Cake Therapy
Cake Therapy is a heartwarming and uplifting podcast that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. Hosted by Dr. Altreisha Foster, the passionate baker, entrepreneur and advocate behind Cake Therapy, this podcast is a delightful blend of inspiring stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode takes listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking.
Cake Therapy
Eboni Sims: Baking Through Adversity, "If I got through that, anybody can!"
Resilience takes many forms, but for Eboni of Ebi Cakes, it came wrapped in fondant and buttercream. In this deeply personal conversation with Dr. Altreisha Foster, Eboni courageously shares how she transformed from corporate banker to celebrated cake artist through one of life's most challenging detours.
When most cake decorators share their origin stories, they often reminisce about childhood baking with grandmothers. Eboni's path couldn't have been more different. After making a serious mistake at her banking job that resulted in termination and eventual felony charges, she found herself a single mother with few employment options. What began as simply making birthday cakes for her children to save money unexpectedly flourished when a Barbie cake she posted on Facebook garnered attention and order requests.
"Baking for me was a way to disconnect from my reality of the unknown," Eboni reveals. As she navigated legal proceedings and an uncertain future, cake decorating became her sanctuary—a creative space where she could focus entirely on bringing joy to others while temporarily escaping her own worries. Each successful cake delivery built not only her business but her confidence and path toward self-forgiveness.
Without formal training, Eboni taught herself through trial and error, developing a signature style that has now earned her spots on television and a devoted clientele. Her latest venture, DIY cake kits, allows others to experience the therapeutic joy of cake decorating without professional skills. From her favorite "under the sea" designs to her preference for fondant's versatility, Eboni's technical insights are as valuable as her emotional wisdom.
Ready to find your own slice of cake therapy? Subscribe to the podcast and visit caketherapy.org to learn how baking can become both emotional healing and entrepreneurial opportunity. As Eboni powerfully reminds us: "If I got through that, anybody can."
Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Share the episodes and let's chat in the comments.
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Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast a slice of joy and healing, with your host, Dr Altricia Foster. This is a heartwarming and uplifting space that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. The conversations will be a delightful blend of inspirational stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode will take listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking. There's something here for everyone, so lock in and let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, welcome back to the Cake Therapy Podcast, your slice of joy and healing with me, your host, Altricia Foster, and I'm excited. Well, I'm usually pretty excited about all my guests, but today we have a fellow Midwesterner on our podcast today and I've been looking forward to talking to this girl forever. Her name is Ebony, but guess what? You don't know who she is yet because a lot of people might think her name is Ebony, but I figured it's the alias that she carries.
Speaker 3:So welcome, ebony, thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, we're really excited. So before I start talking to Ebony, I'm going to give a big shout out to all of our current subscribers. We love you and we appreciate you, but our listeners, you guys, need to hit that subscribe button right now. Go ahead. I'm going to pause for like two seconds. One, two, three. Go ahead and hit the subscribe button because I want you to, you know, follow us from wherever you get your podcasts. Yes, again, I want to welcome you, ebony, to the show. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3:It's an honor to be here today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm excited. So for you guys in Chicago, you may have seen her on WGN-TV, on Spotlight Chicago. Is that what it is?
Speaker 3:It was.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know, tell me about that I love to see us glow and grow in the spotlight, you know.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Look at all that experience.
Speaker 3:Yes, that was an absolutely amazing experience. It happened a couple months ago, in April, so a producer reached out to me. The producer of WGN Spotlight, chicago, reached out to me on Instagram you know DM and so I'm like is this really real? Is it the first thing you probably think sometimes you know when you're in those DMs? But she actually looked legit. She had been following me for years. She said she had moved away from Chicago but recently moved back, started working for WGN and she said I knew I had to have you on the show. So when she sent me the criteria and everything, I mean I was absolutely amazed when she reached out to me.
Speaker 1:And then, once we talked and just getting you know building up to it.
Speaker 3:So to honestly, I had to reschedule we had, I had to reschedule. I had to reschedule twice Because, honestly, I just wasn't ready. It was like I was ready but I wasn't prepared. I wanted to have everything that I wanted on display in order and, as well as you know, having my thoughts together and everything yeah. So I'm so grateful how patient Her name is Anissa, the WGM producer. I was so grateful at how patient Anissa was with me and once I figured out.
