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THE BAKE FEST

VIRTUAL BAKING CLASSES & NETWORKING

May 20 & May 21, 2023

A limited number of tickets Are available

Here's Everything You Get:

EVERY ONE OF THESE LIVE CLASSES IS INCLUDED

All Ticketholders Also Get Recordings of Each Class!

The Bake Fest is an online event that will be held from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM CDT (GMT-5) on May 20, 2023 and May 21, 2023. We realize that based on your time zone you may not be able to attend the entire event. That’s why your ticket includes event recordings available for one year after the event so that you’ll be able to catch up on anything you miss and rewatch your favorites.

May 20, 2023

08:30 AM - 09:55 AM

Keynote Address

Janie Deegan

Janie will share her inspiring journey of recovery and baking, focusing on how she turned her hobby into a successful business. She will discuss how she scaled her business into an online and retail brand, the importance of a brand story, how to identify your strengths and focus on scaling those products, and her journey opening a brick-and-mortar store.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Connect & Chat

Connect with fellow bakers, speakers, and brands

10:30 AM - 12:25 PM

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How to Make Authentic New York Bagels

(Hands-On Class)

Kristin "Baker Bettie" Hoffman

Join Kristin “Baker Bettie” Hoffman in this bake-along class on how to make authentic New York Style Bagels! You will learn how to properly knead bread dough, what a pre-ferment is and why it makes amazing bagels, the most important ingredients for making authentic bagels, how to boil bagels to get the iconic dense and chewy texture, and how to properly shape the dough.
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The Art of Sugar Flowers

(Hands-On Class)

Alexandria Murray

Learn how to make calla lilies, billy buttons and forget me nots with Alexandria from Finespun Cakes. This class will cover learning to hand-cut and texture petals, making hand-pulled flowers, making 3 flowers without the use of silicone molds or cutters, adding edible pollen to flowers, and bringing flowers to life with dusting.
Coconut Key Lime Pie Cake - Courtney Rich

Coconut Key Lime Pie Cake

(Hands-On Class Sponsored by LorAnn Oils)

Courtney Rich

In this class sponsored by LorAnn Oils, we’ll be making Courtney’s Coconut Key Lime Pie Cake with Courtney’s favorite LorAnn emulsion flavors, coconut and lime. Courtney will share how to make her light and fluffy coconut cake, how to stack a cake with a soft filling, and how to decorate her Coconut Key Lime Pie Cake. She’ll also talk about her other favorite LorAnn flavors she uses in her cakes.

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Creating a Chocolate Bar

(Hands-On Class)

Josh Cain

Join Executive Pastry Chef and Food Network alumni Josh Cain to learn all things chocolate – what to purchase, how to store your chocolate, and the different types of chocolate you should use for each delectable treat. Josh will share how to make an amazing Chocolate Bar for your next gathering or special event. During the class you will learn to make hand painted chocolate bon bons, artistic chocolate lollipops, mendiants, chocolate nut clusters, and an elegant way to display the chocolates. Learn the secrets of using items around your home to make the molds to save time and money.

12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

Connect & Chat

Connect with fellow bakers, speakers, and brands

01:30 PM - 02:25 PM

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Creating Your Own Line of Custom Products

Barbara Hobart

Learn why it’s important to create your own line of custom products, how to generate revenue with them, choosing products, financing, and sourcing.

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You Don't Have to Do it Alone - The Ins and Outs of Hiring a Team

Karen Bornarth

You have been operating as a solo-entrepreneur for some time and you’re ready to hire a team (or at least one person to help out!). Bringing on staff can be both a relief and a stress, as it is not always easy to hire and to delegate the work that you’ve been managing yourself. Learn best practices for building and managing a team before you even make that first hire. Taking a proactive approach, with the right tools in place, will ensure that you and your team are well set up for success. This session will cover crafting job descriptions, setting performance expectations, and designing training materials and product specifications.

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Anatomy of the Best Chocolate Cake

Erika Kwee

Take a deep dive into the many scientific factors that go into baking the perfect chocolate cake. In this class, you’ll learn how to tweak a recipe to achieve your ideal cake texture and flavor by leveraging leaveners, fats, mixing techniques, chocolate types, and much more!

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How to Sell Without Sounding Like a Salesperson

Katelyn Brewer

Do you feel weird about selling because it feels like you are a used car salesman? It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be. In this class, Katelyn teaches how to organically share your products through content you’re already making and to convert this to actual sales. You’ll learn how to write a sales pitch in different forms, like captions, for marketing funnels, emails, and social media platforms, and how to modify your pitch based on your customer base.
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Search Engine Optimization for Bakers

Anthony Rosemond

In this class, Anthony will explain simply what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is and the steps to use it to grow your baking business.

 

You’ll see real-life examples, what worked for Anthony at his bakery, Pastreez, learn about the challenges to overcome as a baking business, and hear about the tools that are easy to use to help you grow online!

