Podcast Episode #123: Inspiring Wedding Cake Design with Alex Robba
Today, Sharri speaks with Alex Robba who is a wedding cake artist specializing in edible sugar flour artistry, as well as unique cake flavor compositions. Alex is already an experienced entrepreneur with loads of wisdom that we can all use as we create and grow our own side hustles or side businesses! Alex’s creativity merged with his business mindset will give you inspiration to plan out how to take what you love, what you know, those dreams you have, and create a business that is much bigger than a hobby!
Alex Robba’s Website: https://www.alexrobbacake.com/
Alex Robba’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexrobbacake/
Bloom TV: https://bloomtvnetwork.com/
Let’s Dive into Today’s Episode:
Sharri Harmel: Welcome to the Extraordinary Women Podcast, where we are all about supporting women over 40 to create and live a fabulous next chapter. You are in a unique generation of women, unlike any before you, with opportunities and longevity. That means it’s time to intentionally design your fabulous next chapter rather than just live it.That is what the Extraordinary Women magazine and podcast are all about. Let’s get started. Well, in today’s conversation, we are talking with Alex Robba, who is a wedding cake artist specializing in edible sugar flour artistry, as well as unique cake flavor compositions. Incredible, truly is incredible. Alex is already an experienced entrepreneur with loads of wisdom that we can all use. Truly as we create and grow our own side hustles or side businesses, Alex’s creativity merged with his business mind will give you permission to let yourself figure out how to take what you love, you know, those dreams you have, and create a business that is much bigger than a hobby. So let’s jump right in. Alex, it is so great to have you here today. Thank you for joining me.
Alex Robba: Thanks so much for having me, Sharri. I’m so excited to be on here with you.
Sharri Harmel: Good feeling is mutual. Let’s just start with you explaining a bit about your business or your kind of core business, if you don’t mind, so that everyone can hear.
Alex Robba: Yeah, absolutely. So I am a wedding cake designer, so I’m based in southwestern Pennsylvania. I’m just kinda right around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania market. But I also work kinda all throughout the state into Ohio, Maryland, kinda the DC, Maryland, Virginia area, the eastern kind of coastal region. But my business is really kind of focused along the lines of from scratching ingredients and really curated custom design work that kind of speaks to who my clients are and tells a story. A big part of my design work and my wedding cakes are the edible sugar art that comes in the forms of the gum paste, sugar, flowers, and all of the edible decoration that’s on the cake itself. So that’s a big part of what my aesthetic and what my business is and why a lot of clients come to me because my ideal clients are usually those who want something that’s really kinda special. Not just your run of the mill wedding cake, but it’s really design driven and really kinda on the finer art standard for kind of wedding cakes.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. I mean, anyone, if you want to see some of the most beautiful cakes you’ve ever seen in your life, go to Alex. Am I saying this right? Alex Robba. R O B B A. Cake.com
Alex Robba: Yep. You got it right
Sharri Harmel: Oh my God. There’s one cake that almost looked like a dress though. It was blue around the bottom with movement. I’m assuming in the sugar or whatever. How do you come up with these? And so there’s two parts to the cake. There’s this beauty that’s like a, Artist project, and then there’s something edible inside, right? How do you come up with this?
Alex Robba: So it comes from a lot of different, you know, forms of inspiration. When I’m working with a lot with clients directly, you know, it’s coming from their wedding aesthetic, the linens, the color palette, the florals, but then there’s kinda like a second layer to it, and it’s kind of more story driven. Who are they? What speaks to them? Are there any kind of personal details about them or personality traits or activities they really like to do together that we can kind of, you know, mull over and then transition to that kind of create a nod to it almost in a way on the cakes? Personally, I find a lot of inspiration in nature itself, even if it doesn’t kind of show up in the form directly as sobi, but I think a lot of times, You know, being able to be present in nature. Like for example, I love to garden. A lot of the times when I’m in the height of kinda wedding cake and wedding season in general, kinda in that kinda production mode. And I just need like a little bit of escape. It’s just like every morning, just being able to kinda walk through the garden, just collect myself, collect my thoughts, and just kind of take in all of that beauty, everything around me and just kind of be present with that. And I think just being able to take a moment, take all of that in and continues into my work. Helps to inspire me, I would say, and I think it just kind of gives you a point of reference and a point of view. A lot of what I like to do in, in my work, I think it does have a point of view and it tells a story. So I think those are just a few places where, where my brain goes directly and it comes to design work. You can give me a full storyboard of color palettes or I’ve done some crazy things like someone, uh, they included a pizza furniture for a wedding that had a really beautiful, kinda like calligraphy and tapestry element to it. And I was like, well, that’s the cake right there. Uh, so yeah, if you can, then I can pretty much create it
Sharri Harmel: How did you learn how to make cakes? So the actual cake. and why Wedding cakes?