Speaker 1:I was like okay, this is the last time.
Speaker 3:I'm rescheduled, I'm ready, I'm ready, and so yeah it was an absolutely amazing experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kudos for you for stepping into that spotlight. I'm very proud of you. I wasudos for you, you know, for stepping into that spotlight. I'm very proud of you. I was excited for you when I started announcing on Instagram and I loved what you showcased.
Speaker 1:So tell me how you're feeling, girl, how are you?
Speaker 2:Are you anxious, nervous, Like what's going on with you today?
Speaker 3:I know what's going on with Evie Cakes. So right now I am I'm always excited about cake Like I can literally talk about cake all day long. You know, it's like I have my cake friend. I have my regular friend. Then I have cake friend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, don't we all right, but yeah, recently I have kind of been in a space where I feel a little complacent and it's kind of like a what's next? Type of thing. You know, things are different on social media as far as algorithms and posting time and posting what content to post and trending audio. So even though people might say, oh she, you know I makes amazing cake, which I I finally have grasped that that. You know, my cakes are amazing and I'm so grateful for people uh, pouring into me over the years. But sometimes, you know, even it doesn't matter how far you get. Sometimes you reach a level where you just are like, okay, what's next? You know you want to see yourself go up or in a different spotlight, but you just don't know where. So that's why I am, I've been feeling these days.
Speaker 2:I know sometimes, sometimes some of us, this imposter syndrome is just crazy yes, yeah, like imposter is no matter how good we are, and I'm happy that you're beginning to own, you know, the goodness or the greatness of who?
Speaker 2:you are in the cake space, but I would love you know, like, let's say, the devil is in the details, right, and what I want to learn is the beauty that is your journey. Like, who are you? Who is the female to me? Like, here's my impression of you when I see you on Instagram, she's Ebony, who is in her bag and minding her own business. So who are you really? I see you as misminding my business and doing my thing. So share with us who are you and what was your life? You know, growing up Was baking interesting to you then.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely so. My namesake, ebby Cakes my business namesake actually came from my dad. When I was little he used to always call me Ebby Cakes because he said I was so sweet, okay.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:So years go by, never thought about like. I wasn't a child that was like in the kitchen baking with my grandma and my mom. That wasn't me. I mean, I made cakes here and there and probably lick the paddle when my grandma was done or whatever, but that was pretty much. You know how you know I grew up. It wasn't all cake.
Speaker 3:As I hear other bakers like I started baking when I was three and I was like wow, you know, but for me it wasn't that. I really did not discover my love for baking until I was about, I would say, about 32, 31, 32. Now, prior to that, I was making cakes for my children.
Speaker 3:I started out making their birthday cakes just to save some money, so I would just do their cakes throughout the years. But when I was about 30, 31, I posted one of my daughter's cakes on the internet on Facebook, yeah, and it was just like a hey, look at this Barbie doll cake that I made for my daughter. And I'm not going to say it went viral, but it got a lot of views. It got a lot of comments and shares. People wanted to order.
Speaker 3:Now, at that time, I was really going through a weird transition in my life and I've actually never shared this part of my cake journey. Um, just kind of, I guess, fear of judgment. Um, but just talking to, like my close circle that I do, that knows the things that have went on in my life, everybody was 110% encouraging me to open, open up and be up and share your story because it needs to be said, because I feel like I'm at a point right now where it needs to be told. So at that point in my life, about 30, 31, I was working for a bank and I did some things that were very dishonest.
Speaker 3:Okay, I was a single mom going through a divorce and not saying that it's okay, but I took a substantial amount of money, I abused my authority. I was the assistant manager and I you know I took advantage of that and I, you know did it for quite some time, I would say for a couple of years.
Speaker 3:I was doing it so ended up getting terminated, rightfully so, ok, so I had nothing to go back on. I was a single mom, you know, trying to find a job that would not call my other job you know for references.
Speaker 3:Now, mind you, I had worked for the bank for 10 years, so that was a small amount of time, and so that's when I started. I was doing some part-time jobs here and there, working from home, and that's when I started to pour into my baking. Yeah, because it was like nothing else was working out, jobs was calling me or I would do an interview. They didn't kick me, you know things like that, um, so yeah, so that's when I dove into baking, uh, and, and you know, doing things like that to make money. Okay. Now, when I got terminated from my job, they did not pursue charges until a year later.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, it was almost a year later.