02:30 PM - 02:45 PM

Brand Demos

Good Natured Products

Stover & Company

Amoretti

Learn all about the products and services that our sponsors offer, plus win attendance prizes from select brands.

02:50 PM - 03:05 PM

Brand Demos

ClearBags

Eddie®, The Edible Ink Printer

The Cookie Countess

Learn all about the products and services that our sponsors offer, plus win attendance prizes from select brands.

03:10 PM - 03:25 PM

Brand Demos

Lolly's

Kitchen Creations

Wilton

Learn all about the products and services that our sponsors offer, plus win attendance prizes from select brands.

03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

Brand Meet & Greet

Connect with brand representatives and get your questions answered

04:30 PM - 05:55 PM

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Money, Money, Money!

Brette Hawks

Money is a touchy subject, but it does NOT have to be! Learn how to really get a grip on how to use, receive, and manage money in your baking business. Brette will teach you how to stop letting the money scare you, how to open the gate to profit in your business, how to set the “right” price, the importance of elevating your brand value to match your pricing, and how to cover your costs, compensate your labor, and grow your business.
alejandra olivas

Homemade Marble Fondant Cake Decorating

(Hands-On Class)

Alejandra Olivas

Join Alejandra and learn all about fondant cake decorating! The class will cover how to make your own delicious fondant, how to create a fondant marble effect using food coloring, and how to cover your cake in fondant while getting a smooth finish.

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Creating and Customizing Unique Fillings

(Hands-On Class Sponsored by Amoretti)

Megan Knudsvig

Learn how to create stand-out fillings for your desserts through baking knowledge and your own creative spark. Learn where to find inspiration for unique flavor combinations, how to create balance and contrast in flavor and texture, the structural elements of popular fillings, and how to adjust a recipe to your preference.
Bundle Of Cupcakes

Floral Cupcake TechniqueS

(Hands-On Class)

Jelisa Flores

In this class, you’ll learn how to create beautiful floral cupcakes with perfect shades of buttercream frosting. We’ll cover beginner-friendly bouquet construction and technique, and you’ll discover how to make the best buttercream with the right consistency for your designs. You’ll also learn how to add height and intricacy to your floral cupcakes, and we’ll cover two-toning and other coloring techniques to achieve the perfect shades. By the end of the class, you’ll have four beginner-friendly floral cupcakes.

06:00 PM - 06:30 PM

End of Day Remarks

Wrap up the first day and WIN prizes

06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

Happy Hour

Kick back and unwind with fellow attendees after a great day of learning

May 21, 2023

08:30 AM - 08:55 AM

Day 2 Welcome Message

Recap of day 1 and learn what to expect on day 2

09:00 AM - 10:55 AM

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Chocolate Hazelnut Choux Puffs

(Hands-On Class)

Fred Csibi-Levin

Join Fred and learn how to bake delicious and beautiful chocolate hazelnut choux puffs. The class will cover the basics of pâte-à-choux (choux pastry), how to prepare & bake choux with craquelin, how to make fillings, and how to fill and decorate the choux. Fred will explain the whole process, including the science and parameters that will help you succeed. You don’t need any prior experience with choux pastry!
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Pie Crust 101

(Hands-On Class)

Erin Jeanne McDowell

Dive in deep to the process of making a perfect pie crust by hand, including additional manipulation techniques to achieve a variety of different textures and end results. Learn about par and blind baking and when to utilize these techniques to achieve a perfect pie – every time!

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Royal Icing Cookie Decorating 101

(Hands-On Class)

Melissa Temling

In this class, you’ll learn the basic skills of decorating cookies with royal icing all while completing four summery cookie designs. Main skills include royal icing consistencies, outlining and flooding cookies, wet-on-wet technique, and royal icing transfers.

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Sculpted Cake Technique

(Hands-On Class)

Avalon Yarnes

In this two part class, you’ll learn how to build structure, carve cake, white chocolate and ganache finishes, painting, actual light up windows, and so much more. Avalon will send out Part 1 of this class prior to the live event, and that will help you get your cake all ready for decorating together for Part 2 during The Bake Fest.

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Connect & Chat

Connect with fellow bakers, speakers, and brands

12:00 PM - 12:55 PM

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So You Want to Write a Cookbook

Erin Jeanne McDowell

So you want to write a cookbook? In this lecture and discussion-based course, author Erin Jeanne McDowell will detail some of the elements of a classic cookbook proposal, including the structure of the proposal, tips on honing your concept, and how to sell yourself as the author. To dive in even deeper, she’ll discuss ways you can infuse your personality into the proposal to help yours stand out in a pile!
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Stacking Cakes with Confidence

(Hands-On Class)

Gianna Thompson

Learn the essentials of stacking cake tiers with confidence, from the foundational skills to create sturdy cakes for stacking to materials and tips (for both stacking cakes at home as well as at venues).
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The Power of Air: Mastering Leaveners

Dee Frances

Take a deeper look into the most overlooked yet essential baking ingredient: leaveners. We will cover baking powder, baking soda, and more. Learn why leaveners are important, what they are, how they work, and how we can use them to elevate our baking.

