Bake + Fest = Two Good Things

Rick (00:04):

It takes a bit of a blend of art and science to get baking just right and having extra eyes, ears, and hands can make a big difference along the way. That’s where A. B. Maury North America comes into play. We are the team behind industrial and artists and bakers that help optimize success. We’ll discuss more on this episode of The Oven Light. So let’s get going. Flip the switch. Wow. Can you believe we’re back at it? Last episode we had Father Dom the Breadmonk, an outstanding show for The Oven Light. This week we have another great guest. This is Stephanie Pollock. She heads up the Bake Fest in St. Louis. So ladies and gentlemen, flip the switch. The light is on. Welcome to the oven light, Steph.

Stephanie (00:53):

Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Rick (00:55):

You know what’s kind of thrilling is we both kind of live in the same neighborhood in St. Louis, which is really exciting. A cute little area called Webster Groves, a bedroom community, as they say, with great restaurants and shops and things like that. But we met at IBIE for the first time in Las Vegas, and it’s amazing how these baking relationships go, right?

Stephanie (01:13):

Yeah, it was so crazy. Whenever you run into someone that lives, I mean, so close to each other, but we never knew each other and before we met in Vegas. So that’s just, yeah, it’s wild.

Rick (01:23):

All right. So here’s your elevator speech opportunity. You have one minute. Tell me about the Bake Fest and what is it and why should people really get engaged in this?

Stephanie (01:32):

So the Bake Fest is a community for bakers and we offer virtual learning experiences. So we do virtual events twice a year. They’re two-day events filled with all of your top baking influencers as speakers doing hands-on, baking classes on pies, cakes, cookies, breads, all of that good stuff, as well as business of baking. So how to increase your profitability, how to grow on social media, all that good stuff. We have all these great networking opportunities so you have a chance to connect with other people in your field from across the country. And we also have an opportunity for you to meet all kinds of great brands and get brand discounts and learn about products that you may not know about for your business.

Rick (02:22):

So Steph, let’s go back to the beginning here, right? You were not a baker by trade. And what I understand, you have to dispel this rumor, this myth that’s out there about you. You agreed to bake some cupcakes for somebody’s wedding, a friend’s wedding. And before you knew it, you pivoted and you changed your career. So what was your career before this? And then when did you technically start the Bake Fest? And is that story true?

Stephanie (02:45):

That is a true story. And this was back in 2007 when some friends had asked me to bake … Basically, they had told me they wanted cupcakes for their wedding and were just complaining about the cost. And I kind of out of nowhere agreed to make cupcakes for them. And I thought that they would say no because I had never baked a cupcake in my life. And they were like, sure, bake the cupcakes. And so I had to really get great at baking cupcakes because I took this pretty seriously. This was my friend’s wedding. And so I baked them cupcakes every week for an entire year leading up to their wedding and let them pick their favorite flavors for the actual wedding event. And this was back in 2007. And at the time I was working as a corporate trainer. I believe at that time I was at Anheuser-Busch doing technical training sorts of things.

Rick (03:37):

That’s pretty cool. So hey, just for the listeners, if you’re in your car, you’re in the office and you’re listening to this today, Stephanie did not provide any cupcakes for us to discuss. I’m salivating right now. So you also have another project that you have called The Cupcake Project. What is that all about?

Stephanie (03:51):

Yeah. So the one that I’m talking about right now, that’s the one that came out of this wedding. So that was, like I said, back in 2007 and I started a blog to track all the different cupcakes that I was making. And at the time it was only my good friends who were reading that. And of course my mom who were reading the blog. And then when other people started reading it, people were really sort of engaged in that project of figuring out how to bake cupcakes and figuring out the best cupcakes for that wedding. People started following me along on that journey. And it got to the point where I had so many people who were paying attention and that brands came along and I got sponsorships and I was basically able to quit my day job and become a full-time social influencer, blogger, things like that.

(04:35):

So that all came long before the BakeFest.