Speaker 3:Yes, Surprise to me. I go to my mailbox and I'm just checking my mail and I see all these letters from lawyers. From lawyers saying you have a warrant out for your arrest. Yes, yes, yes. And so I'm sick to my stomach. Of course you have to be.
Speaker 1:I'm sick to my stomach, so I get on the phone and call one of my best friends.
Speaker 3:Now, this is the best friend. That's a. She's a detective.
Speaker 2:Like you, give her something to look up, she's going to get to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I call her. My anxiety was through the roof. I couldn't type, so she went online and did her research and found out all of the details and I was in absolute shambles. Here I am, a single mother, no substantial, you know income. Yeah, and here it is. I have a warrant out for my arrest. So, and I and you know nothing is funny about this, because it took me years. This happened in 2011, 2012. So this is 12 years later, and I would say I recently, probably about four years ago I couldn't tell this story without crying, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, because but I've reached a point where I have forgave myself. It was, it was definitely a long process.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, so here it is, I'm taking cake orders.
Speaker 3:Once I've got those letters I'm taking cake orders, not knowing if I'm going to be able to make them Talk about stepping out on faith. Okay yeah, yes, it, it, it. It was definitely a process. A lot of stuff happened. The whole court process was about a whole a year. Okay, yeah, and then pled guilty, paid my restitution. I owned up to what I did because I was 110 percent wrong, you know but, at the time I did what I had to do.
Speaker 3:you know to stay afloat, know to take care of my kids, but you know what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and I had to pay for what I, you know what I did.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, yeah, stepping out and taking orders and working on orders while I am thinking about getting the you know these charges felony on my record. Not being able to have housing because you have to do a background check. It was very, very, very, very stressful, very, very stressful time, but yet I'm still pushing out these tape. So I, you know, like I said. So I say that to say all that, to say that if I got through that, anybody can get to it, because I never went to school for cake. Ok, to DeVry, I went to a technical college and never used my bachelor's degree. You know, as I know, a lot of people have too, so it's like crazy. But yeah, so that is the story about how Evie Cakes was born.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it became. I feel like that whole thing with the bank was a way of pushing me from corporate America to follow my craft, because I didn't know, I didn't know. I had a love for making cakes. I really didn't. I really started just to save some money on my kids cakes and then I started liking it. You know I did, but yeah, it definitely has been a journey. It's been some downs, it's been some ups, it's been some amazing time. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah Over the years. But yeah.
Speaker 3:So now, where I am today, I'm comfortable with sharing that story. Children know about it, most of my family knows about it. You know, the close ones, my friends know I'm comfortable with sharing that story and you know, yeah, it's been a lot of resilience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think there is. There has to be resilience for carrying that around, you know, without sharing it out loud. But then kudos to you for forgiving yourself. Forgiving yourself, getting to a place of forgiveness of oneself. You know what I mean. We tend to carry these loads like being so mad at ourselves, angry at ourselves all the time, so I'm really happy that you got past that. So my question is as you were talking about it, you said that your love for baking grew out of that. Tell me how, what, how?
Speaker 3:Tell me how, yeah, yeah, so, as I'm, you know, just baking. Baking for me, going through all of that, it was a way for me to disconnect from my reality of the unknown, not knowing, if, you know, I'm going to have to serve these 90 days in jail that the district attorney was trying to give me. It was a way for me to escape from the stressors of just being a single mom and not knowing what's next. And the financials. And especially when I first started, I had no idea what to charge. I had no idea what to charge. It was like.
Speaker 3:Sometimes I was like basically giving cakes away because I was breaking even or not making any profit at all. So, or just you know, actually going over, you know what I own. So, yes, it was just baking for me and cake decorating was a way to escape from that reality, that stress. It just put me in a space where nothing else matters but this cake and what my client wanted. You know, being able to make cakes for kids at these birthday parties, and they have these memories that hopefully will last forever. That's what grasped me on to continuing to do cakes. Yeah, seeing the outcome, seeing like, oh my God, I did that, I made that. And then the reaction that I would get from my clients.