Alex Robba: Yeah. So, I mean, I started baking from a real young age. I mean, it was pretty much, I like to say as, as soon as I was able to hold a whisk or a spoon in my hand, I was in the kitchen. Yes. Either with my mom or aunt, or oftentimes a lot with my grandma because when I, before I enter grade school, she babysat me. She is a really big baker, so we spent a lot of afternoons together, baking, cookies, cakes, but cakes were kind of always that merger. The precision side of baking and things that taste really good, and also the artistry side, which is I was really drawn to. It was kind of that perfect merger of the two that really drew me into the industry as a whole. I mean, from a young age, I always was drawn to it. I always really knew I wanted to be doing something creative. And then when I was at age 10, I actually took, uh, just some hobby level cake decorating classes at, uh, the local Michaels. So that kind gave me like the really kinda basic fundamental skills of kinda cake decorating. So then through the years I was doing that for fun, friends, family events, and then, you know, I started doing it as like a little bit of a side hustle through kinda middle and high school. So I graduated.
Sharri Harmel: Go backwards though. When you said a side hustle, was it a hobby or were you actually making cakes for people?
Alex Robba: Oh, I was making cakes and getting paid for that. Oh, wow. .
Sharri Harmel: It really was a side hustle. .
Alex Robba: Yeah. It definitely took a big bigger transition later in life. I was doing cakes once, twice, like several in a month, so I was pretty busy from a young age doing that. So I kinda got a, a nice taste of kinda that entrepreneurial attitude so young in my life. So then once I graduated high school, I actually pursued a classical French baking and pastry training from Academy Day Cuisine, which was down in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just outside of Washington dc And during that I was able to get the really kind of classical, kind of traditional training across the field through kind of all elements of the pastry and baking which was really great in kind of honing in those, uh, really, you know, finite skills that you need. Yeah. From a precision standpoint, which was really nice cause it gave me that really in-depth exposure. I knew a lot at that point just from my interest from a hobbyist standpoint, but I kind of got the full rounded exposure to everything in the industry, but it kinda always came back to cakes and wedding cakes specifically because up until that point I was kinda doing cakes for everything, but wedding cakes were always that point where it hit that merger where it was elegant and opulent and things just felt so beautiful and it just felt there was so much more room for kind of creativity. and it pulled in all of the things that I’m interested, that kinda delicate nature and floral work and all of those things that are just beautiful and I dunno, it was kinda the pinnacle of artistry and kinda that cake formed I was just always kinda drawn toward
Sharri Harmel: They’re beautiful in, in so many ways. I looked at ’em and I thought this young professional could actually create art, not just cakes.
Alex Robba: So I was always kind of surprising in tandem with cakes and everything. I was always really big into artistry and drawing and painting and whatnot. I would say sculpture was kinda my favorite thing. Kinda creating these things in third dimension, kinda, you know, bringing them in into our life was something I really loved, uh, ceramics specifically, I mm-hmm. kinda really had a passion for, and I did that a lot in high school and I don’t get to do it as much to this day just with my work schedule. But I’ve always really loved ceramic cause a lot of the skills kind of transcended one another. I was able to take a lot of the skills I actually learned and knew from cake decorating then transitioned them into ceramics and pottery and vice versa. So I kind think being able to kind transition mediums just kind of made me stronger as an artist, kind of in general throughout mediums.
Sharri Harmel: Now, and this is really advice on your part for, to someone who maybe is thinking of starting a cooking business, a baking business, a pastry business, whatever it might be. , you go to school, but you could have, you know, you talked about how wonderful your internship was but you could have gone on and worked within a institutional, if you wanna call it that, or a hotel setting or a great restaurant setting. When did you make that decision? I’m gonna start my own business.
Alex Robba: I would say I always knew. Kind of throughout that period, like down the line, I would like to have my own business in the, some regard. I always figured it would be cakes. And after my training at LA Academy Day Cuisine, I did then extend into an internship down in, uh Georgetown at Blued Duck Tavern at the, uh, park hight Washington Hotel. And there I actually kind of was exposed to everything because I kinda actually didn’t want to go directly into cake cause I wanted to be exposed to a lot of the industry that I didn’t already have exposure to. So I was working in the restaurant, I was doing high volume plated desserts in the restaurant, which was really fun and kind of really kind of challenged me. In a much different setting from what I already had experience in but I also did, had a lot of exposure to other things down there. I worked with a really great chef who was my mentor at that time, chef Erin Reed. But her goal was basically to present, you know, her employees with opportunities that they were interested in. So, The plate desserts were kind of where I started at in the restaurant settings, but then it extended into me kinda preparing the high tea menus and doing production for that as well as kinda like the showpiece work when they would do holiday dessert buffets and also the wedding cakes down there as well. Once she knew that, that was a big interest of mine, so I kind of got to do pretty much that everything. Was presented to me as an opportunity at that hotel, but it kind of all then led into just extending my skillset for transitioning into my own business. Cause I was able to then have some more business and kind of managerial opportunities down there. So that came back and encouraged me, kind of fuel that fire into them being like, okay, I think we’re ready to kind of do our own thing at this point. And I had moved back after about a little over a year down at Georgetown. So it was about two years down that area. I moved back to Pennsylvania and I was kind