Rick (04:38):

That’s awesome. I think it’s really cool. What’s interesting is you’ve kind of built this. A, the cupcakes had to be incredible to serve at a wedding and it sounded like you perfected the recipe. B, you’ve made this a family affair. Now your husband, I believe, is your photographer. So he takes these glamorous shots of all the things you bake. And then you’ve got a teenage son as well, and he’s the quality control expert of the family. Is that true?

Stephanie (05:01):

Yeah. So it was interesting. When I first started my blog, my husband, Jonathan, was working in IT and he honestly didn’t like the photos that I was taking for the blog. And I guess some people would be offended by that, but I was just like, fine, you take them. I don’t care about photography. If you want to take the pictures, you take the pictures. And he got really good at it. And one day he was at an event with his camera and Sauce Magazine happened to be there and they hired him. And so he got a gig working for Sauce Magazine. Now he works for Feath and does all kinds of professional food photography and he took over the photos for my business. And eventually he was able to quit his day job as well and focus on all of our household businesses, cupcake, project, bake fest, et cetera.

Rick (05:53):

That’s awesome. And then how about on the quality control side?

Stephanie (05:55):

Oh, on the quality control side. So what’s interesting is that when my son was really little, we didn’t give him desserts. He really didn’t eat desserts for the longest time, but he loved baking with me. But now it’s gotten to the point where, of course, he loves desserts just like everyone else. And what he really loves to do, aside from just eating is he loves baking with me. It’s such a fun activity to do together and to have a shared experience.

Rick (06:21):

That’s awesome. I mean, that’s what baking is, right? It’s passing it down from generation and generation. And we’ve got a lead product, Fleischman’s yeast, and I hope it’s in your cupboard. I believe it’s in your cupboard, but that’s one of those secret ingredients that makes bread rice. And of course we do baking powders and tons of other things that make sweet goods too. But hopefully you’re a believer in the yeast as we are.

Stephanie (06:42):

I think a lot of people are scared of yeast. And I think that yeast, it’s so fun to work with yeast and to really get in there.That was one of the things that my son Miles and I love to do together is need bread, like need dough. It’s so just visceral and relaxing. You can use Play-Doh, but why not just use real dough with your kid? It’s more fun.

Rick (07:04):

Okay. So I’m going to put you on the hot seat now. You ready? We call this section rapid fire and we give you a few questions. So what is your favorite baked good to eat? If you go into a little coffee cafe or you’re a restaurant, what are you like, “Man, I got to have

Stephanie (07:20):

That. ” It’s really just boring, but my favorite thing is a really good chocolate chip cookie. I just can’t resist. When it’s warm out of the oven, it’s so good.

Rick (07:31):

Well, you know what? Duff Goldman, right? He was on the show earlier and we worked with him at IBIE. He said at IBIE, we’re talking about chocolate chip cookies. He’s like, “You either make them thin or you’re wrong.” Are you a believer in the thin chocolate chip cookie or do you like the fat, soft ones?

Stephanie (07:47):

No, I have to disagree with Duff. I do not like the thin crispy-

Rick (07:51):

Calling them right now. Calling them right now.

Stephanie (07:53):

No, I like it a little bit thicker. Yeah. Okay.

Rick (07:56):

A little chewy. Okay. Well, hey, that’s the beautiful thing about baking is we can all agree that we love it and like it the way that we like it. Okay, so here’s your second one. So it’s the holiday season, right? We’re getting into that. What do you expect to be baking between Thanksgiving and Christmas? So I’ve been

Stephanie (08:14):

Thinking about it, of course. And so I’m going to my brothers for Thanksgiving and he has sort of claimed baking the apple pie. He just loves doing the pie. So okay, so that’s his. So I think this year I’m going to make a sweet potato cake. It’s a bunt cake and it’s on my blog. It’s on cupcakeproject.com if you want to look for the recipe. But I made this cake last year and just loved it so much. So I think I’m going to do that. Usually I make a pumpkin tart, which I also really like.

