BABE #327: ALICIA MCCALL - Pastry Chef, The Girl with the Whisk Tattoo
Alicia is the Owner/Operator of The Girl With The Whisk Tattoo, a small-business bakery providing tasty treats for any and all occasions. She started baking when she was six, took it on professionally when she was 16 and hasn’t looked back since. Alicia has worked tirelessly to make her entrepreneurial dreams a reality—the years she spent in the kitchen have certainly paid off. With a consistent client base, a dedicated following and a previous gig hosting her own show called “Meme Cakes” on MTV, it’s clear this hustlin’ babe is talented, dedicated, and on her way to continued success in the culinary world.
The Basics:
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Current city: Tampa, Florida
Alma mater: The Art Institute of Michigan
Degree: A.A., Baking and Pastry
Very first job: Athletic event staff for high school events (at 13 years old)
Hustle: Owner, The Girl With The Whisk Tattoo
INTERESTS
Babe you admire and why?
Chynna Ratner. Simply put, she’s a boss in every facet of the meaning of the word. She demonstrates determination, strong work ethic, modern organizational skills and balance of social and work life. Always inspired by her hustle.
How do you spend your free time?
I love to meditate in nature, swim in the ocean and embrace my foodie spirit on the weekends.
Go-to coffee order and/or adult beverage?
Adult beverage: French 75 (gin is underrated and I’m a sucker for anything with bubbles). Coffee: regular drip with cream and sugar.
Current power anthem?
“This is the Life,” by Hannah Montana.
What would you eat for your very last meal?
Chicken tenders and fries with a chocolate malt and an eff-ton of ketchup (12 packets, to be exact).
What’s something you want to learn or master?
I’m dying to learn how to DJ! I know everyone is trying to be a DJ right now, but I really feel that my musical background would be put to awesome use in this realm. Besides, a cake turntable can’t be that different from a record turntable.
If you could have coffee with anyone in the world, who would it be?
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. We’re BFFs in another dimension, no doubt.
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
My hustle is a constant one, being the owner and operator of my small-business bakery. I’m the only employee of the operation currently, so my roles consist of everything from bookkeeper to cake decorator. I spend most weeks helping clients with custom cake orders and creating digital content for my brand independently and collaboratively.
What does your typical workday look like?
I start my day at 6:00 a.m., spending an hour or two enjoying the morning with my three cats, getting ready for the day. I usually start my work grind with emails. I typically have dozens of unread emails to attend to at the start of every day, ranging from cake inquiries to new TV show casting opportunities. Getting caught up with correspondence takes two to three hours, and then I will plan out my baking schedule for that day or for the week. Once I have an idea of what’s going on for the day/week, I’ll start creatively planning my cake orders for that week, or any projects I’m working on. From there I can order my ingredients and supplies and get started on baking production. I typically do all of my baking Wednesday through Friday, since most orders are on the weekend and every cake is baked to order. Within all of that, I also serve as the business’ social media manager, marketer, content creator, photographer, accountant, sales associate, cake decorator, cake deliverer and TV personality.
When did you start baking?
I’ve been baking since I was 6, and baking professionally since 16. My passion started instantly—it was on a family Disney trip when I was 5 or 6. We were at a bakery on Main Street, watching pastry chefs create masterpieces. I looked up at my mom and said, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up!” Ever since, I pushed for a career in culinary arts. My mom taught me cake decorating basics when I was 10 and I self-taught myself from there (no YouTube cake tutorials back then). I practiced every day after school until I was accepted in my high school’s culinary arts program. After graduating, I went to pastry school and immediately started working my way up the pastry arts ladder, starting on a production line in a chocolate factory.
Have you always had an entrepreneurial spirit?