of doing some things on the side. I was looking at some other work, just, you know, kinda keep things steady as I was kinda rebranding myself at that point, because people knew who I was kinda locally, but they didn’t know me as, you know, the wedding cake person. It was just kinda like the go-to cake guide. I, I didn’t wanna come back and just do that. I basically wanted to transform what I was and kinda create this whole new business and. This business in a market that didn’t have anything like it in my area. Mm-hmm. in the Pittsburgh market, there really wasn’t anyone doing kind of the really curated, customized, fine arts style wedding cakes. So it was about like a year and a half, two year period where I was just building that portfolio, kind of starting to build connections whilst working on the side. But honestly, uh, it was kinda like a baptism by fire moment. Cause I was, at the time, I was also working full-time at a hotel in the area. I was actually working in the bar. I was the lead bartender doing like all the mixology and the drink menu, which was a really fun. Departure from what I was doing, but still kind of worked with my pastry background. I got to be creative and kinda a, mm-hmm. a different medium and the money was pretty good. So it kind made sense to do that while I was kinda building my own brand. Mm-hmm. , but then Covid hit right along that time. So obviously, yeah, so I was then laid off, right? No one was working the hotel and it was just stuck at home
Sharri Harmel: mixing drinks at home
Alex Robba: there were many drinks, many bottles of wine . That’s good. Yeah, there was really nothing else to do. So at that point it was just like, well, we’re just gonna focus on this. What. Better time is there than now, than to just kind of hit the gas going and say, we’re just gonna pursue this full-time. So really at that point, just networking with as many people in the market as I can and getting my foot in the door. So I was doing a lot of dial shoot and kinda editorial work and doing a lot of display cakes for that and Okay. Just from there, it’s kind of transitioned into clients and referrals, kinda how started,
Sharri Harmel: explain, dig deep into that a little bit more. Mm-hmm. , if you don’t mind, Alex, how do you, you said I made connections, I networked.
Mm-hmm. , you know, really how strategically someone does that, whether they’re in the same industry as you. Or not, I think you have some really wonderful lessons to share. Absolutely. So what’d you do? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, how’d you find, who do I network with?
Alex Robba: So, I mean, it really just started with, you know, go on the Premier website. So at that point I was looking at You Wire, just those ones, everyone. Who the people in my industry were around me. So looking at the wedding planners, looking at the photographers, the venues, and from there I was just, I had like a generic copy and paste email. Like, hi, my name is Alex. I’m an up and coming wedding cake artist in the area. I would love to talk in person if you’d be open to really love to kind of start making connections, possibly be on a preferred vendor’s list of yours, seeing if we can kinda create some partnerships or anything in that capacity. And a lot of it was a lot of uh, work was directly going toward like venues and planners specifically. Cause that’s where a lot of weddings start. You know, if you’re starting, if you’re not booking your menu first, you might be booking a wedding planner if you’re working with Juan. So I would usually kinda try to bribe them with free cake. Like, hi, can I buy you guys a coffee? I’ll bring you free cake if you want. I just kinda. Connect, see, ask them. What they think I should be doing and okay. That’s kinda where I went. You know, go up to coffee, go to lunch with a few of ’em. Just ask them what questions should I ask them. My handful of them be asking, what else should I be asking? Who should I be asking? Reaching out? If you were in this position, what might you be doing? So I got a lot of useful information from that. Mm-hmm. made a lot of good initial connections with some really wonderful people in my industry that I’m working with too, and have really good connections with to this day. That was kind of my first initial step, and then it kinda started to come back beneficially into me when they would ask me to do kind of collaborative work for styled wedding shoots, which is basically when a bunch of wedding vendors will come together and kinda create a mock wedding that can then be photo. The purpose of it is really to kind of present work that you want your clients to see so that they’re booking for you, the work that speaks to you, and you’re not limited by a couple’s restraints and kinda their preferences and budgetary constraints and things like that. You can just have the opportunity to play and just explore whatever kind of industry and kind of product that you’re presenting. So I did a lot of those my first kinda year and a half. But it really kinda then came back into a lot of portfolio work that I was then able to present to my clients and kind what I’m capable of doing and just propelling my business into a place that was legitimate and didn’t just look like a bunch of, you know, images that I would take at home. Cause that’s kinda where it all started. Yeah, I just kind of looked at it as spreading that network and that web as far as I could. Ok. Just cause a lot of it was just one connection from one industry professional, then transition into another and then to another, and then from there it got to one of their clients. Mm-hmm. again, it was just kind of always trying to continue that and even to this day, there was always. Extensions of learning and connecting and you’re never really done with the work. That was just kinda some of the things that I was really trying to kinda push forward in those early days when I was kinda establishing myself.
Sharri Harmel: Really good nuggets of wisdom here, but I’m gonna go back and just get confirmation from you that this did make a difference, because I thought it was so interesting that she went and worked in a bar. Mm-hmm. rather than. Some maybe going and making all kinds of cakes and then trying to focus in on wedding cakes. You actually worked in the bar and then focused on building the wedding cake business. Do you think it would’ve been harder to have grown your wedding business if you were making, I don’t know, five year old birthday party? Mm-hmm. cakes or, you know, uh, I don’t know, graduation from high school cakes to have really, Branded yourself?
