An homage to Grandma: Gainesville cake artist bakes Southern hospitality, nostalgia with a twist - Yahoo News

Apr. 28—Southern comfort has many flavors; for some, it's shrimp and grits, or fried chicken and a heap of gravy-smothered mashed potatoes. For Jennifer Brader, it's buttercream roses and Grandma's recipes.

Crowned Georgia's best baker in the 2019 Cake Clash competition, the third-generation baker learned the tricks of the trade from her mother and her grandmother, Zell, whose namesake lives on through Brader's specialty cake and cookie studio Zell's Cottage Bakery.

Although the family's matriarch died while Brader was in middle school, the legacy of a woman who nourished her loved ones through homemade foodstuff prevails.

"It's still bringing back that home taste, that comfort that you remember having as a kid at Grandma's house — everything was fresh, everything was so flavorful," Brader said.

According to Brader, many of the recipes housed by Zell's Cottage Bakery stem from Grandma Zell's own kitchen. Though some have been tweaked or "modernized" over the years, some continue to withstand the test of time — like a tried and true brown sugar banana pound cake and Zell's famous carrot cake.

"Those two are hands-down the best reflection of me learning to bake through my mom and my grandmother," Brader said. "There is no carrot cake like my grandmother's carrot cake — just the smell of it coming out of the oven brings back so many memories. I swear, it is the best smell in the world. I can't change it — there's nothing I would ever do to even consider changing that recipe."

A wife and mother of three, Brader is a one-woman show as far as Zell's goes — but she's hardly a one-trick pony. She's single handedly Zell's Cottage Bakery's tech guru, communications director, procurement manager and cake and cookie artist extraordinaire.

Having collaborated with Left Nut Brewing Co. on cupcake and beer pairings for several years running, Brader has a flair for concocting far-fetched, "off the wall" flavors that push the envelope, like smoked salmon, blue cheese and fig, grilled cheese and tomato soup, buttered popcorn, and meat and potatoes — a cupcake boasting mashed potato frosting with a red wine reduction and homemade beef jerky.

Her objective is to alter connoisseurs' perception of cupcakes and prove they can be more than just dessert.

"Ultimately, in your head, you think cupcakes are sweet — but if you think of it more like an appetizer, it tricks your brain into thinking, 'This is savory,'" Brader said. "I love creating flavors that are not your normal, typical (flavors) — things that you would see if you walked into Publix or another local bakery. I love coming up with things that are a little more unique, to create things that are over the top, a design that you won't see everywhere else."

After seeing Brader's portfolio, one might think Zell's operates out of an extravagant studio with all the bells and whistles — in actuality, the bakery doubles as the Brader family kitchen and dining room, which are licensed through the state's department of agriculture.

"I work out of a regular kitchen; there's nothing exceptional about it," she said. "People ask me all the time, 'How many stoves do you have, how many ovens do you have?' I have one — I have one oven, and it has two racks. That's it, and it blows people's minds."

For Brader, cake artistry was a hobby called upon for friends and family members' birthdays, holidays and other occasions. The idea of turning into a career, she said, more or less fell into her lap. She soon began setting up shop at farmers markets in Gwinnett County, the Brader family's stomping grounds before they moved to Gainesville six years ago.

"That's really where that passion started to transform ... and it just kind of progressed from there, and now, this is full time," Brader said.

Upon relocating, Brader said customers would often drive an hour to get custom cakes from her — and still do.

"For years and years and years, I've been doing cakes for some of these people — starting from a wedding cake, then a baby shower cake for the same family and then birthday cakes for their kids. Seeing these families progress and being part of that over the years has just been so rewarding."

In the distance, Brader sees the bakery eventually settling into a brick and mortar shop and widening its menu to include lunch and dinner fare, providing a place for guests to sit down and stay awhile as they nosh on nostalgia.

"As much as I love baking, I actually prefer to cook," Brader said. "There was a concept when I developed Zell's Cottage Bakery that at some point, it could be Zell's Cottage or just Zell's, where I would be able to have food — people could come in for breakfast or lunch or dinner and enjoy that comforting home-cooked food, those tastes that we had growing up. My grandparents had acres of garden space that was part of Sunday dinner — potatoes, rows and rows of corn, tomatoes. Being able to at some point have an actual restaurant or café, that's the end goal, I think."

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