Introducing wham bam pam's sweet blog

Hi Loves!

Well, it’s about time that I start writing in my blog, don’t ya think?

First, let me tell you a little about me. I’m a self-taught baker and cook. One of my favorite memories to illustrate this point is when I summoned up the nerve to bake birthday cakes for my three young children, some 38 years ago.  I am not a cake baker, nor a cake decorator, and it became very evident during my first attempt to make a birthday cake for my eldest daughter, Arielle, who was maybe five at the time. I baked two layers of vanilla cake – two layers that decided to go all dramatic on me and sink in their centers. To my amazement, they were still fully baked - but I was horrified knowing Arielle’s birthday guests would see such a travesty. Thinking fast, I decided to fill in the craters with lots of frosting. I leveled the playing fields so to speak. My cake was still sloppily frosted and lopsided – so I thought, “How can I add some fun to make my mistakes less noticeable?”

Enter Barbie.  I dismantled her body as if I were Dexter before Dexter was Dexter – sticking her limbs all around the top of the cake with Picasso-esque wild artistic abandon (don’t worry, I don’t think she felt a thing!)  Barbie’s decapitated head – Le Piece de Resistance – was pushed right into the center.  Then, I took a handful of plastic green frog toys (in addition to the toy cast of The Rugrats) and placed them all around her.  It was now a “Planet Barbie vs. the Poisonous Frogs!” Cake.  Mattel would have been SO proud. 🙂 Turns out, my children and party guests loved my creation.  Not only did they find the cake delicious – they found it funny.  And that was just the beginning…

I’d go on to read cooking magazines during ‘TV time’ at our house, snipping recipes from the pages or hand-writing them down on hundreds of notecards for later experiments and education.  I’d shop at Barnes and Noble once a week and torture my eldest daughter – who’d reluctantly join me just so she could get a free Starbucks Frappucino out of me – as she’d roll her eyes at me perusing the cookbook aisles for up to an hour.   I was curating a personal collection of incredible cookbooks – a collection I only thought I was enjoying for personal entertainment…

Then came the early days of Food Network. Emeril Lagasse taught me how to kick it up a notch, Alton Brown blew my mind by explaining the science behind food, and later, Guy Fieri convinced me that I too could take people to flavortown if I made things from the heart and kept it old-school.  Finally, during the pandemic, I discovered short-form digital content, where Claire Saffitz and Carla Lalli Music of Bon Appétit demonstrated new tips and techniques that really rounded out my skill-set and personal standards for making high-end baked goods.

With my family and neighbors’ encouragement and support, I began my licensed Cottage Bakery back in Colorado in 2018. Although I did not add “Planet Barbie Versus the Poisonous Frogs Cake” to the menu, I figured I had enough baked goods recipes to be a successful vendor at a local Farmer’s Market. Turns out, I was right.  My baked goods were a huge success and went on to win blue ribbons at multiple county and state fairs (including the Big-E!!).  Who knew my Barbie-alien-frog-cake would lead me to such a sweet victory almost forty-years later?

So now I embrace (and enjoy!) those “Ah-ha!” or “Uh-oh!” moments in the kitchen – whether I’m developing a new recipe – or tasting something at a local dessert bakery that inspires me to go on a new creative journey back home. 

Now, I am looking forward to sharing that journey with you. 

I will tell you candid stories about my customers – like how they scarfed down a whole brownie in front of me, moaning in an orgasmic glee – or cried because it evoked a long tucked away childhood memory – or scoffed because how could a cookie ever be worth $5 whole dollars!?  I will confess my epic recipe disasters, how I like to handle personal burn-out, and how I adapt to new markets, ingredient costs, and other hiccups that life throws our way as cottage industry bakers.  And I hope to do all of the above with a sense of humor (and be warned, it might not always be PG-13!).  My biggest mantra that I live by is, "A wasted day is one in which we have not laughed.” ;)

Comments are allowed on my blog.  So if you’d like me to discuss something in particular, feel free to ask away!  I want us to lift each other up, and most importantly, make each other laugh. “Community over competition” – always!

Thank you for coming on this sweet journey with me…

With love,

Pam

Photo of the original "Planet Barbie vs. The Poisonous Frogs" Cake - January, 1998