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The Perfect Pop-Up

Janelle Copeland

Let’s be real: not all events are worthy of your time! In the PERFECT POP-UP training, Janelle has compiled tons of information and checklists to help you CRUSH ANY EVENT! Whether it’s an industry show, a farmers market, or a pop-up, Janelle gives you EVERYTHING you need to know about planning, preparing, and participating in any event – because these are all the tips she WISHES she had when she first started doing events almost 13 years ago! In this class, get a complete list of questions you should ask before committing to an event, budgeting & scheduling tips for planning and preparation, health department, licensing, permits and selling tips, learn how to maximize your opportunity to reach more potential and get repeat customers, and get tips and tricks you HAVE to know to KILL ANY EVENT.

01:00 PM - 01:55 PM

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How to Build a Baking Brand

Coinneach MacLeod (The Hebridean Baker)

Coinneach will walk you through what it takes to create a brand – from picking your tone of voice to building a social media presence to partnerships, events, and book deals!
Mandylicious Challah

Challah 101 - Beautiful Basics

(Hands-On Class)

Mandy Silverman

Whether you’re a novice or expert, there’s something for you to learn in this class about the ancient, beautiful art of making traditional Jewish braided bread: challah. You will learn how to choose the best yeasts and flours for your recipe, getting your dough to the right consistency, strand rolling techniques, how to create beautiful, even braids, and how to elevate your challah by stuffing your strands with delicious fillings.
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Sustainable Packaging 101

Good Natured Products

Do you feel overwhelmed when it comes to making earth-friendly decisions that impact your baking business? It’s no wonder, with so much noise and conflicting information out there. But fear not, in this class we’ll cut through the confusion and help you take action! You can start with something simple yet impactful: your packaging. Whether you’re running a bustling bakery or just starting out, choosing the right packaging can make a world of difference. And the best part? It’s not as complicated as you might think! This class will guide you through the process and give you some tips on choosing the right packaging option and how to confidently communicate your eco-friendly decision to your customers. Every little step forward counts. Join on this journey towards a more sustainable future.

02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

Connect & Chat

Connect with fellow bakers, speakers, and brands

03:00 PM - 03:55 PM

Unlocking the Power of Instagram Reels

Unlocking the power of Instagram Reels

Hena Arora Mahajan

Are you seeing people grow their Instagram account through Reels but have absolutely no idea where to start? Are you too busy making and selling cakes and don’t have the patience to spend time on Reels? Have you tried posting Reels but have been deflated by the response? Are you uncomfortable with being in front of the camera and dancing around/entertaining? Are you concerned about spending money on fancy equipment? Join Hena as she takes you through her journey of growing her baking account to more than 150K followers on Instagram and reaching millions of people across the world and subsequently growing her small-business to over 100 countries by unlocking the power of Instagram reels. Learn Hena’s strategies on filming, editing, and posting reels while staying true to your niche and within your comfort zone.
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Cake Writing, from Pen to Piping Bag

(Hands-On Class)

Hans Westermark

The art of cake writing involves more than a piping bag and consistent pressure. Become an expert as you learn about the importance of posture, mediums and tools, visualizing and planning techniques, and the necessity of practicing.
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Never Run Out of Converting Content Ideas Again

Natasha Orumbie

Creating social media content is one of the most frustrating parts of the baking business life! We know we have to create content, so we take thousands of photographs and video clips that we never ever get to post. Then, after all of our hard work, we either forget to post or post and Instagram decides not to show it to anyone! Whhhhhyyyy? So many bakers just don’t bother, or they just stick up any old post and hope for the best. But, in this session, you’re going to learn Natasha’s method for never running out of content, how to create content that actually converts browsers into buyers, and how to plan a month worth of content in just 30 minutes!

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Bake Life Balance

The Cookie Chat

This session will focus on steps to create a work-life balance within the often chaotic home-based bakery lifestyle. Topics will include time management, business organization, tips to foster a positive mental and physical health space, and a roadmap planning for success.

04:00 PM - 04:30 PM

Connect & Chat

Connect with fellow bakers, speakers, and brands

04:30 PM - 06:25 PM

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Advanced Cookie Decorating: Springtime Dogwood Cookie

(Hands-On Class)

Julia M. Usher

If you’ve ever had any hesitation about piping intricate details directly on your cookies for fear of messing them up (and who hasn’t?), then this class is for you! In this hands-on session, Julia will show how to create a lifelike dogwood cookie made almost exclusively with royal icing transfers. Every stem, petal, leaf, and bud will be piped off the cookie and then later assembled on top, ensuring the ultimate design flexibility and a minimum of piping mishaps. Along the way, Julia will reinforce the fundamentals of proper royal icing consistency, as students will work with everything from the very thickest “putty” for modeling buds to thinner flooding consistency for curved leaves and petals. Julia will also address the difference between standard and contoured royal icing transfers, how to add interest and depth through stenciling and airbrushing techniques, and best piecework practices for putting all of the delicate elements together. (Note: Though Julia will demo every step of the project, students will need to let their transfers dry overnight before assembling their cookies.)
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Cake Jars

(Hands-On Class)

Denea Gresham

Bitsy (Denea) will walk you through her entire process of baking, creating, and shipping her infamous cake jars in a brand new flavor – Banana Rocher! You’ll get recipes for the banana cake, Nutella buttercream, ganache, and chocolate hazelnut wafer crunch – plus, you’ll learn how to properly assemble and ship cake jars.

