Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Brookshire.
Hi Heather, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! Well, I guess I’ll start at the beginning. My love for the sugar arts began as just a young child. I was always begging my mom to make cookies and decorate them. When I was 12, I took the Wilton decorating courses at Michaels and went to LeNotre Culinary Institute after graduating high school. Then I worked in three bakeries across Houston over the span of 10 years before starting my own cottage bakery, The Cake Whisperer in 2015. During that time and still today, I also competed in many sugar art competitions across the country, including the National Gingerbread Competition and the Austin Cake Show, where I have twice received the Innovator of the Year award.
In 2019, I was invited to be an assistant on Food Network’s Holiday Gingerbread Showdown, and this year I was a primary gingerbread builder on Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown. When I’m not making grand competition pieces, you can find me in the kitchen baking birthday and wedding cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and pies.
You can also catch me teaching sugar cookie decorating classes a few times a year.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Building a business from scratch isn’t always easy or pretty.
I moved across town right after I started so it took some time to become known in my new community and just when I started making some progress on that, the pandemic hit. During that time I baked for neighbors and friends to try out new recipes and decorating techniques. As folks were beginning to gather again, all the celebrations put off by the pandemic meant I had baking to catch up on, and has kept me busy even until today
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?
While I mostly make cakes and cookies, my favorite time of year is Christmas because I get to play in my favorite area of the sugar arts: gingerbread! It’s a very small niche in the baking community as most people tend to shy away from making 3D cookies but I love the added complexity that brings to the medium.
I make roughly 50 houses every year that are either for kits or fully decorated for display plus a competition piece or two that can be as big as four feet by four feet! My proudest moment of 2022 was making it to Food Network as the leader of a gingerbread baking team.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
One of my favorite childhood memories, that actually doesn’t have much to do with what I do now, was getting to dance at Walt Disney World with my high school drill team.
Talk about a dream come true! I’ve always been a huge Disney fan and had been dancing since I was four. My parents went with me so it was really special that they got to watch me do something I love at the most magical place on Earth.
Pricing:
- Cakes start at $4.50 per serving
- Cookies start at $55 per dozen
- Class tickets are $65 each
- DIY kits are $30 each
- Gingerbread houses are $65
Contact Info:
- Website: thecakewhispererusa.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thecakewhispererusa
- Facebook: facebook.com/thecakewhispererusa