Alex Robba: No, I think that’s absolutely correct, just because that was a lot of what I was dealing with internally. Like a lot of people that knew me, like friends and family, they were like, oh, why don’t you take on this work and this work? And I was turning down a lot of work and intentionally because I didn’t want to then have to start with doing all of this work that I really wasn’t interested and then having the uphill battle of trying to attain work that I loved and was passionate about and wanted to be doing consistently. Yeah. You know, I might have been doing the one-off, but I was certainly not advertising it. Right, right. Um, so I think that it was a difficult decision to make and it was like, oh, well, you know, I’m turning down all of this potential, but in the long run it’s for the purpose of building the brand and the business that I’m passionate about and that sustains. The way I went about it was the right way just because so much of what I heard from a lot of mentors that I was working with who had, you know, they started doing the novelty work and the birthday cakes and the mm-hmm. , the small everyday cakes that they weren’t really interested in. They wanted the bigger wedding client work, which is where a lot of the money comes from and they, you know, had the issue of that transition where you have all. Not passionate work that you’re doing coming in right then. It’s just a lot of, yeah, having to deal with that. So I just, from the get go, I just said no. And one of the things that I did that I would highly recommend to anyone who might be trying to establish themselves to a certain audience was to set a minimum price for any work that I was doing, and it started at a relatively low minimum.
It was obviously outside of a lot of budgets for, you know, your average birthday or anniversary kinda everyday cake. Mm-hmm. . So that initially just kind of basically said no to all of those immediately. I didn’t have to do much work with kinda having to diminish that and just kinda, it helps clients and people coming in to self filter themselves from deciding that, you know, this probably isn’t the business for me. I was always really polite if people were trying to get work from me for those items, and if I ever turn them away, I was always sending them a list of references and people who I think might be a better fit for what they’re looking for. So yeah, I think that it was a crucial decision that, you know, initially there was a little bit of backlash and internally there was like, is this right? You know, I’m mm-hmm turning down this and I could. Say yes to everything. Mm-hmm. and have that income and that stability and not be worrying about if the clients that I want are going to come. But in the long run, it set me onto the path that I was wanting to get to, and I didn’t have to deal with any of the fighting off any of the work that I wasn’t trying to get.
Sharri Harmel: it’s interesting that you bring that up because I think that from all of the interviews that I have had, that is a common issue. Is that they often, we price ourselves to a point that we’re hardly making any money, and it takes a lot of courage to say, yeah, what is it I want to make in your case, what’s your spread and what are you comfortable with? And holding to that. And valuing yourself and your work, your product to that level.
Alex Robba: Absolutely. Yeah. And that was a big part of it, just because with every cake, there’s so much work that goes into them from the cake components to the decorative side of things, and just the thought process that goes into that. And I was really kind of, Decided that I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with a ton of high volume. In terms of just a production standpoint, my business is pretty much exclusively me. I do have, okay, some assistance on like day of for deliveries, but in terms of actual production and creation of each cake order, it’s all comes back to me. So I didn’t wanna be overwhelmed by doing, you know, 10 smaller wedding cake orders in a week. I wanted to have the choice to pick and choose my work. And so just being able to say, I wanna. X amount of cakes in a year and kind working backwards from there was kinda a good way to kinda decide what I need to be pricing at a base level and you know, what do I wanna make, what do I want be doing in a week, and how much freedom do I wanna have? What basically, what do I need to be making per order in order to, you know, have the lifestyle I want with the Alps, killing myself and being burnt out on it by just saying yes to everything .
Sharri Harmel: Yeah, it really is brilliant, Alex. I noticed that you’ve been featured in Brides magazine. How much do you think your business growth has been through social media or through that kind of publicity versus the human contact meeting people face to face, having them taste your cakes?
Alex Robba: Yeah, getting the publications are really great. Personally, it’s really nice to see that, you know, you have all these accolades and you’re recognized by some really amazing bridal and industry brands out there like that. But I think from a client standpoint, truly the best kinda connections that you can make and references that I can get are word of mouth. I can spend as much advertising as I want on blogs and kind of wedding advertising sites, and they do come back with some work. But really being able to have that human connection. Being able to meet with people and show them what you can do, and then being able to experience that in the first hand and then everyone else from one wedding, I can get so many clients and that’s typically how I kind of see it at this point being a few years in just because I try to kind of categorize how I get. Each and every order. A lot of it does come just from word of mouth. They heard it from a friend, from a family member, from a previous engagement or wedding that they went to, and they just thought it was a wonderful cake. So yeah, I think it’s highly vitalized skill that we can’t underplay the importance of, because I don’t don’t think there’s anything that compares to the power of word, of mouth, point of view, and kinda reference point a real life testimonial.
Sharri Harmel: I tasted it. I tasted that. Talk a little bit because that was one of my questions when I was reading through your information is, does Alex do this all himself? And in which case, you know there’s a limit to how much you can work and still be sane. Mm-hmm. , talk about your relationship with Bloom TV and what you’re doing on Bloom tv. Is it similar? Is it different and maybe you wanna bring in some of the other areas that you’re exploring cuz of things you love. You talked about your garden.