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Comic Book Cake

(Hands-On Class Sponsored by Wilton)

Eboni Sims

In this fun fondant class, you’ll learn how to create a super cool and trendy “Comic Book” cake! We will learn to cover a cake with fondant and add edible decorations, and how to create depth to our cake by adding colorful details and using various fondant tools to achieve different effects. When complete, you’ll be left with the viral “Comic Book” cake that everyone has been so excited to share on social media!

06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

Closing Keynote Address, Prizes, and Remarks

Chloe Joy Sexton

Chloe Joy Sexton shares her journey from home baker to bakery owner, international cookie seller, and baking influencer with more than 2 million followers. Chloe will share how social media marketing and sharing your own journey (even the ugly bits) can grow your own baking business.

 

In addition to this inspirational closing keynote address, find out if you’ve won any of the prizes, plus hear an exciting announcement from The Bake Fest and Retail Bakers of America.

08:00 PM - 09:00 PM

After Party

Have fun hanging out with your new baking besties

Meet Our Sponsors

Meet Our WORLD-CLASS Instructors

Janie Deegan

Janie Deegan

Janie Deegan is the founder of Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods. Baking holds a special place in Janie’s heart as it gave her hope, strength and inspiration after she struggled with addiction and homelessness as a young adult.

 

Since 2015, Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods has been changing lives with baked goods. Janie’s is dedicated to helping other young women through mentorship and second chance employment.

 

Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods specializes in Pie Crust Cookies. Inspired by Janie’s quest to get the perfectly proportioned bite of pie, she invented a cookie where each bite promises the perfect balance. Each bite delivers a flaky crust and a heavenly layer of filling and buttery caramelized streusel. This cookie has won Janie all sorts of awards, made her a Food Network Chopped Sweets Champion, and given her a purpose in life.

Bluff Cakes Grand Opening

Chloe Joy Sexton

Chloe Joy Sexton is the owner of BluffCakes Confections and is widely known for her baking TikTok account, @chloebluffcakes. Her recipes have been featured on national television and will soon be published in her cookbook, Big Yum. Chloe lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, Tyler, and their three children.
Erin McDowell

Erin Jeanne McDowell

Erin Jeanne McDowell is an author and video host specializing in all things baking. Her first book, The Fearless Baker, was named one of the best baking books of the year by the New York Times. Her second, The Book on Pie, is a NYT Bestseller. Her latest, Savory Baking, is all about the pleasures of baking for “Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between.” She hosts the award winning series Bake it Up a Notch on Food52.
Coinneach MacLeod

Coinneach MacLeod (THE HEBRIDeAN BAKER)

Inspired by traditional family recipes and Scottish flavours, Coinneach MacLeod, the Hebridean Baker, has been Scotland’s best-selling cookbook author for the past two years.


Coinneach was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly of the Outer Hebrides. His cookbooks and online videos (watched by over 25 million people) have inspired millions around the world to bake, visit Scotland, learn Gaelic, enjoy a dram or two of whisky and to seek a more wholesome, simple life. The Hebridean Baker showcases Scotland’s extensive larder and brings us flavourful dishes with a story to tell and aims to bring the best of Scotland to a worldwide audience.

Baker Bettie

Kristin "Baker Bettie" Hoffman

Kristin “Baker Bettie” Hoffman is a trained chef, baking educator, cookbook author, and owner of Bettie’s Chicago, a 1950’s styled event space and recreational baking school in downtown Chicago. Since 2011, she has created educational content about baking on the Baker Bettie website, YouTube channel, and on social media! Kristin specializes in teaching fundamental baking techniques, basic bread baking, and sourdough. Her approach is to break down baking science in an approachable way to help bakers build their confidence in the kitchen.
Courtney Rich

Courtney Rich

Courtney Rich is a self-taught baker whose love of baking and obsession with cake went from an occasional hobby to a passion just seven years ago. It’s now something she shares with over 500,000 followers on Instagram as Cake by Courtney. Teaching herself through trial and error, Courtney develops and shares her recipes and tutorials so other home bakers can create great tasting and beautiful looking cakes. Courtney also teaches classes at Orson Gygi in Salt Lake City, recently published her first cookbook, designed her own product line of cake tools, hosts a podcast, and has been featured in O! Magazine, The Today Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Hallmark Home and Family, Extra TV, and entrepreneur.com. Courtney also makes monthly appearances on Studio5 in Salt Lake City.

