When we saw the amazing custom desserts Lexy Cardoze sells through her Baking Things Happen enterprise, we were excited to speak to her about her skills and inspiration. What we didn’t expect was to learn about her background in engineering but looking at her creative, artful desserts it’s not hard to see how her advanced technical skills shine.
Lexy’s mission is all in the name, “Baking Things Happen stems from my method of working with customers to make their dream cake happen using unique techniques and to create completely custom cakes every time.” Every flavor and cake style on her website is merely suggestions. That’s why she loves when a customer reaches out to build on something she’s already done, or makes a completely random request, like a Cookies and Cream Corgi cake, complete with rice Krispy treat ears. “I had never created a cake design like that before, so I was excited to figure out the logistics behind it and both the customer and I were thrilled with the end result!” It was yet another time when her engineer’s brain contributed to her baking success. “I definitely see how that side of me factors into baking, it’s problem-solving; I did a wedding cake for 300 people and it helped me figure out the weight and size and how many support beams I would need.
“My favorite baked good to make is always the next one, I get so excited to create something for the first time and then see it come together.”
Lexy’s baking career started at 18, working at a start-up bakery, building on her skills and developing recipes. In college, however, she pursued a degree in engineering and worked in that field while cakes and cookies were only a sweet hobby. During her free time, she was always experimenting teaching herself to make everything from basic cakes to macarons, to life-like edible roses. She brought her creative concoctions into the office for her co-workers to enjoy (can we all get a Lexy in the office?) and as the requests came in, and literal word-of-mouth began to spread, Baking Things Happen was born.
Lexy continues experimenting out of a commercial kitchen called Bellamy Kitchen, but new ideas also come to her naturally in day-to-day life. For example, her recent shag carpet cake was inspired by her Hoboken apartment décor and while on a recent hike, she wondered how she could incorporate the feeling of being in nature into a cake. “I wanted to capture and share the landscape with others,” The result is this unique and beautiful cake, reminiscent of an oil painting. The design process for new cake concepts is one of her favorite parts of baking.
Lexy’s creativity, skill, and passion for her work come through in her special and unique desserts and customer collaborations.
Have an event worth celebrating or want an excuse to eat something beautiful? Start Baking Things Happen with Lexy and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