Alex Robba: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, let’s talk about Bloom TV a little bit. Yeah, it was really interesting because I had actually found out about Bloom TV through the flower podcast, which I listen to pretty regularly, uh, which I love. It’s just usually my kinda go-to when I’m in kinda production mode. This kinda, it’s, yeah, just my go-to kind of podcast. So I came up upon Bloom TV by accident, just kind of coincidence. And it was funny cuz I’m personally not a person who. Reaches out and tries to achieve things by myself, I’m usually a bit more reserved and kind of just wait for them to come. I definitely had to push that when I was, you know, presenting myself to, uh, myself as a business.
I was like, you know what? I’m just going to reach out. I don’t have any expectations, but I, everything that Monica and Scott spoke about and everything that. The emotion and the reason behind everything that she was creating. It just really spoke to me. It just resonated on a different level, and I was like, I’m just gonna throw out an email, just introduce myself. There might be any interest there. What’s the worst thing that can happen? They say no. So I did that and Monica replied back pretty quickly and she was like, oh, hi. I’m so excited. That’s so funny. I was actually just looking for some people in the baking industry who might, you know, have a connection to cakes or flowers or something of that nature. So we set up a call, had some really great conversations and really connected. Beautiful. just cuz we kinda had that shared baking and nature kinda, um, connections and things that we kind of had in common there. So I just had a really good feeling that, you know, this was a really interesting opportunity and kind of that great merger between those two worlds. And I always kind of down the line wanted to be able to kind of transition my business into something that was. Online or where I was giving back and I was contributing, whether that be teaching through a show and it wasn’t just me producing cakes, but I was actually giving, you know, my knowledge back into that space. So it kinda presented me that opportunity to do that. So I met with a videographer that I worked with, I worked with locally. We kind of created. Kind of tutorial style, like workshop series. Oh, interesting. I wanted interesting. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Cause one, one of the major points that I wanted to kinda pull the curtain back on in a lot of what I do is, you know, what goes into creating one of my wedding cakes. Because oftentimes online we see, we see the finished product, we see it on the cake, stand on in the beautiful ballroom, everything’s finished and glowing, and the beautiful candlelight and a couple cutting it. We don’t see the days and the weeks of work that might go into creating one wedding cake. Specifically in my work, like how much work goes into creating one gum paste rose and the leaves and the thought process and kind the technique that goes into that. It was something that I really wanted to be able to share with the world just because it’s kind of difficult to explain that to a client and just explain to them why this is so much more special than just any other cake and kind of, I think it also helps to get them to get excited about and to appreciate it and be really optimistic and looking forward to how much work goes into this one single thing that they’ll be able to enjoy for a few hours. But it is created purely and specifically for them, and there’ll never be another piece like that created never again for anyone else. So yeah, I was able to show kind of a breakdown of what goes into the process of making the flowers, kinda the cake decorating side of things, and then pulling that all together in my series with Bloom tv. So that was a really fun opportunity. Yeah. And I always thought it was something kinda down the. I was really proud of the work that we did with that just because it was like, I’m kind of taking a leap here. I hadn kind a background before and I’ve done a lot of things and kinda theater and drama, but it was kinda new territory for know really well then it present to an audience and trying to share that with people kinda from an instructor format was kinda a learning curve for me. But it was a good place for me to just kinda break into something that. Would like to kind of continue down the line. It just felt really good to be able to kind of give back instead of just holding all of this in and just sitting it with me. Yeah. Being able to share that and hoping that maybe people would be inspired to do it for fun. Like they might not be a wedding cake designer, but Right. A greatest compliment. I. Get was just being like, oh, I just watched the series and it, it just had me so inspired. Now I just wanna do it just cause it looks like such a beautiful skill to have. So I would love to just be able to share that with people and bring them, something like that.
Sharri Harmel: Wonderful. And just for those of you that are not Bloom TV Network subscriber, Because we will get both kinds of listeners. Mm-hmm. , just go to bloom tv network.com and check it out. It is a streaming service or, or a platform, I guess I should say, that is all about flowers and every kind, every aspect. Of life that flowers enters into, whether it’s your creativity, medicinal cooking, creating gardens, it’s absolutely fantastic. So that’s, Alex is one of the experts on Bloom tv, which I think would be really fun to see those classes. So you wanna do more of that?
Alex Robba: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, right now it’s, I’ve finally had a chance to breathe just because we start, we, so we filmed everything around February, earlier on this year in 2022, so we were able to do that break between wedding season, then once kind April may hits. Then it’s just kind of like this rollercoaster ride straight through kind of October. Since night. It was a nice activity that I got to do in that off period and kinda be able to be creative in a different capacity that I do on the day-to-day. But yeah, I’ve already spoken with them and just kind of, there’s so many more places that we can take that, cause that was the hardest thing when we started it. It was just like, We really, the sky is the limit. With a series like this, there’s so much that I can teach and it can’t just be all contained to one singular series. So yeah, I think that was just really the beginning. I really just wanted to kinda show the fundamentals, but then really built from there and really do things that aren’t just what I do for my clients, but transitioning it into more of a thoughtful kinda art in its way, not just found by the confines of a wedding cake order. So yeah, there is a lot of room for play and I think there’s a lot of fun opportunities and things that we can look forward to in the future coming from that with Bloom tv. So I’m excited to see where that goes down the line.
