I've eaten a lot of cookies and cakes in my day. There, I've said it and I'm not ashamed. When I see a cookie it's as if I am temporarily possessed by my old friend, Cookie Monster and the next thing I know I've eaten...well, way too many cookies. Being a cookie and cake expert I know that some cookies/cakes can taste great despite not being very appealing to the eye and others can look great but be lacking in the taste department. You don't always find the perfect combination.
This month's OWSAA Feature Artist works in the culinary arts and is a baking extraordinaire. Her name is Kate Morfa-Miller and she possesses the talent of making cookies and cakes that are both beautiful and great tasting.
Kate Morfa-Miller
Below are photos of some of Kate's beautiful creations which include some that my family have enjoyed over the years.
Delicious Cookies
Don’t they all look delicious! Kate was kind enough to answer some questions about her talents and delicious treats. I hope you enjoy what she had to say.
Who/what inspired your love of art? At what age did you become interested in art?
I don’t think anyone in particular inspired my love of art. I actually started scrapbooking when my kids were born and I just love being able to capture memories. And looking back I had all of these things from my life like tickets stubs, programs, etc. Just all these little bits and pieces of my life that I had kept that I didn’t realize were things for memory keeping, until I took a scrapbooking class when Riley was born in 2000.
When did you first begin to apply your artistic abilities to your cookie/cake creations? Was this the same time you started your business?
Probably in 2014, I came across decorated sugar cookies and I have been a baker my entire life it was actually something I wanted to be when I was a child I wanted to go to school to become a pastry artist. But of course life happens and that is not what I end up studying in school. But when I came across decorated sugar cookies it was like my love of scrapbooking and my love of baking just exploded into one beautiful hobby.
I ended up taking a class at Michael’s and I still have pictures of those very first cookies lol! I never thought about actually selling cookies or doing anything like that until I had a friend ask me to bake for her for pay and I was completely flabbergasted that someone would actually pay me money to bake. It sort of took off from there, and there are times when I’m a lot busier than others but overall I love baking and I love sharing my baked goods with people so it all works out.
Can you talk a little bit about the process of how you place such amazing drawings/paintings on a cookie?
Well a cookie design is really just limited by your imagination. There are many ways that I can place images on cookies and a lot of people use actual printers that print on a cookie but everything I do is hand piped. I use a projector to project an image that I then sketch on a cookie and then I color it in like a coloring book page. Depending on the image sometimes I freehand it. But it is definitely all hand piped with royal icing.
Can you explain what it has been like to start/own your own business? Do you have any advice for others considering starting their own arts business?
The wonderful thing about owning your own business is that you can do things on your own terms. I can work when I like and take time off when I need to. But it can also be stressful especially if it’s not an especially busy time of year. For me the stress is really in trying to make sure that people are happy with the things that I make since they tend to be parts of important celebrations in peoples lives, and I really want things to be beautiful as well as delicious.
By looking at pictures of your work it looks like you can turn cookies/cakes into pretty much anything your customer(s) would want. Is most of your work specific to the individual client? Do you have designs that seem to be fan favorites?
As I said earlier cookies are limited only by your imagination if you can think it it can be made into a cookie. I have seen some really amazing things that people have done with cookies, intricate scenes, sculptures, just if you can think it’s been made into a cookie.
People tend to like holidays things the best, usually Christmas lol. My favorite are baby cookies. I love making baby shower, gender reveal, baby announcements any of those things are just my absolute favorite. People are just so excited with new babies coming into the world and I love being able to be part of that.
Are you able to take order requests from someone living outside of the Central Florida area?
Yes, the state of Florida changed the cottage food baker laws. We are now allowed to ship our goods anywhere we’d like!
Do you apply your artistic talents to other mediums other than cookies/cake in your free time?
As I mentioned earlier, I used to scrapbook but honestly now I just make cookies all the time and I love it, lol.
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A big thank you to Kate for taking the time to participate in our feature artist series! You can follow Kate and her creations on Instagram @fl_bakingchic and on Facebook @Baking Chic.
Don't forget Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. Those would be perfect times to put an order in with Kate for cookies, cakes, or pies with a holiday theme like the ones below that she made.
Thank you all again for visiting the OWSAA blog and I hope you enjoyed this article. As always, Enjoy the Arts!
Brian K. Smith
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