 

Prior to cakes, and even when she first started her blog, Courtney freelanced in television research as a focus group moderator. She worked with many of the top broadcast and cable networks in the industry to test new and existing television shows, as well as talent performance and website usability. Some of her clients included ABC, NBC, Viacom, Martha Stewart, Lifetime, Discovery Channel, TLC, and Warner Brothers, to name a few. 

 

Prior to her 13-year career in television research, Courtney worked as a producer for KUTV in Salt Lake City and a writer and report for Celebrity Justice, a news magazine show developed by the creators of Extra.

 

Courtney holds a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from BYU.

 

Courtney is married and a mom of two kids, Westin (14) and Avery (9).

Julia M Usher

Julia M. Usher

Julia M. Usher is a world-renowned sugar artist most recognized for her pioneering work in 3-D cookies. She is also the author of two books, 13 e-books, and an app, all about cookie decorating. When not spreading her love for cookie art in classes across the globe or online, Julia produces videos for her popular YouTube channel and website; oversees Cookie Connection™, the world’s largest online cookie decorating community; designs cookie stencils and cutters under her JULIA brand; and manages Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™, which was filmed in 2019 for a Food Network documentary. Julia is Past President of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and has received multiple food writing, decorating, and video awards, including James Beard Food Writing Award finalist (2008), Cordon d’ Or Food Writing Award winner (2009), Cake Masters Magazine Cookie Award winner (2013), Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show (OSSAS) Medal of Honor (2014), both Edible Artists Global Academy Association (EAGAA) US and International Sugar Artist of the Year Awards (2016), Cake Masters Magazine Cookie Icon (2018), TASTE Breakout Foodie of the Year (2019), and Best Online Cookie Decorating Classes from The Spruce Eats (2020). She is also a two-time Global Sugar Hero finalist in the Australian Cake Artists & Decorators Association (ACADA) annual Cake Oscar Awards (2021/2022), and a 2023 finalist in the global Positive Leadership Awards for her impact on the cookie arts community. Most recently, Julia launched a series of licensed 3-D cookie decorating courses in Asian markets with the highly regarded Japan Salonaise Association. Her favorite mantra is “live sweetly”, which she urges everyone to do every day!

Barbara Hobart

Barbara Hobart

Barbara Hobart is an award-winning television writer/producer and is also the owner of HomePlates Worldwide, Inc. a company which manufactures custom products for brands across the globe. She is also the creator and owner of Best Ever Backdrops, the 100% waterproof, stain resistant, and lightweight backdrops for food and product photographers.
Denea Gresham

Denea Gresham

Denea “Bitsy” Gresham founded Bitsycakes in 2017 shortly after deciding to leave her position as executive pastry chef at a million-dollar catering company. She had already graduated from the nation’s premier culinary school (CIA 2010) and had years of experience in the industry under her belt. She knew that the time was right to take a chance and bet on herself!

 

Bitsy gathers her motivation from her 5 year old autistic son, Zachary, whom she cares for while managing all the day to day operations of Bitsycakes.

 

Above all else, Bitsy prioritizes providing memorable moments for her clientele and students! She uses all of her experience and knowledge obtained over the past 13 years to educate, inspire, and brighten everyone’s days!

Fred Csibi-Levin

Fred Csibi-Levin

Hi! I’m Fred, also known as Doc Macaron on social media. I am a scientist turned pastry chef.

 

I have always had a sweet tooth and really enjoyed pastries, but I was never really a baker before the pandemic.

 

Initially, I focused on macarons, which are known for being particularly difficult to bake. I spent countless hours experimenting, trying to see how many parameters can contribute to making a successful (or unsuccessful) macaron. This opened my eyes to a whole new perspective of the science of baking and, as a scientist, I got hooked.

 

I made the big decision to make baking more than a hobby and earned a pastry chef degree. My brand primarily focuses on different aspects of education through workshops, sharing my recipes on my blog, and consulting to bakeries, restaurants, and individuals.

Mandy Silverman

Mandy Silverman

Mandy Silverman founded Mandylicious in 2013 in Sharon, MA. Since then, she has created over 400 unique challah and babka recipes and has developed a global following, including all 50 states in the US and over 70 countries around the world. In addition to selling challah and teaching classes, she loves sharing her recipes and tips, and supporting others who want to make their own challah.
Karen Bornarth

Karen Bornarth

Karen Bornarth is Executive Director of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, a nonprofit membership association dedicated to supporting the sustainable growth of the artisan baking industry through education, training and community. The Guild’s 2000+ members are bakery owners, professional bakers, ingredient and equipment suppliers, educators and others dedicated to the production of the highest-quality baked goods and to advancing the baking industry.