Rick (08:44):

Awesome. All right. Third one, and I know the answer, but I’m just teasing you. What is an interesting hobby that nobody would expect that you do?

Stephanie (08:53):

Well, what I love to do in my spare time is aerial silks and not a big-

Rick (08:59):

And what does that mean? The aerial silks, I could Google that. Am I going to find something really cool or is this just … It sounds like a made up thing. Are you like a magician and you’ve got silks in your hands or do you like what the jockeys are riding on horses, the silks? What is it?

Stephanie (09:14):

A magician would be fun. Maybe that should be my next hobby. No, I do circus arts. So it’s where you climb up a silk and you do all kinds of tricks in the air and you do drops and catch yourself. And you’ve probably seen it in the circus.

Rick (09:32):

So how long have you been doing that? Is this a family thing too, generational pass down or what inspired you? Because it’s pretty cool. Now I say I know somebody from the Cirque du Soleil kind of world, right?

Stephanie (09:44):

So I started doing, oh, I don’t know, Miles was, he’s 13 now. He was probably like five or six. I started doing aerial yoga, which is pretty popular. You can probably find it wherever you are in the country. It’s really a great way to do yoga where you’re assisted with a fabric silk. And my yoga teacher was actually a circus person and also taught these circus classes. And after doing aerial yoga for, I don’t know, a year or two, finally I was like, okay, I’ll try the circus class. And I just got hooked.

Rick (10:19):

You fell in love with it, right? It catches you. That’s really cool. And besides a lot of what your expertise is now in social media and the webinars and things like that, tell us about the Instagram marketing.You’ve helped other businesses, I think even outside of the baking world, try to expand or improve or promote their own brands and products. Tell us about that.

Stephanie (10:39):

When I started growing my Instagram, it was sort of slow going. And then it really picked up, I’m talking here specifically about the Cupcake Project Instagram. And I now have 900,000 followers on Cupcake Project. And so when that grew, people started asking, “How did you do it? How’d you get your account to grow? What happened and can you help me with that? ” So I have a business partner here in town who also has a large Instagram following. He’s grilling fools and he does all kinds of grill stuff, barbecue stuff on his Instagram. And the two of us got together and started a company with the goal of teaching people how to grow their Instagram accounts. So we started just managing Instagram accounts for companies. And now we work with a whole bunch of different clients, helping them grow their Instagram feeds, grow engaged Instagram feeds.

(11:28):

And we’ve recently added creating content for them since Instagram now basically demands that you have unique original video content. So we create content and help you grow your Instagram account.

Rick (11:39):

Okay. Steph said 900,000, not 900. So we’re on the cusp of a million people that follow what you’re doing. Hey, that’s really cool. Congrats on that. The other point is, when I was growing up as a kid, we didn’t have the social media. We’re lucky to have Atari. And nowadays, if you talk to kids and their teens or even younger, what do you want to do when you grow up? It was always a doctor or an astronaut or a baseball player. Now it’s like, I want to be an influencer or I want to be a YouTuber. Are you part of this new generation? And is your son following suit where he is like, “I want to have an impact on people and grab large quantities of audiences to impart knowledge on.

Stephanie (12:19):

” Yeah, it’s weird because I’m definitely older. I’m not at that age of the people that are doing all that stuff, but I’m there. I’m right there. I’m making all of this content. I’m sort of in the gig economy kind of thing with having all of these different businesses and working for myself. And it is really exciting. And when I ask my son about what he wants to do when he grows up, he’s unwilling to commit. He’s like, “I don’t know. We’re going to see.” And I think that’s fair because no way I could have told you I was going to do this when I grow up. You just don’t know what the opportunities are going to be at that time.

Rick (12:53):

Absolutely. All right. So let’s talk about a couple of things going on in the Bake Fest world. As we head towards the holidays, you’ve got a really cool program and you’re giving back a little bit. So I want to get the inside scoop on it called the Bake Fest Sweets Swap. So tell us about that plus the charity component to it.

