Meet Jennifer Washington of 3j’s Cake Couture in Fort Worth

Jennifer, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always loved cooking and baking, but my favorite part was taking other recipes and changing them up or attempting to make it ten times better! I really enjoyed experimenting with different ingredients and flavors. I usually only cooked or baked for my family and friends, but then I started doing it for different meetings and functions at work. I’m a teacher so we’re always looking forward to free food!

One year, I went with my assistant principal and some co-workers from my math department on a trip to Colorado for a math conference.

My assistant principal took us to meet his aunt and family on one of our days out there. His aunt made one of the prettiest cakes I’d ever seen at that time. It was decorated with chocolate covered strawberries, whipped cream, blackberries, and raspberries. I asked her about how she did it and she explained everything to me and even gave me her recipe. It was on that trip that I decided that not only did I want to keep making cakes, but now I wanted them to to be pretty too!

For the next couple months, I just remade her cake repeatedly, changing little things each time to make it slightly different. Then I began experimenting a little more, looking online and in books replicating different designs and techniques. Once I got to a point where I felt like I needed a little more guidance and support I took some Wilton cake decorating classes at my local Hobby Lobby to learn more. Once I got some of the basic elements down it was easier to teach myself harder skills.

I began making more cakes to show off my work, told everyone that I was starting my own business after being told I should a million times, and one day I got an order! After that, word of my business spread via word of mouth and I started getting orders every month.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It haven’t been a completely smooth road for me, but that’s due to outside circumstances in my life. I took the year of 2016 off when my husband went into the hospital to battle leukemia in April. When he finally came home at the end of June, after multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant, I was his caregiver and we couldn’t really leave the house except to go to his appointments. The only cakes I made were just for practice with styrofoam and he’d help me when he could. He always had the coolest suggestions and ideas. My husband went back into the hospital at the end of October and died in early December. I couldn’t even think about cakes. I considered quitting because my whole workspace had memories of him all over and anytime I did a cake I always had his input. How could I possibly make another cake without hearing him say “Good job, Babe!” after I finished every time? I didn’t do any cakes for months.

One day, I was at work looking at cakes online and looking at pictures of my husband on my computer. I decided that not only was I going to start making cakes again, but that I was also going to enter my first cake competition and win! Hitting enter on my computer to go through with it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I immediately sent a text to my cake bestie, Steff, asking her what the hell did I just do and what was I thinking! I only had about a month and a half to prepare, but through, literally, tears, sweat, an about a million calls to Steff, I actually won 1st place in my very first cake competition. I dedicated the win to my husband.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with 3j’s Cake Couture – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
So, my business is named 3j’s Cake Couture. I’m a home baker and I make custom decorated cakes and cupcakes. I think I’m most proud of being able to service an area that already has a lot of high end/famous cake decorators and shops that have already been around. I think what sets me apart from others is the ability to build relationships with clients and learn what they like on a personal level. I really put my heart into everything that I do and I believe that shows. I like to step out of the normal box and play with cool flavors that I think people would like to avoid the same boring, plain stuff all of the time.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I’m having to kind of rethink some of my plans that I had since my life has been so crazy this past year, but I’m working towards hopefully doing cake decorating full time instead of teaching. When asked what I do, I always say that I’m a cake decorator and a teacher on the side.

One of my co-workers thought it was hilarious when I responded that way to a district official who was visiting our campus and asked what I did here on campus.

For the immediate future though, I definitely want to start entering more cake show competitions and take classes from some of the more experienced cake artists to learn additional skills and techniques. There’s always something to improve upon and learn so I really just want to be the best version of myself that I can be.

Pricing:

• Cupcakes start at $20/dozen
• Cakes start at $120

Contact Info:

• Address: Fort Worth, Tx
• Website: http://3jscakecouture.weebly.com
• Phone: 817-726-1985
• Email: threejscakes@yahoo.com
• Facebook: Facebook.com/3jscakecouture

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