We talk cakes with Rebecca Roth, owner of Twisted Sisters Bake Shop in Topsail Beach.
Art comes in many forms, and one of those art forms is cake decorating. October 10 is National Cake Decorating Day, so we asked Rebecca Roth, owner of Twisted Sisters Bake Shop, to share her advice and experiences.
How did your career with baking/cake decorating begin? Has it always been a hobby?
Growing up my grandmothers both enjoyed baking and decorating cakes for birthdays and Sunday suppers. When we got married and had four kids, I found lots of excuses to decorate cakes for them.
What is your favorite thing about cake decorating?
Seeing people’s faces when they get to see the cake they picked out for their special day.
How do you mix the perfect color of icing?
It’s a lot of trial and error at first. You learn just how much dye of what shade gives you what you are looking for.
How many different utensils are used when decorating a cake?
That really depends on the cake. It can be as simple as a swirled icing just using your spatula, or an ornate cake with flowers and decorative piping that uses multiple tips and tools.
How do you get the perfect drizzle pattern?
The drizzle depends completely on the consistency of your ganache or chocolate. Too thin and it runs all over with no control. Too thick and it’s not moving! Too warm and you melt your buttercream. It only takes a time or two to learn what consistency will give you the look you want for each cake.
What is your favorite cake decoration you have ever done?
I would have to say my favorite one that still makes me smile would be the monkey cake I made for our middle son’s birthday one year. It was full of character and fun, just like him.
What are your favorite cake decorating accessories?
I actually really like two totally opposite things — fresh flowers or candy!
Writing on a cake always seems difficult. What do you do if you mess up?
I was taught to practice on parchment paper until I felt comfortable and had words the way I needed them. That way if I messed up, or didn’t like it, I just scraped it off and tried again until it was what I was looking for.
What is the one piece of cake decorating advice you would give to a beginner baker?
Don’t beat yourself up if it’s not what you saw in your mind. Baking is an art and it takes time to hone any skill. Practice also makes perfect, so enjoy the mess ups with your coffee and try again. Life is about learning, each and every day.
Does Twisted Sisters take only custom orders?
We will always do our best to get people what they are looking for, and when we can’t, we try to have places/people to send them to that we know can handle what they are looking for and do it well.
Twisted Sisters Bake Shop / 714B S. Anderson Boulevard, Topsail Beach / (910) 382-7701 / Facebook.com/thetwistedsisters3