Sharri Harmel: Absolutely. But also, everyone listen to Alex. He’s talking about the fact that he didn’t put himself in this cake box, so to speak, that this is all I can do. He went over and said, what could I do for Bloom tv? and what if I put myself out there and you contacted a videographer and off you go. So it’s, I love this Alex. You’re very young, but it’s really teaching all of us. We put ourselves in the box so often we don’t throw out that email that, gosh, what’s the worst could happen? They can say no, but talk also, cuz you shared with me before we started this podcast that. Kind of pivoting in another direction, not away from cake decorating, but there’s something not cake decorating, cake making, right. But what’s going on? What are you doing?
Alex Robba: It kinda started with covid, you know, every, it seems kinda be the common trend for people gardening style wise. Mm-hmm. , where everyone, they had nothing to do so everyone started gardening again, everyone. Getting plants and kind of rebuilding that connections with themselves. And I’ve always had a love and kinda appreciation for gardening and always kinda did it on the side here and there. Nothing huge, but that’s where I gained a lot of inspiration in cake decorating. But during Covid, I really, you know, it’s like I need something to do. I don’t have a lot to do outside of kind of building my business. So then I was like, I’m gonna start a cut flower garden. Just for me, it was something different. But through weddings, that was always a. Outside of the cakes. I was always most exciting for the wedding florals, but I was kind of being more thoughtful about it and I was like, you know, I could see how this gives back to wedding cakes. Cause I took it at a really basic level. You know, I’m like, I’m creating these, you know, beautiful handmade flowers. But I wanna dig more than that and I, you know, I wanna see how these things grow. I wanna see what they look like in every stage of their life and kinda be there for that. During weddings we come as vendors, we see the setup, everything’s beautiful, but I wanted to see it from the sewing to the seed leg to all stages of that, and then being able to then take that and being, no, I could only see how it would then benefit me in my work, though I didn’t do it for that purpose. Mm-hmm. , I just saw that as, that can only benefit me in my current business, but also was kinda a bit of an escape as well, I would say. Just because, you know, I think oftentimes in creative businesses it’s hard to. Find that merger between the time to create and the time to produce and in the high of wedding season, there’s not always a lot of time to play with our craft as much as there is just to get it done. And I thought it was a good space to kinda be able to explore other mediums, be able to give myself kind of space away from the cakes so that I didn’t burn out on them. Just because when you take something that you love and it’s your hobby and then transition it into a business, there is a level of Day-to-day hobbyist enthusiast attitude toward it. You kind of lose in a capacity.
You always love it, but it’s not always just. So that was kind of my way to give myself a break from that. If I had a really stressful day in production, I had a lot to do with the wedding cakes, then I could just go out to the garden for a little bit, kinda collect my thoughts. It was kinda honestly my morning routine. Every day I would get up, get my coffee, just go along, stroll through my cup. Flower garden, uh, wasn’t, it’s not anything huge, or at least it wasn’t when it kinda started, it was just kinda . Three race beds, but it was just a half hour, an hour while I was able to kind of collect myself tend to that and just kind of take in all of that beauty and it kind of energized me for the day and kinda got me going. I would usually find myself finding excuses to get back out to that. During kind of the wedding cake production. But yeah, so that was kind like the past two years. It was kinda been my side hobby for me. You know, I grow the flowers arranged with them, but then this past year I kind of really amped up production. So it was kind of funny cause I would have half of my cake cooler that was filled with all of my wedding cakes for the week. And then usually kind of the bottom layer of it. Let’s go with buckets of, uh, garden fresh flowers, Just buckets and buckets of flowers.
Sharri Harmel: Both need refrigeration, so it’s not bad.
Alex Robba: Yeah, so it worked. It worked out pretty well. , this year was kind of a real transition period because I keep seeing myself being just inspired and wanting to move to this, and I was like, you know, I don’t see myself making this smaller or containing it just to me at this point. Mm-hmm. . And I feel like I have more to say. I have more to give and share to this world. And professionally, just beyond cakes. I feel like there’s so much more that I want to give in what I do. So I kind of was fighting a lot with myself, with, you know, Wedding cakes are what you do. That’s your lane. I think you just need to stick with that because I was kind starting to think, look, maybe I could start being kind of like a farmer florist, because that’s been a really beautiful movement. Now a lot of floors are moving towards kinda slow flowers and locally sourced product, which coming from local farms and kind of supporting that. Over imported product. And I, that’s really been important to me and there’s a lot of really wonderful people who are starting to understand the importance of that. And yeah, I had a lot of that imposter syndrome I haven’t had to work through just cause I was like, I can’t just become a Floris. That’s not what I do. I don’t wanna ruffle any feathers in my industry or any of the connections that I have, but it just felt like a calling that was coming to me and. It just wasn’t going away, and I feel like it wasn’t even a decision that I made that it kind of chose me in a way. So right now, yeah, I’m actually in the process of opening up a completely separate business entity, so I’m gonna be a wedding florist as well, in addition to cakes. The cakes aren’t going anywhere, but I was just feeling like, yeah, it was just something that. I never saw myself doing. I knew florals and flowers and nature were always a part of my life but it was just something that kind of stuck up on me in an unexpected way, you know, I would mm-hmm. start doing events for friends and kinda things like that. Uh, but just kind of that energy and being able to give in another way. It’s just so energizing and yeah, just kinda happened. So it was kinda still in really early phases of that, but I just kinda took the dive and said, you know, Not everyone might agree with it. You know, people are allowed to have their own opinions of it. Mm-hmm. , but. It’s serving me, and I know I can serve clients and industry in my own way with this. So I kind of just decided to not be apologetic about choosing something that I was passionate about, which it’s exciting. So yeah, we’ll see what happens. It’s a whole new kind of world, but yeah, I’m looking forward to it.
