About Valerie

A Lifetime Baking

My mother and Great Aunt were amazing cooks. It seems that I always gravitate to the kitchen no matter where I am. I attended Rec Lab in Carson City, Nevada when I was a teenager where the cooks taught me how to shape dinner rolls. I use the same technique today. I love the smells of a commercial kitchen.

I’ve always baked and decorated my children’s cakes. When we moved back to my childhood home in Serra Mesa, California, I got hooked on the Food Network. One show I watched was about this lady in New York who made these topsy-turvy cakes. The Whimsical Bakehouse was the name of her book. Which I bought immediately. The ingredients listed to make the bright colors was Hi-Ratio Shortening. What the heck was that?? I searched high and low and found it at Do It With Icing in San Diego. I started taking cake decorating classes with the owner, Linda Bills, and joined the San Diego Cake Club and the California Cake Club. I was ALL IN! I went on the first Cake Cruise in 2005 where I met famous cake decorators from all over. Although I was so new I didn’t have a clue as to who these people were, I soon found myself rubbing elbows with the greats: Susan Carberry, Colette Peters, Vi Wittington, Autumn Carpenter, and Roland Winbeckler. These were the folks who defined the world of cake decorating. I became more involved with the clubs and I would chair events like the San Diego Cake Show and Cake Camp held by the California Cake Club. Unfortunately, the pandemic of 2020 pretty much wiped out a lot of the events as well as the clubs themselves.

As I became more and more skilled in my decorating, I began to teach at Do It With Icing and at an Adult Education school. I taught basic cake decorating, macarons, cookies and chocolate.  When DIWI closed down I started planning decorating classes in my home. Again, the pandemic stopped a lot of those plans.

TLC’s The Ultimate Cake Off 

In 2009, I was part of a team that competed on the TLC show The Ultimate Cake Off with Susan Carberry as the leader of the team. We didn’t win that competition, but it was such a wonderful experience that taught me a few things. 1. Things are NOT what they seem on TV!  2. Life goes on even if you don’t win. As a side note, Susan did go on to compete again and she won!

Cake Cottage

In 2018, I started helping Susan at her shop, The Cake Cottage, in Murrieta, CA. What started out as a day or two a week, quickly became 5 days a week. She had me baking all the cupcakes and cakes. I figured out at one point that I had baked over 40,000 cupcakes in a one year time frame. I built cakes and soon had to begin decorating as it was becoming difficult for Susan to do it. She taught me to think outside the box and I tried so hard to live up to her standard. She was so creative. In 2022 Susan was diagnosed with cancer and we lost her in January of 2023. She taught me so much and I can still hear her voice guiding me as I work on cakes and cookies. I will be forever grateful to Susan and her brother, Pete, for giving me the opportunity to work with them and learn so much.

See the Bakes