Speaker 3:That just drove me to just keep going, not give up. Yeah, I got all of this stuff going on, but I have this little baby that I just created. Yeah, and I got to the point where I was like, ok, if I woke up today, then I need to do keep doing this, because I didn't go to school for this. No, like I didn't take classes, I just it was true, Not self-taught YouTube university, so yeah, yeah, I mean, you make really great cakes.
Speaker 2:They're quite intricate, intricate. I really love that and I love hearing stories of you know individuals who are self-taught and then just see, I'm just seeing what they put out there, the type of work. So I'm curious to learn from you like tell us about your first big cake project. What was the experience like and how did it make you feel?
Speaker 3:Okay so and it's so funny that you would ask me that, because my first big cake experience was a wedding cake. It was a wedding cake, so it was a five tier wedding cake, and it actually came up on my archive today and I contemplated about reposting it.
Speaker 2:But I think I'm gonna do it now. Repost it. Repost it.
Speaker 3:It was a lot. It was a lot. It was a carriage at the bottom and then it was a wood carriage that she had this wood maker like literally come out of retirement to make for her. Yeah, and it was a five tier cake, four or five. The bottom tier was real and then the other ones were fake.
Speaker 3:So that was my first time covering a fake cake. I was just winging it A lot of my cakes. I just took the orders. I did not know how to do it, I just figured it out along the way. But with that one I ended up covering that cake about three times because I kept messing up the finding word on the dummy cakes and it was just yes.
Speaker 1:But the bride.
Speaker 3:She absolutely loved it. She loved it, got there, everybody loved it, but that was my first big cake that I took on. I can't. I'll have to look in my book to see how much I charge, because I really need to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you really need to see my follow-up. Here is then what gave you the audacity to be like you do five tiers on a cart. You know what gave you that confidence? Hey, who are you thinking?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was just like. Well, I watched a couple of videos and looked at some comments, some really big comments, and you know reviews.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you know I'm definitely going to do my research, you know, beforehand, and then I just go out and do it, just definitely. I believed in myself, I believed I could do it. You know, even after that second and third, you know the third time I had to take the fondant off. I knew I could do better. I knew that this, this is a wedding cake. So their pictures are, you know, I don't know how long the marriage is going to last, but they're going to have those forever you know, and then the guests Exactly.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I just believed that I could do it.
Speaker 2:I told myself you can do this.
Speaker 3:It's not how I'm supposed to look. Just try it again and I just did it and it's a great feeling.
Speaker 2:When I walk into weddings with my cakes, I was like, oh my god, I have the pressure of 250 future clients.
Speaker 3:You carry that same pressure as well, yes, yes, that's what I'm saying because it's just not even because I even feel, like you know, the bride and groom, it's so much going on. I feel like the details of the cake. They look at it and see especially the bride. Ok, yeah, that's how I want it. But it's the guests and, like you said, the potential clients that go up to the cake, look at it, take pictures and things like that. So, yes, it's, it's a lot to process.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is oh yeah, it really is a lot. It definitely is a lot. It definitely is a lot. People just see a finished product, but they don't just see us walking around the shelves of ourselves thinking, oh my God, it's going to be 200, it's going to be 300 people seeing the cake and looking at it.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then having a 360 degree view of the cake, the pressure, it was a lot and I have no idea that I believed in myself. But, yeah, that was really something, but definitely fulfilling. And she still comments on my pictures on Facebook.
Speaker 2:Oh, she has a time then.
Speaker 3:She said she still has. She's like I still have my cake. She still has the fake parts in the cart.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness Beautiful. She must have fallen in love with that cake. Do you think, though, that your own personal cake style has changed? I look at my cakes and I'm like, okay, my style is kind of shifting. What about you?
Speaker 3:Tell me a little bit about you know I feel like my cakes and I'm saying, okay, my style is kind of shifting. What about you? Tell me a little bit about you know, I feel like my cakes change, kind of shifted around. I would say about. So I started on like instagram, started abby cakes like about 2012, 2013.
Speaker 3:But I would say it took me a few years. I would say my cakes didn't start to look have that signature look that I wanted until about 2017, 2018. Yeah, it took some time to, you know, because when you first started at least for me, when I first started it was a local baker here in Chicago that was doing all of pretty much you know, all of the celebrity cakes, celebration cakes, finding cakes. She was doing all of those and so when people would inquire with me, they would send me pictures of this cake artist's work and she was a really great cake artist and I started to I would try to do my cakes just like her. Okay, yeah, I would try to do my cakes just like her. Okay, yeah. But when I stopped that and said, no, I want my cakes to look a little bit more like this and like that, that's when I felt like my cake, my design shifted when.