Stephanie (13:10):

So this is something fun that we decided to do just to be light and keep people engaged over the holidays. We are doing our version of a secret Santa. And the way that it works is that when you sign up, you’re paired with a mystery person and you’re going to send that person a box of sweets, whatever homemade, whatever you want to send them, and then they will send you back or a different person actually. You’re not matched with the same person, but somebody else will send you a box of sweets. And it’s just going to be so fun to see this mystery box appear in your mailbox. And it’s completely free to participate, but we are asking people to donate to charity water. And I picked that charity because I feel like we’re also lucky that we have these incredible baked goods. And with this sweet swap, you’re getting a box of baked goods arriving at your door, but there are all these people that don’t even have fresh water to drink.

(14:06):

I mean, it’s such like an opposite extreme. And if we can help people to just get that basic need met, I think that’s a really powerful thing.

Rick (14:13):

That charity again is charity colon water. So check it out. What does success look like for that? How many people do you think are going to be able to participate? Do you have any more details? There’s a site or something that people can visit in case they want to get this done. I think the deadline is towards the end of the month, end of November.

Stephanie (14:32):

So it’s linked right off of our homepage, so that’s the easiest. Just go to the bakefest.com and there’s a link right on there to get you signed up for the sweet

Rick (14:41):

Swab. All right. So you got to sign up by the end of November. Then there’s a baking period, a shipping period, and a fulfillment/enjoyment period, right?

Stephanie (14:49):

Totally. Yep. End of November, and then you’ll get you your match. And we’re trying our best. If you have a specific preference, I’m thinking about myself here. I don’t like mint in desserts. So if I’m like, “I don’t like mint,” you could just write your little note, “I don’t like mint,” and then we’ll pass that on to your partner. So at least we can’t promise, but we’re hoping that the partner will take that into consideration when they send you the baked goods.

Rick (15:15):

Got it. And this is US only. Maybe in future years, you’ll look at international or even up north, as they say, to Canada.

Stephanie (15:22):

Exactly.

Rick (15:23):

All right. So let’s talk about other calendar things. So we’re almost getting ready to flip the page a little bit, look into 2023. You’ve got a Spring Bake Fest. Give us the dates and details on that. And then you’ve got another Holiday Edition Bake Fest for next year that it sounds like your calendar’s already kind of maxed out in full for.

Stephanie (15:40):

We have just announced our dates for the Bake Fest for 2023. So we have an event May 20th and 21st, and that will be our Spring Bake Fest. And that will be very similar to what we did for our event last year. So we have the format pretty nailed down. It’s going to be two full days. We’ll have some exciting keynote speakers. We’ll have classes on all different types of topics. We’ll have networking opportunities. We’ll have opportunities to interact with brands, brands doing demos, giveaways. It’s just an incredible two days. When people go to that Bake Fest, I get all these emails afterwards about how they really felt like they were there even though it was virtual. And I think that’s the coolest thing.

Rick (16:22):

Well, I mean, the key thing for you is you’re building a community, right? That’s what you want. You don’t want people to feel like they’re on an island. They’ve got a support system, right? Or they’ve got a way to pick up the latest in innovation from leading baking innovators, right?

Stephanie (16:35):

That’s exactly it. I recently held some focus groups where I talked to a whole bunch of bakers and small groups over Zoom. And one of the things that I heard people talking about over and over again is how it would mean so much to them to just have somebody that they could call if they had a question or reach out to or send a message to. And we really want to provide that space for them to have that community, know bakers. And it’s not competition. There’s room for everyone. Let’s learn from each other. Let’s grow. Let’s connect. That’s

Rick (17:12):

What I was going to ask you because it seems like in this space, right? I mean, if somebody has a small business, it’s the same thing. We work with a lot of craft brewers and craft distillers and winemakers, and we make yeast and ingredients that go into those products, but people are usually really good and really helpful with somebody else that maybe is having a problem or they need a creative way to come up with a cool solution. Do you find the same

Stephanie (17:36):

Thing with baking? 100%. Even the influencers, people who are teaching our classes and who are these top bakers. And I think a lot of times people are scared to approach these folks and they think that they’re going to be reserved or not willing to talk to them. But what they find at the Bake Fest is when they sit down at a table with this instructor that they’re totally happy to share. And it really, it’s a win-win for everyone.

