Jemima worked as a chef and pastry chef across Australia and in London over the past 16 years and along the way had a few jobs where she made wedding and celebration cakes. "I was very lucky to learn the ins and outs of a cake business. When I moved to Melbourne in 2014 I decided to start a little side hustle to my full time pastry chef job - it was a creative outlet for me in a way and I never really expected it to be a full time gig!" Jemima Zephyr and Bloom Cakes
"I would bake in the evenings at home after a full day in the commercial kitchen and I was lucky that I usually had weekends off to deliver cakes as well as a great boss and a supportive partner. About a year ago I decided to take it full time as I was getting very busy - it felt naturally like the next step. Currently I am still a home based business but definitely have future plans for a little cake studio."
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Tell us about what Zephyr and Bloom Cakes offer a couple for their Wedding day?A wedding is the most important day of a couples life and I believe that the cake should reflect that. I pride myself on offering interesting flavours with high quality ingredients; with at least two fillings per cake, curds, caramels and mascarpone as well as alternating cake layers just to name a few - not just another mud cake! If there are any flavours that the couple love then I can absolutely work that in. No two cakes are the same and I can either work closely with the couples florist or I can source the flowers. As well as flowers I love using dehydrated and fresh fruit, meringue/cookie crumbs, sugar shards and edible flowers. Quite often my cakes need to be decorated in-situ at the venue so I always recommend delivery. The planning process of each cake can take a few months and I am always up for a design challenge, clients can come in for a consolation if they wish - it is a nice chance for us to get to know each other and talk about their special day, every wedding is so different!
Do you have any stories that you would like to share from your experiences?
There have been lots of ups and downs which is natural in a small business and I am constantly learning! I would say a highlight was once making a birthday cake for Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age as well as recently making a cake for J’Aton Couture. A few years ago my vegan cousin and her partner asked me to make a vegan wedding cake for them - the challenge was set! Since then I have developed some really interesting vegan recipes that even non-vegans love and come back for!
What advice would you offer to Nearly Weds who haven't chosen their perfect wedding cake yet?
The cake can quite often be the centrepiece of the wedding and not only does it need to look amazing it has to taste great and reflect the couples style and favourite flavours. My advice when getting in touch is to give as much information as possible about your wedding and thoughts on cake, it is also really important to make your baker very aware of any allergies -the more information the better as well as inspiration photos! Do your research, get some different quotes and taste the cake. Thought also needs to be taken in how you are going to serve your cake, most bakers will say either ‘coffee’ or ‘dessert’ serve and these are generally a industry standard portion sizes. The advice I give with this is that coffee is suitable for post dessert or a roving canapé style sweet where as the larger dessert portions are suitable for individually plated servings that get placed in front of each guest. Another thought is to keep some of the cake and serve it at a recovery as lots of clients say that their guests enjoyed it a lot more the next day, I never recommend freezing it for a year!
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Do you have a prediction for any upcoming 2020 wedding styles?
It’s all about texture! Whether this is achieved with marbled buttercream or 3D buttercream strokes, stencilling, wafer paper or fondant, there are some really interesting and exciting things happening with cake decorating at the moment.
Tell us about the best part about what you do:
I love meeting new clients and seeing how different every wedding is! I also get such a high after setting up a wedding cake - after months of planing, baking and the stress of delivery, seeing it all come together and having it all set up at the venue is really a great feeling.
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