Sweet Tooth

How a New Orleans Pastry Chef Found Her Calling for Surrealist Cakes | Eater New Orleans

"Operating from a studio-like kitchen in a small Bywater building, Bayou Saint Cake is Bronwen Wyatt’s pandemic-born, one-woman baking business where she bakes and decorates alone, keeps a large commercial fan pointed at an old wooden table to cool cake canvases, and has grown a devoted online following for her signature ‘squiggles’—the ruffled buttercream toppings that launched her onto cake Instagram. I observed that she describes herself as a “goth baker,” prioritizes flavor and small-batch, organic ingredients, and experiments with inventive combinations (examples include zucchini and benne seed with burnt honey buttercream; olive oil chiffon with blueberry and elderflower preserves, fig leaf custard, and crème fraîche buttercream; and chocolate and rye with chocolate coriander mousse, salted caramel, and chicory buttercream). I note the squiggle began as a decorative interpretation of a plastic chicken nugget Happy Meal figurine and that she helped create coveted, unexpected Mardi Gras 2021 king cakes. The business also leans heavily on community: Wyatt uses Instagram for comics, illustrations, flash sales of cakes, pies, and cookies, runs cake raffles benefitting local mutual-aid groups (including Southern Solidarity and Imagine Water Works), directs portions of profits to causes such as the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and Red Canary Song, and takes custom cake inquiries by email at bayousaintcake@gmail.com; weekly Thursday–Saturday pickups in July are available via the Bayou Saint Cake Minimart website and she promotes sales on Instagram." - Clair Lorell