Today we’d like to introduce you to Raymonde Etienne Serrano.
Hi Raymonde, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I didn’t grow up eating cake or eating sweets that much. The first cake I ever made was for my sister’s wedding. The bakery that they had hired for the event, backed out. I was in Bermuda, and it was a disaster. It tasted delicious, but because it was my first cake, it was horribly decorated. The second cake I made was for my first wedding anniversary. It was also tasty, but not so pretty. Eventually, I started making cakes whenever people would come over. Friends suggested making them professionally. Cake making became my favorite creative outlet.
In my culture, feeding people is an important part of care, and showing your love. I was always raiding our pantry, trying to create something out of nothing. We were always cooking without recipes, so I grew up tasting and trying to figure out what was in every dish, cooking by feel. This spirit continued as I started my cake baking and decorating journey. I have always been curious about combining unique flavors and with baking, I find a world of infinite possibilities in flavor combination and texture, sometimes I end up having to hold myself back! My absolute favorite thing to do is work with a client who is willing to experiment with me.
I absolutely love making modern design cakes. I don’t like fuss, I like everything I put on the cake to be intentional. I am very inspired by architecture and a dreamy garden. I often draw from them when I am crafting my cakes. When I look at a clean room, without clutter, everything having a proper place, it feels like perfection. When I am decorating a cake, I like to have less distraction, but what’s there is spectacular.
To me, hands down, the use of quality ingredients is the number one thing I would recommend to people. Never skimp if you can help it. I make the fresh compote, I make fresh lemon curd, I make cremeux and mousse from scratch, I make that choice. It takes more time, and obviously more effort, but I feel that I am rewarded for that. Try never to cut corners when it comes to the base-level ingredients and price your cakes accordingly (if you are selling them).
If I was going to pick just one ingredient as the most important not to skimp on, it would be butter. Butter is like gold to me. When I lived abroad, butter was particularly expensive (most people used low-quality vegetable shortening), butter would be 15-20% of the entire cost of my cakes, and it was worth it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I started my baking adventure, I lived in the Dominican Republic, which, being a humid country, came with certain challenges. Because of these challenges I had to be creative, modifying a lot of recipes.
I have so many horror stories of watching my buttercream melt in front of me. This pushed me to be more creative, making sure to give myself the best chance for success. It’s also the reason I hate using fondant, but that’s a really long story.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I have been blessed to have clients who love running with me down a creative path. A lot of times I am just working with a few colors for inspiration, and almost always, that is enough.
I didn’t set out to have such a signature style, but when I relocated from the Dominican Republic to the United States, changing the name of my business, I had clients private message me on Instagram, wondering if I was the same person that they had bought cakes from in the DR.
It was really gratifying to hear from people who could tell just by the style of my cakes that they were ECB’s originals!
Contact Info:
- Website: Etiennecakeboutique.com
- Instagram: @etienne.cake.boutique
- Facebook: etienne cake boutique
Image Credits
Steven Serrano
