Ace of Cakes

Should Cameron Curry ever decide to quit baking and decorating cakes, his family jokes he’ll have something to fall back on: using his airbrush machine to give spray tans.

At 15, Curry can already be labeled as “accomplished.” He maintains a 4.0 GPA at Riverview High School, where he’s a freshman, participates in the Pump (spirit) Club, serves on the Sophomore Board, is a member of the National Arts Honor Society and 4-H Club and just started the school’s first Culinary Arts Club. In addition to all of that, he has successfully run his own business — Cakes by Cameron — for the past two years.

When Curry was younger, he’d organize his mother’s grocery cart with breads on one side and liquids on the other. He and his twin brother, Michael, would have cooking competitions where they’d split up into teams with the neighborhood kids and cook five-course meals. Sometimes, the family would play its own version of the show “Fear Factor” when dining at a restaurant and ask the server for the strangest item on the menu. But it was in his eighth-grade home economics class at Sarasota Middle School that he made his first cake, a wedding cake, for teachers Jan Ehart and Charlie Brown, who were married at the school’s annual Civil War Camp Day event.

“It was so good that my teacher, Mrs. Cates, showed it off to everyone,” Curry said. “I never even thought about it being a career, but now it’s all I want to do. Cakes, cupcakes and pies — I just love to cook.”
Since starting his business, Curry says he’s made at least 100 cakes. Baby-shower cakes, zombie cakes, hotdog cakes, birthday cakes — you name it. Most people order a three-tiered cake, which costs between $50 and $80.

One day, he’d like to carve out the center of a cake and, in its place, rest a bowl of live fish to resemble an aquarium.

“All of my cakes come out of my head completely,” Curry said. “I love experimenting with flavors, definitely chocolate and vanilla, but I love taking a spin off of them — blueberry, lemon, cinnamon streusel, espresso with cream cheese. Red velvet is my favorite, and key lime is awesome.”

Curry’s dream is to go to the Culinary Institute of America, in New York City.

“I would like to have a restaurant as well as a bakery, but, as of right now, pastry is my main focus,” Curry said. “I love it because of the joy that it gives people. Who can be mad at a cake? All you get is smiles when you give it to someone.”

BOX
Decorator's Tips
1. Fondant
“Fondant is so cool. It’s like clay or Play-Doh and lets you do so many more things than you could ever do with butter cream.”
2. Vegetable shortening
“It’s the best and acts as a lubricant. I put it on the mat that I use to roll out the fondant on and use it on the rolling pin as well.”
3. Sharp paring knife
“I use it for trimming the fondant to make really delicate cuts.”
4. Rice Krispies
“I use them to make decorative items on cakes, like Easter eggs and zombies, and then I cover them in fondant for a smooth look.”
5. Ball and hook tool
“My favorite thing ever. I use it to do detail work in fondant, molding and for sculpting faces and pumpkins.”

Visit cakesbycameron.com for more information.

Contact Loren Mayo at [email protected].