Making Art Out of Food

SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Laura Devins has brought her professional cake decorating skills and business Chocolate Moose Cakes to Seeley Lake. While her primary focus is wedding cakes, Devins also does custom birthday and sculpture cakes as well as celebration cakes and cupcakes with a variety of fillings and decorating options to make any event special. Beyond the actual decorating, Devins loves the relationship she builds with her clients through the process.

During her first year in high school, Devins started working for a family friend John Auburn who owned JW Desserts on Whidbey Island, Wash. Auburn is a professional cake artist and sculptor, having done cakes for Bill Gates, the 1996 Presidential Debates, Academy Awards, Golden globes, World Series and Super Bowl in the late 1990s. Devins said that for a couple years Auburn only did wedding cakes and sculpture cakes with a $300 price tag or more.

"I went and picked up a cake for my mom and he asked me if I wanted to learn the trade. I said yes," said Devins who was 15-years-old at the time.

Devins worked for Auburn as an apprentice for five years full-time and two years on and off. She started filing paper work, foiling cake rounds, folding boxes and washing dishes before she was even allowed to touch a cake.

Then she learned the art of cake decorating. The staple medium was a Swiss meringue buttercream frosting made of egg whites, sugar, vanilla and butter.

"You can get a perfect flawless finish and the nice edges around the top of the cake. That is a major thing and it took a lot time to learn," said Devins. "I really like being able to eat everything on the cake and not having to peal it off [like fondant] because it doesn't taste great."

She also learned different decorating techniques and styles. She used a pastry bag with an assortment of tips that produced various borders and garnishes.

"Learning how to control the bag to get the different styles you are going for took many hours of training," said Devins.

Devins said after chilling the buttercream, it works great for sculpture cakes. Devins adapted the pottery tools techniques that she learned in her high school pottery class to carve the frosting.

"You can chill it up and it will get firm again allowing you to do a lot of fine detail with buttercream which is pretty cool," said Devins.

Following her work with JW Desserts, Devins went to work for Costco and Albertsons as a cake decorator. She decorated up to seven cakes per hour.

"They were really high production kitchens and everything looked the same. I didn't like that at all," said Devins.

She started working at Bernice's in Missoula and was a lead cake decorator for three years.

"Once I got back into the artistic side of it, I realized how neat it was to have a skill like that, to be able to make art out of food," said Devins. "It's just so fun because every cake is different and people love cake. It's a positive relationship [with the client]."

At Bernice's, Devins was responsible for inventory, lining out the bakers and decorators and then she would decorate. She would do 20-30 cakes per day.

"It gave me some experience on product rotation and the inner workings of having everything fresh and compiling a to-do list," said Devins.

Devins moved to Hungry Horse, Mont. where she branched out on her own, opening Chocolate Moose Cakes. When she moved to Seeley Lake last year, she brought the business with her, operating out of a commercial kitchen that she rents.

"I know out here in Seeley it can be costly to get a cake delivered so I would love to stay local and give people a cake that they are going to love," said Devins.

While Devins' training is focused on the cake decorating she said that her work experience has given her many different flavors to experiment with. She tests her recipes on family and friends.

"The baking is mostly self-taught," said Devins. "It's getting good recipes. It is important for the cake to taste good as well as look good."

Devins uses top quality ingredients including Wheat Montana flour and organic sugars.

"I try to keep it organic and high quality because it makes a difference. [With] eggs or butters that aren't high quality, you don't get the same end result," said Devins. "Working with higher quality ingredients produces a higher quality product. I try to keep it local when I can. Since I'm not super high production I can do that."

She offers various flavors including: Wild Montana, lemon poppy seed, chocolate turtle, chocolate mousse, classic carrot and caramel Kahlua.

Devins said that the average wedding cake or sculpture cake takes three days. The first day she bakes the cakes and makes the fillings. The second day she builds. The third day includes decorating and doing the fine details. Cakes take between six to 24 hours to decorate depending on the complexity.

Devins starts with a consultation with clients who order a wedding cake. They will have the opportunity to try different cakes and fillings and design their cake.

"Every cake is different so every price is different," said Devins.

While Devins won't call herself an artist, she enjoys art and said she has a creative side which allows her to visualize a cake.

"The possibilities are endless. Cakes can be carved, painted, textured or sculpted. Bring in flair with flowers, ribbon or scroll work," said Devins. "Cakes are not a necessary item in people's life but it makes a [wedding or] birthday really special when you can have a super custom unique cake. I love the relationship I build with the client."

For more information visit http://www.chocolatemoosecakes.com or email Devins at chocolatemoosemt@gmail.com