 

Through her years of experience as a bread baker and educator in New York City’s culinary landscape, Karen brings a passion for education and advocacy for frontline food production workers. She is particularly interested in breaking down the systemic and structural barriers to career and economic advancement for people of color and women in the culinary industry.

 

In her current work with the Bread Bakers Guild of America, she supports bakery owners and professional bakers to achieve success in their baking practices and businesses through classes and events in baking techniques and the business of baking, and opportunities to connect with and learn from their peers.

 

During her 7+ years with Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit workforce and small business development agency in NYC, she developed an initiative to improve job quality and business performance in small food businesses, and oversaw a team to design and deliver a dynamic workforce development program in New York City.

 

She launched her career at Amy’s Bread as an overnight production baker, taught bread baking for several years at the French Culinary Institute, and developed products and processes for Le Pain Quotidien, an international franchise of bakery-cafes.

Hans Westermark

Hans Westermark

Hans Westermark began working at Apple Annie’s Bake Shop in 1990. Hans has apprenticed in every aspect of the baking profession – mixing, baking, pastries, breads, cakes, and decorating. For two years he apprenticed in a European bakery in Solothurn, Switzerland. After returning to the States in 1999, Hans focused primarily on decorating cakes for Apple Annie’s Bake Shop. An avid videographer, Hans’s videos of his cake decorating surged in popularity on TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. He is excited to share his knowledge of old school cake writing techniques.
Hena Arora Mahajan

Hena Arora Mahajan

A jewelry designer and graduate gemologist from GIA London, Hena Arora Mahajan stumbled into the caking world in 2014 when she decided to bake her son’s 2nd birthday cake. Funky Batter was born in 2015 as a creative outlet for her with cakes as her canvas.


Hena is a Recipe Developer and works hard to shatter traditional boundaries by creating easy to make and functional recipes. Her main focus is to address pain points in the industry and simplify baking and cake decorating with her recipes and tutorials. She has created her famous #FunkyBattercream and #funkybattercake recipes which are being used by bakers in 102 countries.


She puts her heart and soul into each creation trying to bake the world happy, one cake at a time.

Alexandria Murray

Alexandria Murray

Alexandria started Finespun Cakes as a luxury cake business back in 2015, renting out odd catering kitchens and making sugar flowers at her kitchen counter.


Since then, she’s opened a cake studio in Toronto, had over 600 students go through her online courses, and grown her social media following to over 200k fellow cake makers and appreciators.


She’s been featured in wedding and cake magazines, blogs, podcasts, and was one of Wedluxe’s top 10 Wedding Cake Designers for 2023.


Alexandria has a love of creating sugar flowers, piped cakes, and helping other cake decorators navigate their own creative journeys and businesses.

Brette Hawks

Brette Hawks

Brette is a home-based wedding cake designer and baker out to prove that success in business is not about luck, but about solid business strategy, active implementation of those strategies, and holding a positive mindset. She runs not just one, but two baking businesses and enjoys creating beautiful floral painting wedding cakes as her signature style. She has been featured by Wilton, American Cake Decorating Magazine, and Cake Masters. As a coach for other bakers, Brette powerfully teaches all the nitty-gritty know-how about money and pricing, marketing, business planning, and how to confidently run your business without letting it run you. She hosts the podcast Business Is Sweet and it’s like a mini coaching session in your own kitchen! Brette lives with her husband and two cutie boys in Utah, and when she’s not making cake or teaching, she writes, goes for runs, gets lectured on Star Wars canon by her husband, and plays Taylor Swift songs on the guitar as loud as she can.

Erika Kwee

Erika Kwee

Erika is the creator and recipe tester behind The Pancake Princess, a baking blog curating popular internet recipes via monthly bake offs. The bake offs, which have been running since 2017, include testing 9-12 different recipes in one day, gathering taster feedback and analyzing the data to find the crowd favorite. Based in New York City, Erika recently transitioned from a product marketing manager at a software company to a full-time content creator.

Alejandra Olivas

Alejandra Olivas

Hi, I’m Alejandra, also known as Cakes by Alejandra on social media. I decorated my first cake in 2017 out of desperation, trying to create something special for my husband’s birthday. This instantly sparked my interest in cake decorating! After a lot of practice, what started out as a hobby slowly turned into a small business. Six years later, I was able to leave my full time job and turned baking and cake decorating as my full-time job! I have a large social media following, mostly on Tik Tok where people from all over the world enjoy my cake decorating videos. I often post tips and tutorials on all things cake, most of which took me years to perfect. I enjoy creating beautiful and unique designs for my customers and being able to share and inspire other cake decorators online is just the cherry on top!
Missy P Sweets 2021

Melissa Temling

Melissa is the owner and operator of Missy P Sweets – a home-based bakery in Dallas, TX. She specializes in decorated sugar cookies and has a passion for teaching others the art of sugar cookies through her monthly Patreon offerings and online classes. You can also spot her as co-host of The Cookie Chat (both on YouTube and Instagram) where she highlights her knowledge of running and marketing home-based businesses and balancing life – all with a bit of humor.
Katelyn Brewer

katelyn Brewer

If you haven’t yet been mesmerized by Katelyn’s stunning desserts, uplifting kitchen dancing, or elegant wedding cakes, allow us to introduce her: Katelyn, known as Sweet Kate Bakery, lives up to the name – her sweet and fun personality shines through in every dessert she bakes.