Rick (18:00):

Is there somebody out there in the Mount Rushmore of baking? You’re like, “Boy, I’ve met this person or I can’t wait till the day where I have some interaction with this person.” Is there any of that with you?

Stephanie (18:11):

Good question.

Rick (18:12):

Yeah. Like baking idols or somebody, or is there even a program or a show or something that you watch on the Food Network, you’re like, “Oh, this is cool. I just can’t get enough of it.

Stephanie (18:21):

” No, I don’t have a good answer to that. I’m not a big food network person really. I do follow all these different people on Instagram, but I like to learn from everybody when it comes to baking. I’d love to talk to just somebody’s grandma about what’s the recipe that they’re using to make that amazing dessert that they’ve been making for their family for so many years. There’s no specific famous baker.

Rick (18:48):

I mentioned at the beginning of the show, we work with the Breadmonk and Father Dom, he is part of an Abbey here in Illinois, but he also has quite a following based on his books and also PBS. So we do a little bit of support for some little baking shorts that he does. But I just got his new recipe book, New Cookbook, and it was focused on breakfast breads and breakfast sweet treats. And just the storylines of reading, it’s not just, here’s your basic recipe. There’s more to it. It’s the inspiration or what drives. I mean, do you feel that same kind of … I mean, I assume you have the same passion because I hear it in your voice and I see it in your face.

Stephanie (19:23):

Yeah. I think it’s so interesting knowing where food comes from and learning about different foods and the histories behind it and all of that. I think that’s what brings us all to food. It’s the community, it’s the stories, it’s the visceral sort of experience that you have when you eat the food and how it brings back different memories from different places and times.

Rick (19:44):

Okay. Well, give me a good example of that. You talked about chocolate chip cookies, but is there something from your youth and you remember that was like, it could have been from an aunt, an uncle, who knows, a grandparent and you were like, “That was the best.” And I don’t know if I can ever replicate that time and place, but do you have a sweet memory like that?

Stephanie (20:02):

My dad, when I was growing up, we grew up in New York and he would, on his way home from work, he used to stop at all of these different bakeries and bring home different baked goods for us to enjoy. And he brought home this one chocolate bobka that was so good. I don’t think I’ve ever had a chocolate vodka like that. And he used to get it a lot. And I liked not just the taste of it, but we would literally rip into it. And I like the experience of not just cutting it, but just ripping off a piece and just enjoying that.

Rick (20:38):

I’ll tap onto some of those memories too, because growing up in upstate New York with my grandparents, part of my family is Ukrainian, part of my family’s Swedish. And the Swedish side, they had a Swedish rye bread. And it’s not like a traditional rye bread. It’s a little sweeter, but with some fresh butter on it, man, I tell you what, it was as good as it could get. And then my mom would make these cookie bars. A lot of people call them magic cookie bars, but she called them Hello Dollies. It’s got the eagle brand milk base and it’s got chocolate chips and some nuts and butterscotch and coconut on top with almost like a graham cookie kind of crust. Have you made those before? Those were the best. And I remember those as a kid. We just waited for that plate to come out and a big glass of milk and there you go.

Stephanie (21:19):

So years ago I did a partnership with rumchata. Have you had rumchata?

Rick (21:24):

Yeah, I know what you’re talking

Stephanie (21:25):

About. And I made a magic bar using rum chata and it was so good. Highly recommend trying that variety.

Rick (21:33):

That sounds fantastic. All right. So Stephanie, before we go, we’ve got kind of just a couple minutes here. Let’s talk about this special cupcake recipe. You’ve got a vanilla and chocolate recipe that I guess that has big acclaim.