Sharri Harmel: So have you hired someone to help you on that side because I don’t think that you can do both of them all by yourself
Alex Robba: Yeah. So that’s kind of in the process right now. I’ve spoken with a, a few mentors I’m very aware of. We’re gonna keep scaling. We can’t just take on everything because that’s just going to burn out me in every regard. Right now it’s just me, but at least I have the freedom to schedule where I need to. So right now I’m kinda trying to divvy my time between the two where I might not have a wedding cake event, one. Fill in a floral event, or what would really be nice would be to do, like, if it wasn’t like a huge ordeal to be able to do the florals and a cake for an event, because oftentimes, you know, they coincide with one another. And just being able to have control over that and being able to really provide a curated and product for a client, I think would be something that’s really fun and really just beautiful for them. Yeah. But no, it’s definitely, it’s a lot to do. Both businesses are a lot to do, so I’m, yeah. I’m definitely not naive to the fact that I’m one person. Yes, yes. So, yeah, it’s on my docket for sure to being able to bring someone on, and I think that’s, as a creative and as a person who’s really passionate, you know your business is your baby that’s basically your child. It’s a big thing to being able to let go of some of that control over it. Especially for someone who’s really Type A and has a very specific way of doing things. Mm-hmm. being able to give up a little bit of that and being able to trust someone else with that is a lot to do, but I think it’s a really important decision when it comes to scaling and business in general to accept. You can’t do it all feasibly without burning yourself out. And that you have to be able to trust someone with that and being able to open that if you want to have a healthy relationship with your business life and your personal life.
Sharri Harmel: Well, and you bring up something that’s so important is that you have to let go of part of it, control of part of it other in order to take care of yourself through the process. What do you do for. Maybe it’s come up with, you know, like some of your cakes, oh my God. There was this one, what was it? Pistachio grapefruit. There’s this combo, and I thought, oh my God, I think he’s trying those out in the kitchen to see how they merge together as flavors. But what do you do to stay sane?
Alex Robba: Yeah. I mean, when I’m not doing. My actual work. I love to just in general be able to play and just create, I mean, in the kitchen, I love to cook. I’m actually a much bigger fan of cooking than I am of pastry. I’m trained in pastry. I’m much more skilled in that side of things, but I’m actually not a huge sweet person. Ironically, I’m not like a cake person at all. That’s incredible. . Yeah, I’ve never liked cake. Carrot cake is the one I’ll make the concession for. Make a really good carrot and pineapple cake. But other than that, you know, I’d rather have something savory. Yeah, I love to entertain. So oftentimes, once I can find nice weekend, I love to just bring a lot of the important people into my life together. A lot of my really close friends, family, and just create something beautiful. Good food, usually florals. Beautiful table setting. Yeah. Just being able to take everything I do and then share it with those people and kinda create memories around that. Cause that’s why I think it always comes back to the memories that we have from these things. Yeah. Uh, so I love to entertain. Yeah. I’m a big fan of kind of exploring. Anything in the culinary world like that. Really big fan of kind of wine cheese, kinda food pairings, just how that works. Me and my friends, we love to take, uh, some wine trips, kinda different regions in the, uh, really good wine regions and just kind exploring what. Those regions have to offer. And you know, it always comes back to being able to use, uh, just another, you know, feather in your cap skill that I can use when it comes to my work. A lot of the flavor pairings and a lot of the eccentricities, a lot of the cake flavors that I make actually came from a lot of plate and desserts and kind of culinary pairings that I was exposed to during my time in that kinda fine dining restaurant world. Yeah. Yeah. And it all came back to. Well, I would say one of the things that I wanted to forward when I started the business was of course, everything from scratch, uh, homemade ingredients, really high quality products to begin with as the basis, but also flavors that not everyone was making. It just didn’t want to make kind of run up. Vanilla on vanilla, uh, cakes and wanted to make things that were balanced and that were not what everyone else was making and that were going to leave people thinking, oh, I’ve never thought of that about that. But it was delicious. And yeah, it was a really good marketing point for me just because typically the last thing that people eat during the wedding is the cake. So it needs to be a really good slice of cake to begin with. Uh, but yeah, that’s always the biggest compliment that I can get. They’re always super unique and flavors that people haven’t had before, but they find them super delicious and I think a lot of that just comes from exposure to everything in the world, the savory side, as well as the sweet side.
