Obstetrician Natalie Prejean Blache never felt a desire to bake decorative cakes.. until she began doing it.
She hasn’t looked back since.
We asked her for a spotlight interview, so our audience can learn more about her side venture (join our new Doctor Side Ventures FB group here!), and she agreed!
What inspired you to bake cakes?
Well, I have always loved to bake.
But never once did I have any desire to make a decorative cake.
Yummy cake, sure. But I never once looked at a beautifully decorated cake and wished I could do it.
Until….I was giving my nanny a baby shower and was pricing out cakes and thought, I can do that!
Of course, I spent more on supplies than I would have just buying that cake. But I like to bake so I didn’t mind.
From that moment on it was an obsession.
How long did it take to learn this particular trade? Take us through the process of getting better..
Multiple practice cakes.
Numerous trials of cake and icing recipes.
Hours upon hours of you tube videos.
Buying every supply I could think of. Simple iced buttercream evolved into intricate gumpaste flowers and toppers.
Then the cupcake bouquets.
Then the cookies.
Wait, I actually hate making the cookies. But I’m glad I have the skill in my back pocket when I need it.
I made my nurse’s wedding cookies. I’ve made them for others, too. But I don’t find joy in it.
I now have my signature batter and icing recipes.
I am faster and have worked out the kinks.
How often do you bake them?
I don’t do them very often anymore due to time constraints.
Does your family join in the cake-making festivities?
Do you charge to make them?
I do charge a fee but mostly just supply costs.
Why? Because I don’t want it to ever be work.
I want to find joy in the creative process.
I have stipulations for agreeing to do cakes…
1. I have to have the time. Long gone are the days I would agree to do a cake postcall.
2. I have to be inspired by the design and WANT to do it.
3. I prefer creating girl cakes. In the event I do a boy cake you just have to know it will have some glitter. Everything is better with glitter!!
Have you always been creative?
I have many crafts and have always had my hands in something. Always creative as long as I can remember.
My favorite activity at camp was always arts and crafts. Grew up with a mother who did everything herself: sewing, painting walls, wallpaper. Whenever I was going through a hard time she would say let’s redo your room! We would paint the walls together and shop for new bedding. It was such amazing therapy.
My sisters are 9 and 11 years older than me so I grew up like an only child of sorts. I could occupy myself with creative projects for hours and never feel lonely.
We also moved a lot and so art classes were great ways to spend my summers when I didn’t know a soul yet.
I’m an extroverted introvert so I can happily get lost in things that I do alone.
Doctors today are doing SO MANY things on the side. Join an exclusive Facebook community for doctors only (accepting medical docs, dentists, podiatrists) to discuss everything from publishing, to real estate, to other ways to keep other ways we stay busy (& happy).
Do you have other talents?
I also play the piano and have since probably first grade.
The art evolved into bigger projects like tiling a kitchen and refinishing furniture.
That evolved into jewelry making. I made all the jewelry for my wedding.
That evolved into sewing and machine embroidery in residency.
I would make surgery hats and monogrammed badge reels for everyone.
Then bibs and burp cloths for friends having babies.
Next up….upholstering furniture.
Is there anything interesting about the process of baking the cakes (ie an ingredient you never leave out, an apron you must be wearing, or anything else unique)?
Why do you keep doing it?
Is your work and craft connected in any way?
What’s the coolest cake you’ve made?
My coolest cake….hmmmm. I don’t know.
But I can tell you the coolest thing I’ve done in relation to cakes.
I’m in a physician crafter group. I introduced the cupcake bouquets to them.
I did a Facebook live tutorial on them. I’m in Tennessee. One of the group members organized a craft get together for the Houston docs and they were going to watch my tutorial and then meet at a bakery supply store that have cake classes and make the cupcake bouquets together.
Well, I flew in a surprised they and taught the class!
It was so much fun. They had never seen me in real life so I acted like I worked there and was setting up and then we surprised them.
Follow up question: least cool cake?
My biggest bust of a cake…
I made a 3 tier cake for a friend and when she was pulling out of my neighborhood a deer ran in front of her car and there went the cake.
Yikes! Is that the ONLY time your cakes have fallen, though? One time is pretty good!
Multiple other times cakes would not make it from point A to B.
People do not know how to drive with a cake in the car!!
So, now I try and transport them all. Of I don’t then I only do 1 tier and I make sure it’s super cold before transport.
Is there any particular challenge you’ve taken on, where it comes to your cakes?
My biggest, scariest creative endeavor is the store I’m opening!!!
Where can folks order your cakes?
You can’t find or order my cakes. They’re just for friends and family