 

Katelyn has been baking up a storm for over 10 years now. She started off baking for friends and family, and then couldn’t stop the orders from coming in!

 

From baking, to decorating, to on-site assembling of uniquely designed, (often) sky high wedding cakes, everything she does draws you in for a closer look, because everything she makes is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for your stomach!

 

Throughout everything she creates, she strives to bake up success in cake, business, and a happier day for all those that come across her content.

Megan Knudsvig

Megan Knudsvig

Megan is a Pacific Northwest pastry chef turned food blogger, food photographer, and baking instructor. Her biggest goal is to make elevated desserts feel approachable to any baker through unique recipes, decorating tutorials, and a heaping tablespoon of kitchen humor. Megan’s main baking muses are macarons, pavlovas, cookies, and cakes. When she’s not baking, you’ll find her reading, doing yoga, gardening, and spending time with her husband and three spunky daughters.
Gianna Thompson

Gianna Thompson

Gianna was born, raised, and currently lives in the California Bay Area! She started her cake decorating journey in 2018 after her first child was born and opened a custom cake business in 2020 after her second child was born! After an amazing 2 years of business, Gianna decided to dedicate more time to family and her career as a special education teacher. Now, she creates cake decorating teaching content and plans to offer decorating courses in the future.
Natasha Orumbie

Natasha Orumbie

Natasha works full time as a local government officer and has been running her own baking business alongside full time work since 2009.

 

After having baked for 10 years with what transpired to be a profitless business, she almost quit! She could make life-like novelty cakes but had no idea how to run a business. Natasha made it her mission to learn how to make her business profitable and, in doing so, she was able to turn it around and create her dream business. Now she supports other baking business owners in doing the same.

 

N.O. Cakes R Better is now a global six figure business helping thousands of business owners all over the world to turn their businesses around!

 

In two years, Natasha became an author, podcaster, speaker, YouTuber, and mentor with several transformational testimonials from a global audience to back up the evidence of her success. She is super excited and proud to have founded The Bake-ulator app, a cake pricing app to help bakers accurately cost the price of their cakes and send a quote to customers in seconds!

 

When she’s not baking or coaching, you’ll find Natasha trying to learn trending TikTok dances – much to the immense embarrassment of her husband of 20 years (Adonye) and teen and pre-teen children (Ayana, 16, Adonye, 14, and Joshua, 12)! They haven’t quite accepted that this is an absolutely legitimate and very cool thing to do!

Dikla

Dee Frances

Dee is the author of the book Baking Science and the voice and creator behind the sweet baking blog, “One Sarcastic Baker.”

 

With more than a decade of learning and exploring the fascinating world of baking science, including hands-on experience at a retail bakery as a baker/cake decorator, Dee is now sharing how baking works and how we can use it to elevate our baking skills.

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Melissa Temling & Chelsea Hunt

The Cookie Chat is an online community and resource platform created by Chelsea Hunt of Rolling In The Dough AZ and Melissa Temling of Missy P Sweets. Born out of a desire to share all that they’ve learned after years of establishing and growing their own home-based bakeries, The Cookie Chat now spans across Instagram, YouTube & Patreon and covers an array of topics ranging from balancing life and entrepreneurship, how to effectively communicate with customers, marketing and pricing, and even online classes.
Janelle Copeland

Janelle Copeland

Janelle is the founder of the award winning bakery The Cake Mamas, located in the Los Angeles area! In 2009, after being laid off from a failed company, she traded in her corporate job to give entrepreneurship a try and alongside her husband’s EX, Fabiola Gomez, The Cake Mamas was born. Eventually the pair outgrew their home based business, then opened their first retail specialty bakery, and went on to win Cupcake Wars on Food Network. The pair ended their partnership within the first year of opening, and Janelle continued to manage and grow the brand with 15 employees. She continued to appear on several Food Network shows which she won a bunch, and lost a bunch too!

 

After 12 years in the food and baking industry she hung up her apron, sold her shop and now leads a tribe of thousands of creators, treat makers and business owners from around the world who are looking for knowledge on how to start, build and grow profitable businesses they love. Through her business courses, she shows business owners how to create a business that generates real, sustainable profit so that you can stop working yourself to death and start getting back to why you started your business in the first place. She coaches and teaches, specifically on Branding, Marketing, Pricing and most importantly developing CONFIDENCE in SALES.

 

Along with her courses, Janelle is the co-host of the PUSH Podcast alongside her husband Eddie and hosts entrepreneurial retreats in different cities across the U.S. throughout the year. She also has a Facebook community dedicated to fostering business growth and success.

