Meet Heather Goodwine | Cake Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heather Goodwine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve always loved baking because it seems a little like magic to me. All you have to do is combine 5 or 6 average ingredients, apply heat, and voilà delicious baked goods. Baking also appeals to me because it is a precise science, and following and tweaking recipes is also right up my alley. I also live in a rural area where the winter can seem very long, so baking is something that I like to do during this time of the year. So, in the winter of 2019, I was bored and decided to bake a cake, and just thought, “I wonder if there is any cake decorating information on Instagram.” A quick search for ‘cake decorating’ on Insta returned an abundance of stunning photos of creative cakes for all occasions. My mind was blown, and I was hooked! From that moment, I started decorating every cake that I made with techniques that I learned from other bakers who generously shared their expertise on Instagram and YouTube. Next, my friends and family started asking me to make cakes for their celebrations, and on one occasion, a stranger tasted one of my cakes and made it a point to tell me that I should sell my baked creations, because it was, “the best cake she’d ever tasted.” That really got my attention, so I formed a plan that I would make all of my great-niece’s and nephew’s birthday cakes for a year as a kind of an apprenticeship. Consequently, after about 8 months, I finally got the nerve to open sales up to other people that I knew via both my Instagram and Facebook accounts. In June of 2020, I sold two Father’s Day cakes to new customers and I’ve been creating custom cake art ever since.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I want people to know that when they buy a cake or set of macarons from me, they can count on the fact that it will taste amazing. My attention to not just the way a cake looks, but also to how it tastes sets my work apart from others. To me, the most important thing about creating a cake is to make sure that it tastes great, because if it doesn’t taste good, what’s the point? I ensure that I bake quality sweets by using only the best ingredients like quality flour, Callebaut chocolate, and farm-fresh eggs. I also use professional boxes and provide printed serving and cutting directions with every cake. In my other career, I teach technology so I also like to transfer those skills to my cake business. I use Adobe Photoshop extensively for editing photos as well as creating marketing graphics and stencils. It is also very important to me to reinvest a significant portion of my business’ profits in tools, equipment, and marketing.

My brand philosophy has developed over the course of two years with careful consideration to three keywords: elegant, whimsical, and delicious. Lastly, one of the things that I’m most proud of is the fact that photographers and other vendors want to work with me for different collaborations and wedding photoshoots. These collabs have been a rewarding endeavor for me, and I’m really thankful for the outcome when several creatives put their heads together.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A perfect getaway destination for my husband and me is downtown Denver. It has some of my favorite places with Coors Field being number one! I’m a diehard Rockies fan, so it is like a cathedral for me. There’s nothing like the first game of the season, and even though it is a crazy scene, I try to make it to Opening Day every year and to a couple of games throughout the summer. We also like to take in concerts and museums in Denver, often dining beforehand. So another spot in LoDo that we love for grabbing some delicious Italian food is Osteria Marco. A bit south of downtown is another favorite spot called Tacos, Tequila, and Whisky.

If the mountains are calling we head to Estes Park. Estes is the cutest mountain town with resident elk and deer roaming all over. Rocky Mountain National Park is close to Estes and is the most stunning backdrop for whatever outdoor activity you can think of.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to give a shoutout to my incredibly supportive husband and chief cake engineer Patrick. He helps me deliver cakes and builds whatever I need to pull off a successful cake design. I cannot say enough about him, as he is a calming force in my life that I just don’t know what I would do without.

Olivia Bogacki is another person who has been integral in my baking journey. Her blog, “Liv for Cake” is my go-to place for cake and other sweet recipes. I learned so much about baking from her, and her recipe for Swiss meringue buttercream honestly changed my life!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hgcakedesign/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HGcakedesign

Image Credits
The photo with the rust-colored cake and the macaron tower was taken by Jasmine Mallo Imagery. The photo of myself next to the cake was taken by Carbon + Copper Photography. Lastly, the photo of the couple cutting the cake was taken by Haley Harr Photo and Video. All the rest were taken by me.