Melissa Earle is the talented cake decorator and pastry maker behind For Heaven’s Cakes, whose creations keep customers returning, praising her presentations and promising to stick with her business.
“I am a teacher at Winfer Gardens Primary,” Melissa told The Scene. After completing UG, I realized I needed another income and began trying to come up with ideas… I decided to speak to my elder sister [Marisha Bowen, a former teacher]. I asked her, what to do, make cakes or do nails for a business. She told me I’d have a better chance doing cakes because people are always hungry, so I decided to attend Carnegie [School of Home Economics] and learnt all I needed to know when it came to the basics of baking and catering,” said Melissa.
Melissa shared that Marisha, who was living in the Bahamas, was later murdered. The two had always been close and she was also close to her late sister’s children, 14-year-old Sasha and 20-year-old Nicholas, both of whom reside in the US. One day while chatting and juggling names for the business, Nicholas arrived at For Heaven’s Cakes after the popular exclamation for heaven’s sake! It was perfect and so they settled on the name of the business being that.
Following Carnegie, Melissa initially started baking cakes for friends and family. She took pictures of her cakes and uploaded them to her Facebook page and people began reaching out to her. Though they know what to expect when it comes to Melissa’s work, they cannot help but be blown away sometimes, even she is. “Sometimes I’m surprising myself with the work I pull off as well,” Melissa enthused.
She credits YouTube for the advanced skills she now has in cake artistry, which she has polished in the kitchen overtime. “I have come a very far way in improving my skill. My cakes are more defined, and the texture is better too,” she said.
Melissa’s business evolved to a catering service after she began making Chocolate Éclairs and Chicken Cream Puffs. Most of the time she does all of the baking and catering on her own. Sometimes she relies on the help of her mother and a niece who lives in the same building with her. Her largest job to date was making a hundred cupcakes along with Chocolate Éclairs and Chicken Cream Puffs among other pastries. She is looking forward to the day when orders are larger, and she would need to hire an assistant or two.
Since For Heaven’s Cakes came on the scene, just about all of their reviews praise Melissa for a job well done. One of her favourites was a vegetarian unicorn birthday cake, where she substituted all of the animal products. Though it was a bit of a challenge, the cake still turned out excellent. At the end of the birthday party the cake was made for, the customer called Melissa to tell her how much she liked it, especially how moist it was.
She has learned lessons too. “There was this one time I was making a cake and my teacher used to always tell us to use the Prestige essence for the icing. I couldn’t find the brand nearby and decided to use Flavour Made essence instead. I didn’t think it would be a problem because the Flavour Made essence is really nice and the flavour is stronger. But it made the icing bitter. I had to send my brother to town [Georgetown] to find Prestige. The cake turned out well and finished in time,” recalled Melissa.
According to the cake artist the pandemic has had both negatives and positives. She explained that people had stocked up on groceries, which sometimes resulted in shortages of the ingredients she needed. But on the upside, business flourished as people who were restricted to their homes looked forward more than ever to celebrating a birthday, or a wedding anniversary with cake and placed orders with For Heaven’s Cakes. Business had slowed a bit this year but has already started picking up.
Melissa has been booked for several birthdays and some other events this month. How does she manage it all being a teacher? She explained that though she is home, she is teaching her students online via Zoom during the day. Most of her baking and decorating is done at night. Sometimes she works as late as 1 am and does not get to bed until 2 am. “I don’t get enough rest… but you got to push, push for what you want. My mother who lives downstairs would hear me walking up and down, then the next day she would ask if I slept at all during the night,” laughed Melissa.
Customers are asked to place their orders three days in advance with a 50 percent down payment. “I had a bad experience when I made a cake sometime back. Someone had ordered a cake and they never turned up for the cake so now I require a down payment. I feel bad asking for payment before they get the cake, but I have to protect myself. Persons can pay in cash or via MMG,” she said.
Though her free time is limited, when she does manage to get any, this Scorpio loves to spend time reading about ideas to make more money. She is currently reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. She is also an African Moods fanatic.
A favourite quote she lives by the teacher said is, “‘I am the master of my own fate,’ meaning you are responsible for what you become. I always share this quote with my students.”
For wedding or birthday cakes, and/or pastries, For Heaven’s Cakes can be reached on Facebook or at 613-6246.