Stephanie (21:46):

Yeah. I always like to talk about those because they’re the recipes that I’m most proud of by far. What was happening in my blog in the early days is that I was sharing all of these different cupcake recipes, like I said, like a new cupcake recipe every week. And people would start to write me and say, “Well, do you have a vanilla cupcake recipe?” And I was like, “Oh, that’s just boring.” Didn’t bother with it. And then finally I’m like, “Okay, I really need to make a vanilla cupcake recipe.” But because I was so already established as a blogger, I didn’t want to just say, “Okay, here’s a vanilla cupcake recipe.” I wanted it to be the best vanilla cupcake recipe. And so I asked all of my followers who wants to join me on a team to test my recipe. And I got 50 different people at all different skill levels from all around the world really to be on this team to test the recipe.

(22:37):

And I sent them my first recipe and I said, “Unless 70% of you said this was the best vanilla cupcake you’ve ever had, I’m not going to share it. ” And they didn’t like it. And so I worked it again and then I worked it again. And it was like six months later and I had the number I wanted and I published it and it’s consistently ranked like the best vanilla cupcake recipe. It’s used by bakeries all over the country, the website, the kitchen, just rinked it above all these other famous peoples. And then I did the same thing with chocolate later. And chocolate cupcake took me even longer because it’s much harder to nail that down. And those chocolate cupcakes are not really chocolatey. They’re that chocolate color, but they don’t have the strong chocolate flavor. And eventually I nailed that to the point where it’s incredible.

Rick (23:23):

So are those recipes on your website? First question. Second question, is there some secret hint of an ingredient that’s in there?

Stephanie (23:32):

So they’re on cupcakeproject.com. Yes, of course. You can find them there. And there were a couple things that I had to do. They used sour cream, which really helped your sour cream fan.

Rick (23:44):

Absolutely. Yeah.

Stephanie (23:46):

And then the chocolate cupcake includes not only cocoa powder, but also melted chocolate. And what was interesting about that one is that I discovered that for people to be happy with the cupcake, they have to use their favorite kind of chocolate. A lot of people just use baking chocolate when they bake. But if you’re somebody who really prefers a certain kind of dark chocolate bar and that’s like your favorite brand of dark chocolate bar to eat, that’s the kind you should be putting into this cupcake. And that really made the difference for people.

Rick (24:21):

It seems like such like an easy thing to do, but that’s a really good observation, right? I mean, I can tell you in our family, it’s either milk chocolate or a stark chocolate. It’s kind of like we draw a line in the sand, it’s tug of war, which chocolate is best, but I think that’s a really good point. All right. So last question, fun question for you because I like music and we’ve talked with music with a few people in the past. You have two bands, one from a few decades ago called Bread, and you’ve got a more current band in the last 10, 15 years called Cake. Which band would you have on your iPhone?

Stephanie (24:54):

Is it based on the music or on which I like better?

Rick (24:57):

Any way you want to define it.

Stephanie (24:59):

I mean, if I was stuck on a desert island and I could only have bread or cake, I would pick bread 100%. I love bread. I mean, even the dessert, when you asked me about the dessert that I was dreaming of, I was like bobka, which is more bready. I grew up on challah and I’m a sucker for bread right all the way.

Rick (25:18):

You know what? It’s funny because you would think a guy like Duff Goldman too to go back to Duff who is in the sweet world with cake and all that. He loves bread. He even went to Sandwich High School up in the Northeast and worked on calzones and pizza. So I mean, it’s a crazy thing, crazy web we weave in this baking world. But Steph, I tell you what, I appreciate you being on sharing a little bit more about the Bake Fest. I think your holiday sweets swap idea is really cool. I know you’ve got some great things coming up next May and we’re just thrilled you’re on and we look forward to seeing you back inside A. B. Maury’s Baking Hub. And in the meantime, wish you the greatest of holidays and for now, the oven light, the switch is off. We’ll see you next time.

(26:05):

We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Oven Light. Until next time when we discuss more about the wonderful world of baking technology, trends and more, the switch is officially off. Goodbye for now. See you next time.