Meet the baker
Little About Memii's Journey
Baking is my passion, I love the creativity of it; though it has not always been. CCD was founded out of necessity, but over the years I have grown to love what I get to do. I never had interest in baking. I was not the baker of the family. Nope. That’s was all my grandma Mattie Carter. That woman could whip up pies and cakes like nobody’s business. I would watch her in amazement during the holidays baking 20+ cakes and pies from this little mixer (I actually have the mixer and will display it when I get a storefront). It was always overflowing with batter, though never spilling a drop. The complexity of baking was too much for me to ever want to do it. Though my grandma never measured anything and made it look easy. It was a box of this, a pinch of that... she had it down to a science. Every cake or pie would be perfect. That always astonished me how she did it. It was magical. I loved cooking. Now that was my sweet spot. Cooking is free and adventurous. Not confined to measuring cups, spoons, or scales. Just my impeccable palette.
My dream was to open my own catering business but I thought I had to be professionally trained. No one would take me serious if I was just a home cook. I loved watching PBS and Food Network. From binge watching cooking shows, everyone was classically trained by French chefs. I wanted to move to France. However, I was a single mom with a two year old so that was not in my cards. I then started researching culinary schools in New York and San Francisco where some of my favorite chefs were trained. But in reality, I knew I could not lug a two year old far from the comforts of family.
One day on a whim I went to a job fair with my aunt; though, I didn’t need a job (I had a full time position with the State of California), I tagged along for support. There was a booth for a technical school that had a culinary program. It was for 9-months and they had night classes. Right up my alley. I signed up and went to culinary school. I had so much fun. I was in heaven. Part of my requirements was to complete an externship. Most of them were at restaurants during my work hours and I could not do it at night. The only thing available was a 5am shift at a European bakery. I didn’t want to work at a bakery (one reason was having to be there at 5am) but that was the only thing available that could accommodate my schedule.
I was surprisingly amazed. It was so interesting seeing it from a professional point. The head chef was a master pastry chef from Austria. He was hard and demanding and very condescending. He actually made a girl cry every day. Another reason not to bake. He was way too serious. He yelled at me once for having the water to warm to make dough. I didn't know it had to be ice cold. My bad. It was a lot but I loved the challenge. I excelled but as soon as it was over, I knew I was opening my catering company. It was confirmed I did not want to bake. It was too technical and too early.
Upon graduating culinary school, I ran my catering business while working full-time. Some of my coworkers found out I went to culinary school and worked at a bakery and asked me to make a cake for a potluck. It was around the 4th of July. I saw this picture online of a fruit cake that looked like a flag. I thought easy enough. It was a hit and I started getting orders. My biggest and most challenging was a wedding cake. It was daunting but with the support from the bride who was convinced I could do it knowing I never made a wedding cake, I did it! (With the help of the internet of course). From there Chocolate Confetti Desserts was born.
I have had my challenges. I was not formally trained as a baker. I made a few cakes that I thought I did the thing only to be humbled looking back as some pictures. But, you never know where or how God will move you. He blessed me with this gift to bring joy to people. To have the ability to create some phenomenal cakes with no training. I thought I would be a Food Network Star and work in renown restaurants and have my own catering business. Making cakes/baking was never, ever on my radar. Now it is my passion and I am gratefully blessed of this gift to be able to create decadent cakes and desserts for the most special events in people's lives. I hope to be apart of yours.