Speaker 3:I started to do cakes how I wanted them to look.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah we've often yeah, we've often fallen victim to the designers that we look up to and like and admire their styles, but not when we just started up not being able to translate it into the way we are actually like. What about it that you like so much? You know what I mean, right.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah. So yeah, it was this. Yeah, you definitely have to get to a point where, like you said, what is it that you like, what? How do you want it to look? And then, when I started to communicating things to my clients, you know, when they say, oh, I want it to look just like this cake, I used to be like, okay, all right, and I would try my best to make it look exactly like that cake. And you know, once I reached the point, I'm like, ok, I'll make it look similar to it, but it will look more like my own. And once I started, you know, saying that, communicating that to my clients, that's when it seemed like I just flourished, because they were very receptive.
Speaker 3:They like I don't care, do what you. You know. They told me Go ahead yeah.
Speaker 2:I was just about to ask you, like how do you, once you found your style, how were you managing, you know, or balancing your own personal creativity with the expectations of your clients? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Cause that's important and I definitely have learned over the years that sometimes you do have to kind of educate your clients because they might send you and especially nowadays they'll send you an AI-generated cake. So you'll have to let them know that some things are just not possible because cakes are delicate. You want a soft, you know creamy, you know cake, but you want all these designs. So I feel like educating your client in a professional way. You always have to have great communication skills, professional skills with your clients to get them to understand. You know, this is this, this is that. Yeah, you know to try to help them along the way. Yeah, with the cake ordering process.
Speaker 2:Do you have like a specific medium, that you like Buttercream versus fondant, or like what would you?
Speaker 3:prefer to work with. I am crazy about fondant. Yeah, yes, I am totally crazy about fondant. Yeah, yes, I am definitely crazy about fondant. I would say, within the last maybe three to four years, I have started to embrace the buttercream. You know the buttercream cakes, because you know you get those abstract cakes with just some buttercream drip and a little platter and.
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna lie. Those cakes are so easy. You know they're easy to do, right, don't tell them. They're a little easier than fondant, but you still have to make sure that buttercream is 110% smooth. One thing about buttercream I feel like you have to work just as hard with buttercream or fondant cakes because that buttercream has to be on point, and for me, that is why I do prefer doing fondant cakes over buttercream cakes, because I feel like I'll look at my buttercream cake and it'll just mess up.
Speaker 3:Like where did that little thumbprint come from? But that's the only reason why I would say I embrace. I am more of a fondant person. It's more sturdy, it protects the buttercream from smudges and then it lasts a little bit longer. You know when the cake is sitting out, and then I always encourage my clients. I have on my cake care box. I have a little QR code where they can scan and it shows them how to assemble the cake but also how to peel the fondant off. I personally don't eat fondant, yeah me either.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you just peel it off and you have this yummy buttercream underneath and this yummy cake, so you don't have to eat it. It's just a decoration.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I'm definitely team fondant. I'm also team fondant because I like I like a finish. I'm a little OCD so I like my finish has to be yeah, I'm not great at product name, but for those who love it, yeah, and your cakes are beautiful, by the way, their cakes are.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you, I try, I try. You're doing an amazing job. Thank you, guys. I try, I try, I really try. You're doing a great job. Thank you so much. So, here at the Cake Therapy Foundation, what I want to teach girls is that there is an artistry called cake or baking that actually helps them to work through things. It will help them to center themselves.
Speaker 2:It's like a release valve, you know yeah, but then I'm also telling them like, once you learn this skill, you can also monetize it. You can become an entrepreneur. You can change wealth, generational changes. No, like your business, you're a business business minded woman. Do you have classes? You're doing it. So I know that running a business can be very, very demanding. What has your personal experience like as a cake entrepreneur? Share with our listeners what that experience has been for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so being an entrepreneur is not for the weak by far.
