iron tower in France. There’s a small, iron table by the window with two matching chairs, an ideal place to sit and enjoy a pastry. In cursive lettering, an oversized, hand-painted clock says “Addie’s Boulangerie,” French for “bakery.”

From her French haven, inspired by her love of Paris, Addie runs her new cake baking and decorating business, “Miss Addie’s Cakes.” Although several things set apart Addie’s business from others like it, perhaps the most impressive is this: Addie is only 12 years old.

As a 12-year-old baker and business owner, Addie designs, bakes and decorates up to five cakes a month, runs her own Instagram page and has received recognition from professional bakers throughout the country.

‘Better for it’

“From an early age, [Addie] always liked to be in the kitchen with me and bake and sit right alongside me,” said Traci Branham, Addie’s mother.

Traci Branham remembers that Addie used to bake with her friends and pretend they were on a reality baking show.

"I would hear them in the kitchen, and they'd be like, 'Hurry! We only have 30 minutes left!' She's always done that," Traci Branham said.

Addie began to pursue her interest in baking in October 2013, shortly after her father, Matt Branham, who is in the Army was deployed to Afghanistan.

According to Traci Branham, the military offers scholarships to children whose parents are in the military to help them pass the time, and Addie chose to use her scholarship to take cake decorating classes.

“It looked fun and I like learning new techniques,” Addie said.

Less than six months after Addie’s father was deployed, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Traci Branham said her three kids handled the trial very differently, and Addie, who is shy by nature, held back her feelings and didn’t open up.

“I tell my children, ‘I know it’s hard, but you've got to do hard things, and it will make you better for it,’” Traci Branham said.

Although it was a difficult time for Addie, she found an escape in cake decorating and other creative outlets. She would spend hours learning about cake decorating from YouTube and baking shows.

“It was sad. Most of the time I just did crafts to get my mind off of it,” Addie said about her mother’s breast cancer.

Traci Branham said having breast cancer while her husband was deployed helped her become more laid back and open to Addie’s business venture, including the dishes that would pile up in the kitchen before Addie made the move to the downstairs kitchen.

“It’s helped me to go, ‘It’s OK. She’s doing what she loves, and it’s OK if it’s a mess for a little while,’” Traci Branham said. “I’m a pretty ‘type A’ personality. But after the cancer and my husband’s deployment, you just go, ‘It doesn’t matter.’”

Addie’s father returned from Afghanistan later that year, surprising his family by arriving a few months earlier than expected, and her mother has been cancer-free for four years.

Both parents, whom Addie calls her “unpaid interns,” help Addie substantially with “Miss Addie’s Cakes.” Her father, an engineer, helps when the cakes are logistically difficult to build. Her mother helps by taking orders and baking cakes while Addie is at school so she can come home and decorate them. Additionally, her little brother, Preston, is always eager to taste test.

The cake community

Addie consistently surprises her clients with the quality of her cakes at such a young age. In her few short years of baking, she’s also managed to impress professional chefs and bakers across the country.

One example is when she went to her aunt’s wedding in North Carolina two years ago, when she was only 10. The mother of the groom showed some pictures of Addie’s cakes to the bakers, who approached her at the rehearsal dinner and invited her to work with them in the kitchen the next day.

When Traci Branham went to pick up her daughter from the kitchen, the chefs didn’t want Addie to leave.

“[The chef] came up to me and he’s like, ‘She really has talent. I have some adults that get out of culinary school and can’t do what she does,’” Traci Branham said.

According to Traci Branham, Addie helped pipe icing on key lime pies, roll out cookies and work on the wedding cake.

“It was really fun to see what kind of new tools they had, like a machine that rolled out fondant,” Addie said. “I got to help make cookies and stuff. It was really fun.”

Addie got another taste of the professional cake world when she entered the San Diego Cake Show in March. She entered a cake that looked like a set of luggage (complete with an edible boarding pass to Paris) and went to classes where she learned more about baking and cake decorating.

“There were a lot of people there and a lot of cakes. It was really fun," Addie said.

One of the professional cake bakers Addie met while at the Cake Show is Pepsy Garcia, owner of California-based Pepsy Cake Designs. Garcia is a professional cake designer and a baking and pastry chef. She also competed as an assistant baker in Food Network’s “Cake Wars.”

“I stopped by, I saw her cake, and I was like, ‘Holy cow. She did not do this,’” Garcia told the Deseret News. “She’s so young and she applies a lot of attention to detail. She gives that extra stuff that most beginners don’t. She’s obviously born with the talent.”

Garcia thinks that within a few years, Addie will be the next big baker. She said she sees Addie as the future Yolanda Gampp, a famous baker and one of Addie's role models.

"I honestly think that people are going to want to learn from her someday. I feel like she’s gonna be the headliner at a cake show." Garcia said. "The only thing she needs to do is break out of her shell. I told her, 'The minute you break your shell, you're gonna be the one that everyone wants to see.' It’ll be a few years, but she will be that person."

Garcia said the support Addie receives from her family will also help her succeed.

"If I were 12 years old and I had that support, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now — I’d be a lot further," Garcia said. "It’s really nice that she has her family to support her."

Quiet confidence

1 comment on this story

Traci Branham is impressed with how her daughter has been able to learn the difficult things about business, like charging the proper amount for her cakes, talking to adults and budgeting her time. But she thinks the most valuable part of the cake baking experience has been the boost to Addie’s confidence.

“This has really been able to bring her out of her insecurities and not feeling confident, and realizing that she does have a lot of talents,” Traci Branham said.

Addie’s dream is to work for famous bakers like Buddy Valastro from “Cake Boss” and Duff Goldman of “Ace of Cakes." When the time comes, she wants to go to Paris for culinary school.

“We’ll see where it takes her,” Traci Branham said. “If not, it’s been a journey — another journey in life.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read Again https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900019864/former-cake-wars-baker-says-she-believes-12-year-old-lehi-girl-will-be-the-next-big-baker.html

Bagikan Berita Ini