From her kitchen in her Mingo Estates home, Melissa Lewis works on a three-tier wedding cake while discussing how she has developed her unique baking style – a baking style that includes gourmet cupcakes, topsy turvy cakes and truffles, that all contain a little bit of chocolate.
Lewis, age 27, never discovered her artistic side until she started doing nails at Kenneth’s Day Spa in Pickerington. After discovering that she had a talent for creating designs, she decided to apply that talent to her love of baking. Soon after, she started Sweet Persuasions (www.sweetpersuasions.net) her own baking business.
About three and a half years ago, while pregnant with her daughter Mia, she started a business preparing and selling truffles at the craft mall. She soon added cakes to her repertoire and has not slowed down since.
“I do everything from scratch, right down to the icing. It is a lot of work. I think I have put thousands and thousands of dollars into trial and errors with my recipes,” says Lewis. “I just like cakes and it is really fun.”
Through her experiments, she started using Ghirardelli chocolate bars in her cake and frosting recipes. By sampling her white chocolate banana cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese buttercream frosting, you can taste the combined sweetness of the bananas and white chocolate that marry together perfectly, producing a superb blend of flavor. Adding to the taste was the light and fluffy consistency. The flavor, combined with the texture is a dangerous combination. You can’t stop at just one.
Lewis offers custom-decorated square, hexagon and round tiered topsy turvy and sculpted cakes, in addition to cookies, gourmet cupcakes, doughnut cupcakes, confections and cake truffles featuring fondant, gumpaste and chocolate embellishment.
“I would like to open up my own shop in a few years with my specialty being special cupcakes that you can’t get anywhere else. I am going to have some really neat recipes that I don’t really have available yet - still working on trial and error,” says Lewis. She also wants to start offering candy station services for weddings.
Lewis receives most of her orders through word of mouth or from her website, and she works hard trying to design individualized cakes to please each of her clients. She also describes herself as a very competitive person who strives for perfection.
“I did my first cake decoration competition in the Cincinnati Sugar Art and Garden Show last and took third place. I would love to appear on a TV cake decorating competition,” she says.
Her drive to compete extends to other areas of her life including something you wouldn’t expect – natural bodybuilding competitions.
“I am a bodybuilder and cake decorator – I know it is hilarious,” explains Lewis. She took first place in the open figure short competition in the INBF Natural Buckeye Classic Bodybuilding and Figuring Championship just a few months ago in Columbus.
One of her most popular items is her gnache-filled cupcakes. “I incorporate chocolate into a lot of my cakes. My white chocolate cake is my most popular white cake because it is a little sweeter; with a more buttermilky taste then a regular white cake. It enhances the flavor a little bit,” Lewis says.
On a final note, Lewis has created a line of donut cupcakes. “I found a recipe online and I played with it a little bit. They really taste like cake donut.”
Some of her creations include cinnamon sugar sprinkled vanilla glazed with apple filling, chocolate glazed with sprinkles, jelly filled with powdered sugar topping and Boston cream filled with dark chocolate glaze – yummy!
White Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Cupcakes
¼ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¾ cup mashed ripe bananas
½ tbsp. vanilla
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup whole buttermilk
2 oz. melted Ghirardelli white baking chocolate
Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat mixture for 30 seconds. Add bananas and vanilla, continue beating till blended. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add sifted ingredients to beaten mixture alternately with buttermilk. Lastly, beat in melted chocolate. Fill cupcake cups and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Yields 13 cupcakes.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
4 oz. softened cream cheese
¼ cup softened butter
3 oz. melted Ghirardelli white chocolate bar
½ tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Cream butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Blend together with remaining i