That’s My Job: Cake baker Lisa Hambrick

Marble Falls baker Lisa Hambrick of Lisa’s Cakery trained to be a medical technician. Then she made an anniversary cake for a friend’s parents. It was the first time she ever made a cake to feed 75 to 100 people. At the anniversary party, an impressed guest hired her on the spot to bake a wedding cake. 

Now, 24 years later, she is baking up to three wedding cakes a weekend and any number of birthday or other special occasion cakes during the week, all from the bakery barn in her backyard, all by herself.

“Did I set out to become a cake baker? Absolutely not,” she said. “The profession just fell into my lap.”

Baking is a family affair for Hambrick. Her late mother, Carolyn Waites, made all of her birthday cakes growing up and had all of the equipment, which Hambrick was able to use when she began baking cakes for her own children. Her mother-in-law, Janice Hambrick, who lives across the street, made Lisa’s wedding cake and helped her stir up business. Her late grandmother Elva Waites came up with the name Lisa’s Cakery, instead of Lisa’s Bakery, and her family, including husband Darby, are taste-testers and sometimes helping hands, especially when it’s time to clean up.

“My daughter, Blaire Hambrick, is the reason I started doing birthday cakes,” Hambrick said of the oldest of her two children. 

Blaire, 25, is a behavioral therapist who works with autistic nonverbal children in Austin. Son Brayson Hambrick is 16 and a sophomore at Marble Falls High School. He plays basketball and baseball and is an officer in the FFA chapter. 

“They have enjoyed many cake scraps for breakfast in their younger days,” Hambrick said. 

She sticks with traditional flavors for the most part. 

“I like cakes like my grandma made,” she said. “I have flavors my MiMi would have made.” 

She also doesn’t use commercial ovens, preferring instead a classic double oven that slows down the process but produces amazingly tasty results. From her sparkling clean blue and white kitchen, Hambrick satisfies sweet cravings with memorable cakes that are in high demand. Recently, she took a break from the measuring cups and mixer to talk about the many layers to her job.

LISA HAMBRICK 

Cake baker

I’M VERY MUCH A PERFECTIONIST when it comes to my cakes. I worry about what people are going to think about it because I’m not professionally trained. I’m trained by YouTube and one class I took at Hobby Lobby. It’s a whole lot easier to learn to make cakes today with the internet. I’m watching decorating and baking videos all the time. 

MY FAVORITE PART IS SEEING THE LITTLE KIDS I made birthday cakes for and they grow up and get married and I get to do their wedding cakes, and then I do their kids’ cakes. When the little kids say, ‘I want a Lisa cake for my birthday,’ and when the kids ask for me, that just warms my heart. That makes it worth all the stress. That’s why I keep doing it, because it’s not easy. 

SOME DAYS, I MAY HAVE FIVE CAKES to get ready; some days no cakes. That’s when I clean. When I have five cakes, I get out here at three-thirty in the morning. If it’s a big wedding, I have to start early. God always wakes me up way earlier than I think I need. Sometimes, I don’t allow enough time, but He wakes me up a bit earlier. 

I DECORATE ALL MY WEDDING CAKES the day of. Not many bakers do that because it’s very stressful, but I want the cake to be as fresh as it can possibly be. I put them together on site, not beforehand. People usually watch me, and it used to stress me out so much, but it doesn’t bother me anymore after 24 years.

CAKE SEASON IS BETWEEN March and June and then picks up again from September to December. That’s all weddings. Birthdays are year-round. The weddings make me busier in the spring and fall. 

WEDDING CAKES ARE NOT THE HARDEST. It can be stressful delivering wedding cakes with this Texas heat, but I’ve gotten used to it. When we moved here 17 years ago, I was mostly baking birthday cakes. Then this became quite the destination wedding area, so I have become busier than ever. I have to remember I’m blessed, not stressed, to have so many cakes. 

THE ACTUAL BAKING AND DECORATING is not my favorite part. It’s hard for me because it doesn’t come naturally. I’m not an artist, though some people would argue that. I’ve had to work really hard to learn how to become an artist and create cakes. My favorite part is doing it for the kids and seeing the faces of the people I make cakes for.

THE TASTE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to me about a cake. There are recipes I have had since the beginning that I have not changed at all and some that took many tries to get to the ones I use today. Every now and then, I’ll still change one if I find one better. I make them for family first, and they are brutally honest. My husband has a very refined palate. He’ll tell me if it doesn’t taste right or if it’s a little too coarse. I trust him to give me an honest opinion. 

I THINK YOU CAN TASTE whether or not somebody put extra love in a cake or just threw it together. I hope people can taste the time that I put into preparing my cakes so they will remember it. I want that first bite to be a, ‘Oh, this is so good’ moment. 

THE BEST PART OF A PARTY is the cake. There’s something about sugar and food that brings people together. I feel honored to have gotten to be a part of so many people’s special occasions.

Find out more about Lisa’s Cakery on her Facebook or Instagram pages. Contact Lisa’s Cakery at 940-0324 or lisascakery@yahoo.com.