Speaker 3:Yeah so being an entrepreneur is not for the weak by far. It's definitely something you have to eat, sleep, drink, wake up, go to sleep. Everything is, you know, for me. I wake up thinking about OK, how can I be creative, how can I, you know, make more passive income? You know, you're always thinking of different ways of how to excel, and it's not a bad thing for me. I actually appreciate it. It gives me something to do, it makes my mind stay less idle and to drift off in other things, you know. But once you get past that discipline, just being consistent it becomes rewarding. Yeah, it becomes very.
Speaker 3:And honestly, it's always rewarding, even when you have the not so good moments. You have to learn from those. I've had some cake fails early on, and I mean when I say I was in tears, I was in tears because you know, and it was on me, it was my fault, you know. But then I didn't quit, I just learned from it and said, oh, that's what I need to do, you know, and make sure you make your clients whole, whatever that may look like. And you know, learn from it and move on. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So the girl on the street comes up to ebony and said ebony, I've been watching you for years. Um, I've been baking. You know, I started baking because of you. But and I want to start a business. What are you gonna tell her in that instant, in that?
Speaker 3:instance, you say go, do it. Do it because no one is gonna believe in you like you no one, so do it. You have to come up with a plan. What are you going to?
Speaker 3:And I feel like in any industry, you have to have a unique look or service that you provide, because you know it's so many people out there in the world in the same industry that you're doing, it's so many people out there in the world in the same industry that you're doing. So you have to do something. Whether it's great customer service skills, whether you're doing the best candy apples or whatever, do something that you absolutely have perfected. Okay, okay. And I also would say don't try to do everything. Don't try to do cakes and cupcakes and cake pops and all of this. Hone in onto one thing master that market that. Then come up with the next one. Do the same thing. Process over and over again. You're going to have some down moments. Like I said before, you're going to have some fails. You're going to have some opportunities to learn, and that's okay, because that's a part of life, that's a part of growing, and it happens. It's just life. You have to look at it as not a negative thing.
Speaker 3:You just got to keep going and yeah like I said, if I did it and the things that I've been through have got me to where I am now. Then I just feel like anybody can do it, because sometimes I did not feel like that. I would mentally make it, because it gets rough, it gets rough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It gets rough, and those are the moments I have to go back to takes that I did years ago, or emails that clients have sent me you know, so happy about their cake, and it's just like get back on track.
Speaker 2:So it gets rough, then it gets better, it does right.
Speaker 3:It's a rollercoaster, it's life, I know.
Speaker 2:It's an absolute rollercoaster. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 1:But it's like you get one shot, so make it fun yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, you get one shot because it this one. It's your client's one moment, so you really have to put everything into it, just making it the best. Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. As girls enter our program, they have what is called a cake therapy kit. Okay, it's a box filled with baking equipment, and then guess what we have in common? We have a DIY kit for every cake Shout out. But to that kudos, to that it looks good. I know. We want our DIY baking kit honey.
Speaker 1:I love the idea.
Speaker 2:I love that. You, I love it. I love the idea.
Speaker 3:You know period.
Speaker 2:Point blank. Tell me a little bit about it, girl.
Speaker 1:So the DIY, how did?
Speaker 2:it come to be yes, yeah, get into it.
Speaker 3:The idea actually started way back in 2020 when COVID. When COVID came, that idea came then because everybody was at home. Everybody was at home, but at that time I actually was living with family. So at one point running, you know, I became homeless. Now, I wasn't living in a car, you know, with my kids or whatever, but I did not have a home to call my own, you know. So I was grateful for my brother to let me live there.
Speaker 3:Ended up living there a year and a half because this is January 2020 is when that happened, and then you know COVID a few months later.
Speaker 3:So the idea came then, but at that time I really was not focused on pushing out a new product, because my whole living situation was not where I wanted it to be and, mind you, I'm still trying to run this business and raise teenagers. Yeah, yeah, so fast forward to December of 2023. Yeah, I have a niece that has four kids that lives in North Carolina and we were talking on the phone and she was like the kids she had recently moved and she was like the kids really want some cupcakes. They love my red velvet cupcakes. I'm like, well, I can ship them, but you guys are going to ice them. You got to ice them and then I said me being a perfectionist and I'm a little sarcastic.
Speaker 1:I was like it's not going to look like my own.