Sharri Harmel: Absolutely. It’s really interesting. Yeah. Okay, last.. Well, first I have to ask a silly question. Can you really eat your wedding cake? A year after? They always say You should eat a piece or save a piece. Mm-hmm. ? Yeah. One year later. Have you ever frozen one of your wedding cake pieces and pulled it out a year later to see what it tastes like?
Alex Robba: I do. Yeah, so actually with all, it’s a pretty standard kind of wedding tradition, so just to kind of speak to that, typically the couple would take the top tier of their wedding cake and then they would freeze that, and then they would eat that together on their one year anniversary. So what I do, I actually don’t make it a part of the decorated cake just cause that can be a little bit messy. Usually no one wants have to deal with like remembering to take the top tier off of the cake after the wedding. So I actually bring a complimentary, uh, anniversary cake that’s just kind of like a plain buttercream iced cake and it’s wrapped up really well and boxed up with me, uh, to the venue when I deliver the client’s wedding cake. Then someone just has to remember to take that home at the end of the evening and throw it in the freezer. Yeah. And then they have it on the one year anniversary, and I’ve definitely liked them. It’s not, you know, As fresh and ideal as you would want it to be, but they’re pretty wrapped. Well, as long as they’re in a really cold freezer that’s not going through kinda fluctuations and they’ll be fine. Nothing’s as good as fresh, but logistically that’s pretty difficult to achieve during wedding season. But pretty much everyone I do and I always get pictures from clients or like, oh, we just had our anniversary cake and it was still good a year later. It’s so nice then being able, yeah, to just hear that from them a year later and just kinda be a continued part of their lives down the line.
Sharri Harmel: So, last question, and first it’s spinning off of a quote that you have in your website, which I, I have loved for years, Julia Child. A Party Without Cake is really just a meeting. It would change all of the years I was in corporate. It would’ve changed everything , if there meant cake trust. You are such a believer in mentors. You use mentors, you have conversations with people in complimentary businesses as well as the same business. If you could have a dinner party and invite 1, 2, 3 people, who would you invite? Dead or alive? Julia, maybe one of them.
Alex Robba: Oh, let’s see. Well, I’m, I’m gonna have to pick a few. I would say all of the Golden Girls, so I’d have to have a still Getty. Let’s see. We have B Arthur, Betty White. Yes. Uh, and Ru McClanahan, a huge Golden Girls fan. That’s actually how I start every morning on Hallmark from, oh my gosh, like eight to 10. So I’ll be doing my business, emails, coffee, and then I have the Golden girls in the background. Yeah. From a very young age, I was always, um, huge fan of the Golden Girls. That’s mostly. Personal guilty pleasure . Yes.
Sharri Harmel: But just cause they’re funny, hysterically funny. Is that why you absolutely would have Oh, absolutely.
Alex Robba: Yeah. They would liven the party . Oh yeah. Let’s see. Uh, who else would I have? They’re all, they’re all kind of, probably older ladies of my lives. Probably Julies. Mm-hmm. always had a love for joy. Mm-hmm. , uh, let’s say. Yeah, I feel like we would have to have Julia Child because mm-hmm. , I’m not, if I’m not gonna cook, then someone has to it would to be her
Sharri Harmel: That’s funny. That would be a great party. Anyone else that I, I see your eyes moving. Anyone else that comes to mind?
Alex Robba: Oh, let’s see. Who else would we have? I’m trying to think of it. I think it’s Sylvia Winestock. Oh, she was a wedding cake artist. Famed love throughout the industry. She unfortunately passed just a year or two ago, but she was always one when I was younger whose work when I would look through the cake decorating yearbooks that I would always be just mesmerized by. Yeah, we would’ve to have her as well, I would say she can bring the cake. Yeah, cook the dinner and I’ll shut the table.
Sharri Harmel: do the flowers, right? Yeah, of course. Do the flowers and then the golden girls would provide the jokes. So it’s all, all is good. That’s a dinner party I’d love to be at. So please invite me .
Alex Robba: So absolutely, we’ll put you down for the RSVP day.
Sharri Harmel: good. Well, thank you Alex. I so appreciate your time today. I know it was a very busy time of the. Always is for you. I see weddings still going on. I mean, Christmas weddings, new Year’s weddings. Mm-hmm. goodness. So thank you. Thank you for your time.
Alex Robba: Thank you so much for having me. So appreciate it.
Sharri Harmel: Well, that is a dinner party that I would love to attend. I bet you agree with me. Alex shared so many brilliant ideas from researching your ideas with people who are already in the industry to staying true to your brand, as well as being open to the possibility that you’ll probably end up with a business that is very different from what you originally. All of Alex’s information is in the show notes below, and you can reach him at Alex Robbacake.com. Well, ladies, the Extraordinary Women podcast and magazine are all about supporting you. We are a new generation of women who are not going to quietly fade into our next chapters, but instead, we’re designing a fabulous. And inside the Extraordinary Women Magazine are articles on side hustles, travel style relationships, as well as the all important self-care. A subscription to the Extraordinary Women Magazine is free. So don’t hesitate, don’t procrastinate. Don’t say, I’ll get to that tomorrow. Subscribe now. I wanna thank you for joining us today and I look forward to our next Extraordinary Women podcast. Have a great week and we’ll see you soon.
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