Oh! How we used to get all excited about choosing the designs for our birthday cakes when we were children. However, those designs are nothing as compared to the aesthetic beauty of the cakes baked by Leslie Vigil. You just need to visit her at Tasteful Cakes in Corona, California, US, to know what we mean.
Since childhood, Leslie displayed a keen interest in her mother’s baking. She’d help her out stir the batter. It was her mother that inspired her to pursue this hobby. Says she, “My mom would often experiment in the kitchen and she took a cake-decorating class. I was fascinated by all the beautiful things she made and brought home and decided to join her.”
Leslie considers her mother’s chocolate Bundt cake, that she baked for her 16th birthday, as the best she has ever had till date. This acted as a strong motivation for her to learn baking skills. She took it upon herself to hone her baking skills and started studying cake decorating books. However, turning professional at that point of time didn’t really cross her mind, though the desire was always there.
Leslie’s perseverance to learn every baking trick in the book took her to Le Cordon Bleu, a prestigious French cooking school located in Paris. She was swept off her feet by the culinary expertise of the chefs there, who would create most incredible cakes, sculptures and showpieces out of fondant, buttercream, chocolate and sugar.
This made Leslie determined to make her mark in cake baking since this was what she always wanted to do. Once she successfully completed the baking and pastry program of the school, she looked around for a job. But, unfortunately, she couldn’t find one.
However, it’s thanks to her eagerness and determination that she started baking and cake decorating from home. By and by, she gained experience and built upon what she had learnt in school. She also added to her knowledge by watching, reading, learning and experimenting from the sources available.
Leslie eventually landed a job at Tasteful Cakes, where her creations are a rage. She considers her love for nature as her main inspiration and infuses the beauty that abounds in nature into her cake art. For her, the experience is almost spiritual. It comes as no surprise that she spends over 40 hours every week in the bakery, baking designer cakes for parties, weddings, etc., especially in the spring and summer months.
Is it any wonder that her baking is making waves on the social media, with Instagram alone registering a following of over 129,000 drooling fans!
Leslie Vigil
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