人兽性交

The bakery is located in the 26-year-old Wilson's home 鈥� and was inspired by home as well.

鈥淲e always had baked goods in the house,鈥� she told 人兽性交. 鈥淢y dad (Marcus Wilson) is an amazing baker. I followed in his footsteps and learned a lot from him.鈥�

Wilson also credited both of her grandmothers for their culinary abilities. An aunt had a baking business in Washington, D.C., and her great-uncle, Mike Humphrey, runs Humphrey Catering in Auburn.

She began taking baking seriously when she was 13, starting a small business to pay for a cellphone at the request of her parents. Before long, her customer list grew beyond just family and friends. Baking became even more special for Wilson because she and her father took classes together at A.C. Moore, continuing the bonding experience that began in their kitchen.聽

Since then, she said, word-of-mouth in the small Auburn community has helped Caiken succeed. Orders for her sugar cookies, cakes and cupcakes are strong, especially in spring and summer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about what you鈥檙e bringing to the table,鈥� Wilson said of that success.

Bopping around

Wilson is humbled to be part of the Auburn community, despite being both a self-described introvert and a regular traveler.

An email marketing campaign specialist for travel group Railbookers, she works remotely full-time. She spoke to 人兽性交 from Buenos Aires, where she took a month off from Caiken.

鈥淚鈥檓 enjoying the freedom of being able to bop around,鈥� she said.

Such trips also satisfy cultural cravings for Wilson. She seeks out traditional baked goods in her travels, like alfajores in Argentina, which are confectioneries made with flour, honey and nuts. Other favorite worldly pastries have included聽pastel de nata, a Portuguese聽egg custard tart, and Andorran orelletes, lightly fried dough dusted with powdered sugar.

Wilson applies all that culinary tourism to an artful, and careful, approach to baking in her Auburn kitchen.

A dozen cookies may take her a few days to complete, she said. She鈥檒l bake an order a couple days ahead of decorating with a simple icing, as opposed to buttercream or royal icing. But properly layering the icing takes a few hours. Not waiting for each layer to settle could cause them and their colors to bleed into each other.

Color bleeding is affected by the time of year and humidity as well, which is why she has a dehumidifier in her kitchen. The home setup is friendlier to her travels than a commercial one.

Other techniques Wilson uses for color are more artistic than time and equipment. Adding a touch of purple to her white icing, for instance, can help prevent colors from running, she said. Yellow undertones are commonly found in white frosting, which encourages bleeding. A small amount of purple complements the yellow, but too much can lead to a grayer color.

鈥淚鈥檓 a pretty artistic person. It鈥檚 transferred over to decorating cookies and cakes,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my artistic release.鈥�

A baking community

As an introvert, Wilson was hesitant and sometimes even scared to start Caiken Baked Goods. In addition to the uncertainty of achieving success, there was all the paperwork of registering the business and abiding by health and other regulations. But she was grateful to receive support from the community and especially her parents, who helped her navigate the process.

The business faced more hurdles in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Wilson, who graduated from St. John Fisher that year with a degree in media management, suddenly had far fewer gatherings to make cookies, cakes and cupcakes for. Many of the ones that did happen were drive-by. As a result, orders decreased and she had to start wrapping items individually.

But Caiken persevered, and Wilson is happy that it continues to be part of the local baking community.聽

鈥淭here are so many bakers in Auburn,鈥� she said, shouting out Just Desserts and Hann鈥檚 Homemade. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e different in our own way.鈥�

Based on her experiences, Wilson shared advice for any would-be bakers. First: Read up on registering a small business. Second: Get to know your oven.聽

鈥淟earn from mistakes,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 believe the amount of times I burned cookies.鈥