You can have your cake and eat it {Party Tips Series}

If anybody ever told you that you can’t have your cake and eat it, well I’m here to tell you that that ain’t true 😉 I am a firm believer that every good party, needs a good cake. To me, it represents the party and is the very core of it. No jokes, my friends know that I am serious about cake. I also believe that a cake MUST look as it good as it tastes.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have found myself a cake maker that shares that sentiment. Today I’m featuring Rebecca from Ginger Pops.

I stumbled upon Rebecca years ago at the Granary Market, and to say that I became obsessed with her macarons…is an understatement. After work I’d go there just for the macarons. I recall once I was sick in hospital while Rebecca was baking cake pops/cookies and macarons for Addison’s birthday party. She was so sweet and sent me a batch of my fave macarons as a get well token. She’s an absolute sweetheart and it’s been amazing to see how she’s grown since those Granary Market days <3

Without further ado, let’s meet the lady behind some of my absolute favourite cakes!

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.  

A: I grew up in Port Elizabeth, went to Lorraine Primary school, home school and then VP for my last 2 years of high school. I studied to get my Chef and Chef de Patissiere diploma’s in Cape Town and then worked at various restaurants, bakeries and chocolatiers from there to PE. After that I moved to London and worked as a commis Pastry chef at a Japanese fusion restaurant (Ironically) named Zuma. LOL

I’ve been married for 2 years to an incredible guy and cake husband, Greig, who has come to my rescue many a times when the order load has been overwhelming or I’ve been feeling under the weather. He is now a pro cake pop maker! I think we’ll wait a few years before having kids. Work is so busy for both of us!

Q: How did Ginger Pops come into existence? 

A: I have been baking cakes since I was 8 years old. My first and still favourite cake to bake and eat was a chocolate chiffon cake. It’s like eating chocolate clouds of decadence draped in silky chocolate ganache. YUM! I think I need to put in order for this!

While I have always leaned more towards the decadence of food rather than just appearance, I discovered sugar paste modelling while online in 2007. I am a big animation fan and was watching lots of Japanese anime at the time. I decided to make my brother a birthday cake of one of our favourite anime characters Kon, from Bleach and have moved forward into more elaborate cake decorating ever since.

While I studied to be a chef, I am self-taught as a cake decorator. I have done so much online research over the years to improve on and perfect my own abilities. It’s still a huge learning curve with the way that cake decorating and cakes as we know it are evolving each year.

Q: What’s your favourite type of event to bake for? 

Honestly it’s not limited to an event type. My favourite, though most stressful orders, generally are ones that think out of the box and challenge me to up my caking game while keeping the style cool, epic or gorgeous in design. I think my least favourite is having to copy another cake decorator’s design exactly. In the cake community this is frowned upon unless you ask the original designer if you can copy their work. It’s difficult to get excited about spending 10’s of hours making a design that someone else has already made before.

Q: What type of cakes/desserts do you make? What is the most popular item/flavour that you get orders for? 

A: Cake-wise my coconut cake with lemon curd filling, red velvet, vanilla cake, chocolate fudge cake with salted caramel and banana cake with peanut butter cream are my big sellers. The banana cake with peanut butter cream is a fave for me and her rainbow cake for the kids parties are divine as well…. 

I make macarons, cupcakes, tarts, decorated cookies, novelty, designer and dessert cakes and dessert jars.

Q: What are you known for? 

A: In Port Elizabeth I think I’m best known for my macarons. Salted caramel, lemon meringue and Crème brulee definitely top the charts with nutella and pistachio close behind.

Q: What are your top tips for choosing your cake for any event? 

Decide on your budget (bearing in mind that more detail will need more time and thus be more expensive).

Pick a theme you know will match the person/event perfectly. Go into detective mode to find out if you  need to!