Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Bates.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always wanted to do something artistic and creative as a career. I even went to school for fashion design then decided it wasn’t something that would work for me. I was interested in cakes after watching shows like cake boss and ace of cakes. Well after I started working at heb as a bagger I started picking up hours in the bakery just helping out. I wanted to decorate cakes so they trained me. I ended up becoming a cake decorator and did that for almost 7 years with heb. I quit to become a stay-at-home mom. When My daughter was 6 months old, I started my own cake decoratoring business from home, based on Texas cottage laws. It grew quickly and I soon found myself doing 8 or more custom cake orders a week. I even started doing large-scale events like weddings and Quinces. In 2019 I entered in an edible books contest at the cedar park library and won the people’s choice award. In February 2020, I won 2nd place in my category at ‘that takes the cake’ cake contest. I was finally doing what I loved and becoming successful at it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been a challenge for sure! When I first started Appling to become a cake decorator at heb it took months, I interviewed at so many places till someone gave me a chance. Then it took a while learning all the techniques and working my way up to be a full-time decorator. When I started my own business, it was costly investing in all the tools and supplies needed. I also had to learn how to balance being a stay-at-home mom and running a business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I make cakes mostly but also cupcakes, cake pops, and other goodies. I do a lot of 3d fondant sculpted figures and sugar flowers. I even went viral last year during the big cocoa bomb craze with my concha hot cocoa bombs. I truly love what I do and I love making people happy.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
My biggest risk was starting my own business from scratch. Investing all the money in tools and supplies having no guarantee I’d be successful or even make back my initial investment. I’m so glad I did though.
Contact Info:
- Email: Cakeartist97@gmail.com
- Instagram: @cakeartist97
- Facebook: Facebook.com/cakeartist97
- Other: Tik tok @cakeartist97
