Meet Emily Storm of Baking Up A Storm in Cove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Storm.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Emily. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
December 2012 was the end of my first semester of college. I was always a great student in school, but when it came to college, I HATED it. I randomly made a Christmas cake one night and posted in on Facebook, getting responses like, “you made that?” and “omg, that’s awesome!” (It seriously looked awful, lol) Eventually, people started asking me to do things for them. I was TERRIBLE. I look back on the cakes that people bought from me back in the day and I’m so embarrassed, haha. That coming January I went to culinary school in Houston. That lasted about six months before I was over learning the fancy stuff. It wasn’t for me.

Afterward, I went to every bakery from here to Friendswood trying to get a job to learn more hands-on instead of gradually teaching myself and not one of them called me back. Now, though, I’m incredibly grateful for that because no one can say I’m here because of them. Within that next year, I tried college three more times before I got tired of wasting money and ultimately decided to put all my time and effort towards my craft. Bettering my work over the past six and a half years have come from lots of YouTube tutorials, Pinterest, and simply trial and error. I think that’s one of the best ways to learn, personally, because you know what works for you and what doesn’t. Everyone is different.

Has it been a smooth road?
Is anything worth it ever smooth? Haha. In my first year or two, I honestly feel like people only ordered from me to be supportive; not because I was THAT good, haha. I had NO CLUE what I was doing. It felt like every weekend I was having a fail. I’ve had cakes fall apart during delivery, the support in cakes not hold up, products not turning out how they should; basically, anything that could go wrong went wrong. Learning how to make decorated cookies was probably my longest and biggest challenge that I’ve dealt with. I refused to do those for years because I knew they wouldn’t look as planned. Since then, I’ve perfected all of that and then some. I’ve had MANY trial and errors, MANY all-nighters, and MANY fails to get to where I am today. I think the toughest thing for me to get over, though, was you can’t please everyone. Not everyone is going to like your style of work and that’s okay! It all comes with learning and has made me the baker and person I am today.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Baking Up A Storm story. Tell us more about the business.
Baking Up A Storm is my home-based bakery. I specialize in custom cakes, decorative cookies, cheesecakes, and everything in between EXCEPT cake pops. Those are the worst, haha. I’m best known for my custom cakes and cheesecakes. I’ve won 1st both times I’ve entered my Turtle Cheesecake in a cook-off. A few months ago, I did my first Epicurean Event and won Best Booth. Shortly after, I had my first pop up shop. I baked all week for it and the night before I stayed up all night just to make sure I had enough product out. I ended up selling out of everything in 15 minutes.

People were lined out the door and down the sidewalk. It was incredibly overwhelming because I did not expect that kind of turn out at all. I’ve never been prouder of myself than that day. It felt amazing to see how many people out there (most of them I don’t even know) love my work. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them and my family and friends who are always there to support me. My attention to detail, taste of my product, and how much time I put into each and every order sets me apart from others. I strive to make sure everything that goes out my front door is the absolute best I could do!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
It could honestly go so many ways. People today are all about convenience. If someone came up with a machine that popped out custom cakes in 15 minutes I might be out of business, haha. Trends come and go constantly. Naked cakes, the fault line cakes, sprinkle cakes; they’re all trends. That’s why I love this industry, though. It’s never the same thing every day. You get orders that are repetitive, yes, but then you get the ones that excite you and make you learn. It’s always a challenge and I love that.

Contact Info:

• Email: stormemilya@yahoo.com
• Instagram: @bakingupastorm_
• Facebook: Facebook.com/BakingUpAStormByEmilyStorm

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