 

While she’s not coaching, you can believe Janelle will be doing anything involving her five favorite F words: Faith, Family, Fitness, Food and Founder!

Avalon Yarnes

Avalon Yarnes

Avalon Yarnes owns Avalon Cakes School of Sugar Art, an online platform for cake and sugar art enthusiasts to learn and explore. She’s also the woman behind The Cake and Cookie Planner, an award-winning line of products for planning and sketching cakes and cookies. Avalon found her love for art at a young age, but it wasn’t until she began her first job at fifteen that she found her love for baking. Ever since she entered the sweet side of the food industry, she has been challenging herself to go above and beyond. Her passion lies in presenting cake in a form only formally reserved for traditional sculpture, brush, and paper. She found her “happy place” bringing both art forms together. Avalon learned how to create cakes and sugar art through experience and experimentation. Whether it’s realistic busts, defying gravity, delicate flowers, or making colorful watercolor paintings, most of all, she enjoys sharing her findings and teaching others. She has had the honor of being awarded Best Novelty Cakes Artist and one of the Top 10 Cake Artists of North America. You can also find her on television shows like Food Network Challenge and Duff Till Dawn. Her work can be found featured in top bakery blogs, magazines and books.
Anthony Rosemond

Anthony Rosemond

Anthony is the chef & founder of Pastreez, a French bakery where you can buy macarons online.

 

Besides being a French chef from Le Cordon Bleu Paris, he is also a Search Engine Optimization expert (SEO).

 

When he left everything in Paris to build Pastreez in California in 2017, SEO was his top priority to get the word out. Within the first 6 months of operating Pastreez, the company grew to be the #1 ranked website for keywords like “macarons near me”, “macaron delivery”, and more.

 

He was featured in Semrush, the #1 SEO platform, who flew to California to interview him and share his SEO success story.

 

While SEO usually sounds complicated, Anthony loves popularizing the world of Google to help fellow bakers thrive online!

Jelisa Flores

Jelisa Flores

Jelisa is a highly regarded baker based in Sacramento, California, who is renowned for her exquisite floral cupcake bouquets. Starting out as a hobby baker, she founded Bundle of Cupcakes, and by 2021, it had grown into a full-time business. Over the years, she has honed her craft, mastering the art of floral cupcakes, building her business, and teaching others through hands-on instruction.
Eboni Sims

Eboni Sims

Eboni “Ebi Cakes” Sims is a super creative fondant fanatic! She started making fondant birthday cakes for her daughters when they were younger. After sharing her cake pictures on social media, surprisingly people began to inquire about ordering. At that point, Eboni turned her passion into a career.

 

Eboni specializes in decorative fondant cakes and sweets. Many of her edible creations have been featured on well-known cake decorating social media accounts. She began teaching online classes and has reached students in the UK, Jamaica, and Ghana. She enjoys teaching from beginning to advanced fondant levels, and her passion can be seen through many of her edible art designs she has created and shared with the world over the years.

Josh Cain

Josh Cain

Chef Joshua Cain’s passion for chocolate and pastry creation have led him to be a distinguished chef and leader across the hospitality industry. Now acting as Executive Pastry Chef at Caribe Royale Orlando, he leads pastry innovation with a special focus on chocolate artistry. His passion for creating dramatic creations out of chocolate continues to grow, and he’s gained notoriety while creating chocolate masterpieces including an eleven-foot Saturn V Rocket to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing.

 

Cain has received national recognition for his artistry in sugar work, winning 1st place in the 2010 Sugar Art Casting Challenge and a Competitors Choice Award in the 2012 Pastry Live Showpiece Competition. His chocolate creations have become well-known by the culinary community, including his 32-foot chocolate train using 1,600 pounds of chocolate and Santa’s Magical Flight featuring Santa in his sleigh and his reindeer, all made completely out of chocolate. Most recently, you can see Chef Josh on Food Network as a baker on the 2023 Spring Baking Championship.

Is The Bake Fest For Me?

The Bake Fest is for everyone with a love for baking:

We couldn’t find any other baking event like this, so we created one! It’s the best place for all bakers to get ready for the holidays.

1,000+ Bakers ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Here's What They Have to Say:

What Are You WAiting For?

A limited number of tickets Are available

Bake along in expert-led hands-on baking classes that inspire and educate.

Grow your business and make more money with help from our experienced business instructors.

Meet and interact in real-time with the best baking and business brands.

Enter to win incredible prizes.

Join the fun entirely from the comfort of your own home!

About The Bake Fest

The Bake Fest 2023 marks our fourth virtual event that celebrates all bakers – home bakers, pastry chefs and bakery owners, recipe developers, and baking influencers. Our virtual gatherings are a place for us all to learn through interactive classes, networking opportunities, and shopping experiences. It’s a space to get to know each other and exchange tips so we can grow together.

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