In July 2011, my son Keaton looked at me with his big blue eyes and asked me to make him a Lightening McQueen cake for his birthday. (Gulp) Up until then, I had only baked out of a box, I had never heard of fondant, and I had to ask someone what confectioners sugar was!! So what did I do? I googled, and googled, AND googled! I found some great tutorials and I was off! After 21 hours of baking, coloring fondant, and decorating, I finally finished my first cake! I couldn’t wait to see Keaton’s reaction, it alone made every minute worth it! I posted the cake on Facebook and the next thing you know, I had orders.
My FIRST cake…
Three years later, I’m doing the job of my dreams, learning one cake at a time and loving it! Don’t get me wrong, running an in-home bakery with no training and two kids to keep up with involves a lot of hard work, stress and sometimes tears. There have been days where I found myself sitting in a pile of cake flour on the floor having a meltdown because I took more orders than I could handle and hadn’t slept in three days!
Life has definitely thrown some curve balls my way, a very high risk pregnancy, divorce, having to move back in with my family…. but every bump along the way has made me stronger than I ever thought possible. A few years ago I would have NEVER thought that a self-taught baker such as myself, could stand a chance competing against baking professionals with culinary degrees! Yet here I am on season four of TLC’s Next Great Baker, sometimes I still can’t believe it!
I have learned so much from this experience and have realized that it doesn’t matter if people try to keep me down or don’t believe in my dreams, as long as I believe in myself I can do anything I put my mind to.
This season is full of amazing cakes and SO much drama…I will be posting about every episode as it airs and giving some behind the scenes dirt. 🙂 Don’t forget to tune in for the premiere Tuesday, June 24, 9/8 central on TLC…yes that is in ONE WEEK!! Eeeeek!!
~Bethany
Betnie Bakes 