Bakers Spotlight
A year into the sugar schemin' game, Christina has come A LONG way. Nailing down her signature style and exploring new mediums is just the beginning of this lady's journey.
Passionate about her craft, her story is one that is inspiring and educating.
Christina
Dreamy Decorator
In March 2020, Christina hit a milestone: 1 year of sugar scheming! In just one year, Christina nailed down her signature cake style, found 20K lovers of her cakes on Insta AND continued to expand her sweet skills!
Recently, Christina has turned up the creative notch on cupcakes! Cupcakes always had a spot on her Insta. Now, new piping themes and color schemes have turned up on her mini treats. Macrons and cakecicles are other sweet mediums Christina creates. For April Fool's, she joked she was switching from cakes to candy. Her post was a stunning creation of gorgeous jelly candy. One thing is for sure, following Christina's journey is exciting. You never know what this lady will accomplish next!
In the baking community, Christina is a true player. Following her journey, you will find who inspires her, what tools she uses, and get to watch her creativeness flourish. Collaborating with other bakers on Instagram, she executes flawless, creative cakes for a variety of themed collabs. When Christina gets inspired by another person's cake style or technique, she let's everyone know in her cake description!
For those who are learning to cake decorate themselves, she shares what decorating products she used. Christina provides what pipping tips she used, her Sweetpolia mix, as well as any other decorating additions.
Outside of baking, Christina is a lover of marine biology. She has dived with Manta rays and whale sharks with her partner. Some of her cakes have even been inspired by her love for the ocean. Cakes with lobsters, sharks, and whales have all appeared on her feed- how cute!
The Interview
1. For April Fool's day, your little prank was that you were to stop cake making and start candy making. However, the gorgeous candy jelly gems you made were STUNNING! Can we expect more adventures into candy making in the upcoming months?
Yes! I'm thrilled that one of my favorite bakers released her recipe for the edible gems, and am very interested in exploring other methodologies to creating sweet embellishments to use as decorations for my cakes. I'd love to learn the basics of chocolate making as well!
2. Always love seeing your creations in all of the cake collabs! Which collab theme came the easiest to you? Which theme needed a little extra creative juice?
Oh gosh, looking back on all of the collaborations I've taken part in its hard to choose which was the easiest, because they had me scratching at the creative noggin a bit. I think the easiest was probably the Pan Tone blue collab, as it is definitely up there on list of favorite colors. Some of the hardest have been my own, specifically the Dragees installments that Erin and I have been hosting since September of last year. It's different when it's your own collab! I feel that there's more pressure to do well and at the same time you're trying to help everyone else with theirs before posting day. It can be tricky to come up with a design at the time!
3. From the cake flavor, frosting flavor, and any fillings, your cake flavor palette comes together so well! What is your fav flavor combos?
I really love classic flavors like vanilla and my absolute favorite pairing with that is my dulce de leche buttercream. With chocolate or velvet cakes, I really love a good mascarpone cream cheese which is a little tangy but also has that rich creamy background. I also really love using freeze-dried fruits pulverized into my buttercream for that fresh and flavorful zest (lime and lemon, for instance). When you bake cakes it's hard to choose! But those would be some of my favorites.
4. Tell me a bit about your baking story. When and how did you get started? What inspires you?
My mom had always let me explore with baking when I lived at home, but I did not really begin to try recipes on my own until I had moved out and was well into my 20's. I met a (very handsome) guy who I wanted to impress with cooking and baking skills. He loved the first cake I made from scratch, a carrot cake that really changed my perspective on baking. It wasn't until we moved to a new area and he gifted me with a KitchenAid that I really utilized the mixer and explored other things like cookies, bread, pies, etc. I was obsessed with the British Bake Off and watched every episode, totally inspired by each of the contestants and the challenges they put on. I tried something new pretty much every few days, and eventually I stumbled upon the beautifully crazy and therapeutic world of cake decorating. I followed a variety of accounts, but there are definitely some decorators out there who stand out to me as the most inspiring:
@Cupcakesandconfetti1, @Brittanie.bakes, @Brittanymaycakes, @cocoaandsilk, @sashacakeschicago, and so many more!
5. Besides pretty sweet treats, what else puts a smile on your face?
My guy and I just got our first puppy together so it would have to be her.
6. Lastly, where did the cute name bake_a_saurus come from?
Honestly, I just thought it would be funny to be a dinosaur that baked and at first I wasn't sure about the name but then it really grew on me!
Tools of the Trade
Not shy to try out any cake decorating medium, Christina has used a variety of tools.
Below are just some of the ways Christina has decorated cakes.
Fondant
The little black figure is actually Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon. He was sculpted out of gumpaste and fondant!
Gold Foil
Yes, edible gold! This cake features gold flakes that up the elegance on this multi-colored cake.
Sugar Glass
See that blue topper? That's sugar glass!
Boiling sugar + water, the sugar mixture is then shaped into the form you see here.
Flowers
While flowers top several of Christina's cake, this Easter Chick cake was a creative way to add the medium.
Candy Jelly
Christina was inspired by Sophia's candy recipe.
Sugar candy is poured into a mold and then broken (or cut) into shapes!
Hand Painting
Painted by hand, many murals appear on Christina's cakes. Some of her cakes also feature calligraphy!
Cake Inspiration
In March 2020, Christina celebrated her Bakeversary month in a fun way: creating cakes in the style of those who inspired her!
Check out the gallery below of the cakes she created.
