Growing up, Cecelia Baker Grade always loved baking. It is her middle name, after all.
Still, making cookies was a great stress release. She’d never considered a culinary career until she took part in a Pro-Start cooking competition in high school. That changed everything.
She headed to Kendall College in Chicago for culinary arts but was still not a big fan of cakes. Then in 2012, she began working at The Cake Lady in St. Francis. She purchased the business in 2018.
Tiered cakes are the base of the business, where she creates custom cakes and sugar cookies to order. Her cakes are also available by the slice at local spots, including Anodyne Coffee, Sprocket Cafe, The Soup Market and Hudson Business Lounge.
Born a Baker
My middle name is Baker; it is not even a joke. Especially in high school, I was finding myself making cookies all the time. I was always the kid that pulled up the chair and was all up in it, enjoying being in the kitchen. But I never really knew I wanted to go to culinary school.
Choosing a culinary career
My whole family on my dad’s side is doctors. I was thinking, I’m going to UW-Madison to be a pediatrician. My senior year at Wauwatosa East, I switched from AP science to Chef Foods. My mentor there, the food teacher Barb Bruesewitz, she was the first person to show me what it would look like. I was in a Pro-Start competition. I didn’t realize it was possible as a career until then.
Drawn to desserts
I went to culinary school and graduated from Kendall College in Chicago in 2012. I did the two-year pastry program, then started working at Lake Park Bistro. I loved plated desserts, but I knew right away the hours for this are not what I was loving.
I forced myself to explore other options. If you ask any of my chefs or friends from culinary school, (they will tell you) I disliked cakes. I was not good at it. They cannot believe this is what I do!
Someone word of mouth referred me to The Cake Lady, run by Karen Smith at that point. She’d worked for the original owner, then bought it from her. She trained me 100%. I had no real cake experience.
Baking love
I don’t have a favorite cake. There isn’t one. It has become about favorite relationships and families I have grown with. It is nice to be in such a position where someone gets a wedding cake from me. It is a big part of their life and I get to be a big part of the day. Then they maybe bought a house and I make cookies for that. Or they have a baby and I help with the baby shower cake. It is not the cakes but the relationships that stand out.
Custom cakes
It is a love/hate relationship with Pinterest and all the TV shows and things. I love any awareness and involvement for cakes and food — no matter what, it is all positive. The issue is that it is so readily available to people, they don’t realize how much time and labor goes into their request.
I don’t have just A, B, C, D, pick out a cake. I love customizing. I encourage it. That is what I want to do for people. But it is hard because people don’t know what that price looks like. It can become insulting on either end if you don’t handle it correctly.
Don’t go naked
The naked cake trend is one of the saddest things. For me, one of the reasons frosting was invented was to keep the cake from drying out. People see this naked cake trend, and their cake is literally drying out hard as a rock before it is served. If it doesn’t taste good, what is the point? Some trends are not worth it. That one is one of my things, no naked cake trend.
Cake therapy
My favorite days are my Fridays when I get to sit in my chair and do all my decorations. It is so nice to sit and work for a concentrated time on a wedding cake or another design, very therapeutic.
Monday must
I have Mondays off and I call them “Auntie Monday.” My sister has four kids and at least once a month we make my favorite oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies. It is something I am not doing for work, and I am doing it with people I love.
Fave flavors
People are shocked when I say this, but everyone tastes things differently. I don’t like any fruit desserts. I always try. Apple pie? Nope, still hate it. I could not turn down chocolate, peanut butter or caramel, and I love coconut cake. That’s probably my favorite cake here.
Her indulgence
I’m not snooty about desserts. Every year for my birthday, my mom gets me the same Sentry Metcalfe’s sheet cake. It is nostalgic and delicious.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.
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