Speaker 3:Y'all fight it, but at least it'll be good. And I said you know what? I could send you guys a video on how to do it. And then she said, I wonder if you can do that with a cake. And I'm like, yeah, I can do that with a cake, mm-hmm. I said, all right, I'm going to come up with a Christmas decorating kit, you know. And then I'm like, ooh, all her kids are like under I don't know, like under 15 or whatever. So I'm like, let me do Grinch. Like who doesn't love Grinch? So I came up with a DIY Grinch cake kit, hacked it all up, sent it to her. They did their videos and, you know, she gave me feedback and I'm like, okay, had to tweak a few things, because I, you know, I was like, okay, cool, I definitely know how I could do that, do that.
Speaker 3:And once I did that the next one was the valentine's day uh, diy kit. And that's when it really took off. Yeah, girl, when it really took off. And it's just been amazing. It's like I love to see yeah, girl, you know, doing their own cake. Like I feel like a lot of people really want to decorate a cake. They just don't know, you know, don't have the tools. Baking might not be their expertise, so I provide the baked cake, layers, the buttercream, everything that they need is in that box so they can make their own little DIY, personal little cake. So yeah, it's been amazing and I have so many more DIY kits that I'm going to put out there. But again just feeling complacent and you know, in the moment where I'm like okay, what's next?
Speaker 3:That's next Now get out there.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, let's get into it. You're doing, you're providing your own little slice of cake therapy there, because people get to just sit live for a moment and decorate their cake and that entire feeling of accomplishment, seeing what they created that that's doing a whole lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really is it really is and it does not matter. You know the age. You can be a, you know, five-year-old or whatever all the way up until you know a senior citizen. Yeah, oh, you don't have to be a, you know, five-year-old or whatever all the way up until you know a senior citizen. Yeah, oh, you don't have to be a cake artist. It could be your first time and I know, for me, the like I explained earlier how the the sense of, uh, fulfillment and accomplishment. It just made me feel so good, so I wanted to share that in a box. You know, have that feeling. You know other people share that too, because, yeah, life can get a little hard, so that it's just just a nice little life does get a little hard.
Speaker 2:Life is just really comes at you fast and it changes so quickly and sometimes just slams you against the wall and you have just one thing to center you. I love your diy kits, by the way. Thank you, I love the idea. Thank you, yeah, so I'm waiting to see what the other the next.
Speaker 3:Thing get into that?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, of course that's the next thing. Like you said, you know what I love that. You recognize that in our podcast.
Speaker 3:That's it. That is the next thing, that's it. And that's why, you know, having this platform, this cake therapy and just talking about it, is helping me. It's therapy for me because I have all these ideas in my mind and it's like I got to get this out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let I have all these ideas in my mind and it's like I got to get this out there. Yeah, let's get into it, of course, tell me what's your favorite thing to make. You know, besides using fondant, what is your favorite, absolute favorite technique? Like when you get one of those, your body just goes ooh.
Speaker 3:It would have to be so good Like. My favorite theme would be under the sea. I absolutely love under the sea. I'm a girly girl so I love all of those colors you can do, and the thing about under the sea doesn't have to be fondant. You know, it could be buttercream and it doesn't have to be perfect, but there's so many elements, colors, textures and it's just like for me, when it's an under the sea theme, I like for my cake to just kind of look like it's frozen in time, right, like it had the motion at first, but that was just frozen in time and which is ironic, because I love under the sea and I always laugh at myself in my head because I don't know how to swim.
Speaker 2:You and I, both you and I, both you and me both, but I love the under.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I absolutely love under the sea things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we can't swim in that, that's alright. We can make it underwater. If you can't swim, I'll probably just take my life but I don't know about anybody else's. If I'm in the sea girl, I'm going to be like, take me quick.
Speaker 3:I can't do that. Yes, yes, trust issues, trust issues. That's another episode.
Speaker 2:I know, girl, you're going to have to come back you got to dig into it.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, but yeah, it's definitely an under the seat thing would be my favorite type of thing to do, and that's whether it's the cakes, cupcakes. Now I do do treat for a very small circle of clientele that have been with me like from the start, but treats for me is just not. It takes a while, but it doesn't matter under the sea anything, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much. So you mentioned you have two teenagers or teens or young?
Speaker 3:adults, right? Well, actually, yeah, one um July 5th one my oldest will be 21. Okay, young adults, ezra. Yes, Young adults, adults. And then my youngest, she will be 18 so yeah, daughters, yeah, 18 to 21 year olds crazy but yes they still live at home. Uh, they're in school, working, so you know they're definitely young adults yeah, absolutely, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Have any of them caught on to the baking? You know, any of them caught on to the baking?
