Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Epps.
Hi Sarah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hi there. My name is Sarah Epps, and I am a 23 years old entrepreneur, owner-operator, artist, and baker at Sarah Epps Cakery, a small woman-owned business in Montgomery, Tx, NW of Houston. I grew up on an organic family farm and learned the importance of ultra-fresh premium ingredients from the very beginning, gathering fresh eggs, milking our cows, and planting and harvesting fresh vegetables. You could say that I learned about quality fresh ingredients as I learned to walk! Oh, the delicious meals that my family made with all of that farm-fresh goodness!
When I was a very little girl, my parents saw how much I loved to pretend to cook, so they gave me my own toy wooden kitchen from IKEA for Christmas. Oh, did I LOVE that kitchen! My little brother and I would “make soup” or “bake cake” all of the time. I don’t think they had any idea how prophetic that gift would turn out to be! As I grew older, I loved helping my Mom bake in our big kitchen. I adored how all of those deliciously warm and homey smells just filled the whole house and I loved seeing my brothers’ eyes light up to taste those fresh from the oven goodies. When I was 12 or so, I began tinkering with box cakes, adding in mayonnaise or puddings to the mixes to improve them, and then attempting scratch-cakes followed soon after. Though they began as jawbreakers that my family was too kind to “notice,” over time, my skills and cakes improved substantially. Along the way, my baking hobby became my passion and, at the age of 19, increasingly my business!
For the last four years, since we built my new kitchen, I’ve really enjoyed stretching my baking skills to fulfill client requests as well as for competition. I can now tell you that I’m a multiple AWARD-WINNING Cake Artist and Sculptress, taking Gold Medals from my very first entry, a sculpted bust of the great Lakota Souix Chief Sitting Bull, complete with feathered headdress, all made of cake and sugar! It’s one thing to be good at baking or sculpting, but to sculpt something you’ve baked that is delicious, and not made of stone or clay, is quite a trick! I love going the extra mile for my clients, family and friends. Whether it’s boiling down 10 lbs. of fresh berries to flavor and color a cake, importing Belgian Chocolate to provide richer flavor, or making delicate hand-made roses, orchids or other sugar flowers, I believe in the importance of premium ingredients and close attention to detail. My little brother remains my side-kick and Quality Control Specialist, and believe you me, if it doesn’t pass his exacting taste testing, no matter how pretty the cake might be, it won’t go out the door! It thrills me to no end to see my customers’ eyes light up when they realize that their edible work of art, whether classically simple or complex, is also incredibly delicious!
For health reasons, my family is now on a strictly KETO diet, as my little brother has a seizure disorder, which the Keto diet was originally developed to treat. Consequently, I’ve gone back to my recipes and reworked many of my favorites to remove all the Gluten, Sugar, and Carbs that I possibly can for my family’s sake, as well as for my customers who have specific dietary requirements. I’ve managed to do this while keeping all of the great taste and texture of my traditional versions. My brother, family and my devoted customers all think that my KETO Pies are even BETTER than the traditional recipes. With no sugar and no grains but all of the flavor, they clock in at just TWO or THREE CARBS per SLICE! After tinkering for over a year, I’ve finally come up with a KETO CAKE Recipe as well that my Quality Control Specialist has approved for sale! It’s actually been quite a fun challenge to “ketofy” many of my recipes. Imagine, HEALTHFUL and GUILT-FREE Desserts are back on the menu, boys (and girls)!!! An Artistic Baker’s work of art only lasts for a day. It gets eaten and is gone. Thank goodness for photos as otherwise, I’d only be as good as my last cake! Lol. But tomorrow is another day, and if you’d like to know, I’m currently in the middle of creating a “Wooden Whisky Barrel Cake” for a client who wants it to look like “a wooden barrel on a stand with metal bands holding it together,” all made of cake and icing They want it to have an internal reservoir filled with Scottish Single Malt Whisky (Client provided, of course! Lol.) that can be poured out into shot glasses via a working spigot. It is designed so that they can “raise a Dram” to celebrate the great Scottish poet Robert Burns at a Burns Night Dinner and I think it’s going to be a show stopper! So, if you have a vision of how you’d like your cake to look, please contact me soon, and together we can make it a delicious reality!!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Three years ago, my kitchen quite literally BLEW UP! It was built at the top of a small ridge and as it was one of the tallest things around, it took a direct lightning strike during a really bad storm. Though it was grounded, the lightning fried my stove, ovens, and refrigerators! That shut my growing business down hard. Thankfully, I was already in the process of building an all-new and expanded kitchen at the time, but I’d expected to be able to continue working out of the old kitchen until the new one was ready, and I hadn’t planned on having to replace all of my appliances, too.
During that hiatus, I had lots of negative “advice” that I should just give up and just get a regular “jobby-job.” What those people didn’t understand is that I have a Dream, to build my own business based on my own skills and strengths, and I really appreciate all the support and encouragement I’ve received from friends, family and clients to stick to my guns and accomplish my dreams!. Two years ago, I was finally able to move into my new and improved kitchen and reboot my business. Things were growing beautifully until COVID hit and many of my brides and event coordinators had to cancel. Now, I see an increasing understanding among my clients about how to responsibly socialize with outdoor events or having fewer people in larger venues, and I’m happy to report that my bookings are starting to really pick back up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My grandmothers were both accomplished artists in their own rights, and I have apparently inherited something of their abilities, though I utilize edible media. In both two and three dimensions, I thoroughly enjoy my work with graphic design, painting, and sculpture in deliciously edible paint, icing and cake! I’m meticulous and have been accused of taking too much time to get my designs just right, something I take as a high compliment. I’m delighted to do elegantly simple cakes that showcase my precision, but I also adore going all out to bring a client’s vision to life!
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something people might not know about me because it’s something that I just recently realized myself, is that I am a Taurus! My family has never been “into” the Zodiac, so I found it a pleasant surprise to note that I seem to fit pretty well with a standard “definition” of this sign’s characteristics: “Reliable, Patient, Practical, Devoted, Responsible, Stable, Stubborn, Smart, and Ambitious” and we apparently like “gardening, cooking, music, romance, high-quality clothes, working with hands.” I’m definitely NOT afraid to roll up my sleeves and get to work, and I won’t blink an eye at pulling an all-nighter to get the job DONE!
Pricing:
- All Basic Semi-Naked Cake include buttercream icing and are $4.50 per serving (Base Price) for a 1″x2″ slice.
- All Basic Cakes include buttercream icing and are $5.00 per serving (Base Price) for a 1″x2″ slice.
- Basic Fondant Cakes Starting at $6.50 per serving (Base Price) for a 1″x2″ slice.
- Premium Cakes with Premium Buttercream Starting at $8.50 per serving (Base Price) for a 1″x2″ slice.
- Premium Alcohol Cake with Premium Buttercream Starting at $9.00 per serving (Base Price) for a 1″x2″ slice.
Contact Info:
- Email: saraheppscakery@gmail.com
- Website: http://saraheppscakery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_epps_cakery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahEppsCakery
- Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sarah+Epps+Cakery/@30.3215348,-95.7192978,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x730ce420ddf302b6!8m2!3d30.3215348!4d-95.7192978