I feel I’ve always carried a strong sense of leadership, but I honestly always told everyone I would never own a bakery. I would say things like, “I want to be able to focus on doing what I love, not on overseeing and relying on employees in this crazy industry.” It wasn’t until a few months before starting the business that I knew what I had to do. After years of pure frustration attempting to make everyone happy while trying to be creative at the same time, I said enough was enough. I decided that being stressed for the sake of my business and true-to-self-creations would be infinitely better than the stress I was already experiencing. People outside the industry assume an executive chef role means you get all the say—you get to come up with the recipes and design the looks, but sadly what they don’t know is that an exec sometimes gets zero say. I found myself with four different bosses from different departments, all wanting different and conflicting things, all at the same time—and then I would be scrutinized for not coming up with enough creative items in the midst of that madness (overseeing 10 back-of-house employees, procedures, inventory, etc). After four hard years in executive pastry chef roles, I realized I do have what it takes to be independent and I deserve the happiness that comes with it. Starting that day, I quit my job and I worked as fast as I could to be able to “open my doors” to the community. It took me one month from quitting my job to open my business and start accepting orders, all in the middle of moving to a new house one week after getting married. It was wild, but I wouldn’t trade it. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
How have your past professional and academic experiences prepared you for the work you do today?
Very often, people ask if “pastry school was worth it,” and my answer is always this: My academic experiences taught me the fundamentals of baking sciences and how to plan recipes and menus with cost and labor in mind. I came super-prepared to every class with a basketful of questions, and I passionately attribute that to my success. Pastry school is more than learning how to decorate or what temperature to cook things. It’s about understanding the science and knowing where to turn when you’re formulating or troubleshooting in the kitchen. You just can’t achieve that understanding without taking the time to problem-solve for yourself and ask questions. Making culinary school “worth it” is completely up to the student, not the program. (I can say, though, I am not a great cake decorator because of pastry school. Everything I learned decorating was through self trial and error.)
What’s been your biggest career milestone?
I knew I could make it in this industry as an entrepreneur once I was hired by MTV to host my own show called “Meme Cakes.” I got to creatively plan each dessert and that awarded me the opportunity to showcase what my style was like as an individual. Landing that show with MTV is easily the happiest “Look ma, I made it!” moment I’ve had. I know she’s looking down at me, smiling ear to ear with pride.
How has being a woman affected your professional experience?
Despite the growing number of females in this industry, most kitchens that require a baker are male-dominated. For me, this meant dealing with sexual harassment more times than I have the stomach to say. It got to the point where my special cake-decorating tools were being hidden from me so I couldn’t perform as well as my male colleagues. I was told simply to suck it up, because this is the way it is in the industry. This affected my professional experience by first making me question everything having to do with my involvement in the industry, but then that pain motivated me even more to get to a status where no one could ever impact my ability to create or feel comfortable in my work environment. I started standing up for myself and saying “no.” Things got easier, but never better. I hope to see change for women in kitchens everywhere, starting in the management end of the kitchen world. I feel that many cases are brought up to supervisors, and only a fraction are solved. I also feel that, unfortunately, women are not seen as “the main breadwinner” for their homes, and from what I’ve seen, the pay rate for female executive chefs sadly reflects that. I hope hirees might consider the worth of a pastry chef—and everything involved in becoming a good —when negotiating pay.
What’s the gender ratio like in your industry? Do you see it evolving?
If you’re talking about people like me, who run made-to-order cake businesses out of their homes, I’d say nine out of 10 are females (based on what I’m seeing on the ‘gram). If we’re talking pastry kitchens in general, I’d say out of every 10 chefs, two to three of them are female. I see feminine worth increasing in this industry, and I’m excited to be on the frontlines trying to help facilitate that change.
Are you involved with any other side projects?
I do a lot of work with MagicalButter. They’ve introduced me to the herbal infusions side of the culinary game and I’m really excited to announce my plans for selling cannabis edibles (pending Florida legalization and regulations).
Who are some women in your field you look to for inspiration?
Julia Child reminds me to delight in the simple pleasures of cooking. I appreciate the hell out of that in this fast-paced world, because it’s so easy to get swept away in the chaos of things and ultimately forget about the positive present moments you could be having within your work day. Vanessa Lavorato shows me I can have the courage to speak my truths (and be successful while doing so). Her journey in the cannabis industry is so inspiring. Katherine Sabbath is the cake kween—she inspired me to follow my colorfully hued dreams of having my own unique style.
Career and/or life advice for other babes?
Advice for all women: Never stop telling yourself, ”Everything is always working out for me,” because it always has and it always will. Appreciate the moments that don’t feel so good, because they inspire you to make changes in your life that will make you feel great. The power of a positive mind is everything.
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