Speaker 3:Not too much Not too much.
Speaker 3:Not saying that they won't help, because they'll help. My oldest, she'll mold some stuff. My youngest, she'll do the same thing. Now, my youngest, she likes to cook. She's a very great cook, matter of fact. She cooks dinner. I probably cook maybe once. A very great cook, matter of fact, she cooks dinner, like, I probably cook, maybe once a month. Okay, but yeah, she is, yeah, she loves to cook. That's her thing. Um, but again, she'll help. She'll definitely, you know, bake some cupcakes for me or a cake. If I need anything, um, deliveries, she's on it, my pickup, yeah. So now I'm able, since they're older, now I'm able to, like, if I have to go out of town for you know something whatever and I have an order there, you know they're able to take over, meet my clients and do that. So yeah, I'm not. I would love for them to take over with my business, but it's not something that they have to do. Like back in the day, you know, it was like if your dad was a baker, then you're a baker and this one like it's.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm okay with them following their footsteps what their? Dreams and goals, what they uh. But they do help and I'm sorry yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:Um, I love that one of your children have also found the kitchen too in whatever capacity, that is you know what I? Mean so that's good great great share with our listeners. Before we wind down, what's in the works for you? We talked about something. We talked about our DIY cakes, diy kits. What different themes.
Speaker 3:What else? So what's next for me? What I really want to really dive into next is so I absolutely love teaching, as we had talked about earlier. I want to travel and teach. I've met so many amazing people you yourself included, through the cake world just some amazingly talented, down-to-earth people you know, and I would love to travel and have that one-on-one or hands-on experience, as opposed to the online classes, which are fun too. You meet a lot of people you know online, but yeah, to travel and do some classes like that. I did do one class actually in South Carolina, but, yeah, 2020, february of 2020, and then COVID came, but it was an amazing experience had 10 ladies come out and we made a two-tier cake. It was much fun. Yeah, yeah, I want to open. You know, get back on that and, you know, focus more on that okay, good, so we are.
Speaker 2:I'm looking forward to see what's next from you. You know, I absolutely adore you. I love your work and I love the my, my own business, ebony, I see that on your IG, your personality does come through.
Speaker 2:So I want to thank you so much for taking like your time to speak with me. Sometimes I sit in this space, I'm like a little nobody like myself. This platform and people are saying yes, so thank you for saying yes. This has been a great conversation. I tried to make the Cake Therapy podcast a safe space, but today it was a brave space for you. So thank you for trusting me with your story and your role. I'm really proud of you. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of what you've done.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it so much. So tell our listeners where they can find you, ebony, so you can find me.
Speaker 3:I am absolutely. I love Instagram, although I have other social medias, but my Instagram is EBI underscore cakes. That is my Instagram and my Facebook is just Ebby Cakes and you can always go to my website. I have all my classes listed, both online in person cake quotes, pictures, all kinds of stuff. But you can go to EbbyCakescom for more info and all about me and cake.
Speaker 2:Yes, she's there, you can't miss her. I want to thank you all for listening in. I want to encourage you all to follow the Cake Therapy Foundation and learn about all that we do there we're on Instagramony Store will impact you, it will inspire you to move forward. And listen, don't forget to get my book Cake Therapy how Baking Changed my Life. I was really changed my life. It has brought me here, it has brought me to the Cake Therapy Foundation, it has brought me to the Cake Therapy Podcast and it has allowed me to meet Ebony. So thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for this amazing platform.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it so much, thank you for coming.
Speaker 2:Today's mindful moment is that cooking is a dance with patience. Take it slow and enjoy the rhythm of the process.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to the Cake Therapy Podcast. Your support means the world to us. Let us know what you thought about today's episode in the comment section. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and if you found the conversation helpful, please share it with a friend. Also, follow Sugar Spoon Desserts on all social media platforms. We invite you to support Cake Therapy and the work we do with our foundation by clicking on the Buy Me a Coffee link in the description or by visiting the Cake Therapy website and making a donation. All your support will go towards the Cake Therapy Foundation and the work we are doing to help women and girls. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next episode.