We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anne Wilkinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anne below.

Anne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I remember a time in my life when the stress from my corporate job and personal life was overwhelming. I started baking and decorating cakes to take my mind off of things. I didn’t realize cake decorating would take me down a crazy, fun Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole.

Throughout the years, I had always dreamed of finding a way to make a living (or at least supplement the living I was already making) with a creative endeavor – I just didn’t know what that endeavor would be. It didn’t matter to me that my first few cakes didn’t look as professional as I wanted them to look. I knew that with practice (lots and LOTS of practice), I could sell my creations. Besides, I needed to make a ton of cakes to become good at what I was doing and I just couldn’t eat them all. So why not start selling them?

I can honestly say that I had the idea of pursuing a cake decorating career professionally right away!

Anne, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I may have waited until my late 50s to start my custom cake business, but I’ve been baking all of my adult life. Being the granddaughter of a depression-era grandmother means that I learned about making my own food from an early age. And it turns out that my grandfather was also a cake decorator!

What brought me to cake decorating was the need to creatively escape some really heavy things that were going on in my life, and cake decorating helped me to focus and truly be in the moment.

As I poured more of my energy into learning as much as I could about cake art, I found that – surprise! – I was having fun! What really was exciting was the process. I would think of the cake I wanted to create, sketch out the design, and actualize that into the real deal: a cake that was artistic, delicious, and made people happy.

Some things that set me apart as a custom cake baker are the fact that I don’t try to duplicate trends but I do listen to my clients. If they want a popular design, I will work with them to create that but still maintain the “Annie Sweets” vibe. What is my vibe? Lots of flowers, classic touches, fondant and marzipan animals, a little bit of whimsy and a touch of humor, and color – definitely color! Another thing that sets me apart is the use of all natural food coloring in all of my creations. Plus, my clients have my full attention as I only take one or two bookings per month. Each client’s cake becomes my exclusive focus.

How did you build your audience on social media?

It had been about ten years since I had done anything with social media but I knew that it was an avenue I needed to jump back into in order to market my business. My son thought Instagram would be best for me, so I started there.

My advice to those just starting on their social media journey is to have a clear definition of what you wish to achieve from social media – but if you aren’t sure what you want to achieve, don’t worry – just make sure to get started! Personally, I’m still figuring out exactly what I want. It might be more followers, increased engagement, local sales –at first I thought it was more followers in general, but now my goal is to achieve more local followers in order to create more sales. So now, many of my hashtags are focused on Seattle and my local neighborhoods.

I frequently post my process of cake making and decorating, and I keep the focus on the cakes I create. I also feel that it’s important to show my face often in order to build trust and authenticity.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist with my cake creations is being able to translate the idea I have in my head for a project into reality. If I’ve done a sketch of my idea for a cake ahead of time, I get kind of a thrill comparing the finished cake to the sketch. It’s never a 100% recreation, but it almost always comes close. And lots of times, the completed cake ends up looking better than the sketch!

What I really find rewarding with my creative process though is helping my clients develop a design if they don’t already have one, or taking their design idea and bringing it to life. Translating their ideas into an actual cake that they will remember not only for the design, but also because of how good it tasted, is the ultimate reward.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anniesweetsllc.com
• Instagram: anniesweetsllc_anne
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Anne Wilkinson