Who are these Caking Kiddos anyway??

Who are these Caking Kiddos you ask?  Well, they are my kidlets who take over my kitchen while learning to make cakes and lots of other tasty things. They have had a love for amazing cakes since my oldest started watching Ace of Cakes when he was 4 years old. His desire for a Halo cake is what started MY official caking journey all those years ago.  Now you’re probably wondering who I am.  I’m Caking Mom, aka, Heather Petersen, owner and cake artist of Slice at a Time and ring leader of Caking with the Kids.  In 2015, I took a leap of faith and “retired” from the business side of Slice at a Time. What started out as a hobby making cakes for friends, quickly turned into a full time job filled with weddings, Bridal Fairs, styled shoots, Bridal tastings, and somewhere in there was a lot of baking and decorating cakes.  Life was busy, but it was successful! I felt blessed. Business was booming and the paychecks were steadily coming in. You could say life was successfully busy.  So why walk away from something I worked so hard to build? Several things played into that decision, some of which were my health, but mostly, I really wanted…No…I NEEDED more time with my family.

I officially stopped taking cake orders the summer of 2015, and closed my business that November.  In December, my son, who will now affectionately be referred to as Caking Kid 1 or CK 1, had a huge request for his birthday cake. He wanted a cake based on the CW Show “Arrow”, and not just any cake. He wanted THE Arrow…as a cake.  *Insert my panic stricken face HERE. I had never sculpted a life like face before! What was this kid thinking?? Oh man, I was going to end up on Cake Wrecks for sure. Uuugghh!  Who did he think I was, Avalon Yarnes?? Wait…LIGHTBULB moment followed by a quick Google search….ah there, tutorials…Ooooo look at tha…Focus Heather!..Oh, right. YES, this will work and it’s on SALE! Score one for Mom. Composure regained. Ahem….*   So, with the help of an amazing tutorial from Avalon Cakes I pulled it off!  I actually had fun making it too. I discovered I really enjoyed sculpting, and the Caking Kiddos were fascinated by the whole process. My wheels started turning about what we could do to get them involved with baking and decorating cakes, but then the holidays hit, vacations happened, school had to be completed (Homeschooling Cakers over here) so my ideas got put on the back burner. I still wanted to make something happen with them, I just wasn’t sure what or how.

Enter Mother’s Day Weekend 2016 and Kara, from Kara’s Couture Cakes, did a live cheesecake bake along on FB Live.  My kids were instantly glued to watching Kara and we decided to make that cheesecake right along with her. Caking Kid 2 watched my phone for every Live notification that whole day to make sure we didn’t miss any steps. They both picked up on baking like little pros, and had a blast making memories and messes in the kitchen.  The next day, while we were enjoying that perfect cheesecake, the kids started talking about wanting to learn to make cakes and maybe sell them. They wanted to earn some extra money to use for our family “Bucket List Trips”.  We tossed around different ideas since we knew going back into the full time cake business just wasn’t really an option for us. I offered to still teach them whatever they wanted to learn and Caking Kid 1 suggested starting a YouTube Channel with some How to Videos. Shortly after, “Caking with the Kids” was born.  YouTube was our first stop, then Facebook and Instagram.  Much to our delight, Kara saw our Facebook posts, and has been following along with our journey too!  We feel like a tiny product of the “ripple effect” caused from her Cheescake Bake-along that day.  Oh, and Kara, if you are reading this, the kids are already talking about wanting to meet you so they can bake something with you live and in person!

So, there you have it. The short story of us, Caking with the Kids and how it all came to pass. We believe this journey is just beginning.  We’ve already had so many exciting things happen, some of which were Caking Kid 1 being asked to audition to compete on Sugar Showdown, getting to help design a brand for our online presence, making a 3D sculpted cake and now starting this blog as another way to share our kitchen adventures with all of you.  We will be testing out recipes from some of our favorite bakers, trying to formulate our own recipes and even cooking some healthy meals with the family (sadly, we can’t live on cake and buttercream alone).  We hope we inspire YOU to get in the kitchen and make something yummy with the ones you love!!

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The Caking with the Kids Family

Caking Mom and Dad, and Caking Kids 1 and 2