A Letter From Ellen

A few months ago we received an email from a woman named Ellen in North Carolina inquiring about our CH 53 Delta USMC sculpted helicopter cake for her husbands retirement party in January. Her husband worked with the 53E's and she thought it would be a fun cake for him. Unfortunately, Rick was unable to make the cake for her husband's party, and we had to decline the request. Last week we received a wonderful email from Ellen on the day of her husband's retirement party saying that Rick's helicopter cake inspired her to make a similar one for the celebration, and would we mind if she shared the photos with us. She told us she wasn't a professional decorator but that she made her daughter's cake and has made cakes for friends over the years, with no formal training. I realize now that I should have referred Ellen to Rebecca Sutterby's (one of our previous interviewees on the blog) cake classes, so Ellen, if you are reading this, keep a lookout for Rebecca's classes in the south!

Both Rick and I were quite touched by Ellen's gesture of reaching out to us after the party, and I told Ellen we'd love to see her photos. She seemed excited to share them with us and they arrived shortly after. Considering she has had no formal training and is just starting out in her budding cake career, we thought it showed a lot of promise. Rick was quite impressed. The helicopter is a very difficult design both structurally and proportionally and she did a great job.
Her cookies were quite nice too. Ellen has given us permission to post her cake photos on the blog to share with you.

Ellen's helicopter cake may be a new beginning for her. In a follow up email, she told us that she has had numerous requests from the CO, other officers and a few other squadrons. She also caught the interest of the catering manager at the party asking her if she wanted to make more cakes for them. North Carolina, watch out, Ellen is honing her craft, and may be available for hire in the future. We told her we'd happily post her contact information if she decides to move forward with a cake career. For now, we hope she is loving her process of learning and thank her for sharing her experience with us. Go, Ellen!

The photos below are courtesy of Ellen:



See our CH 53 Delta helicopter and our portfolio of sculpted cakes on cakelava.com.