Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Boss
Hi Tara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It all began back in 1983 when I was in 3rd grade. My classmate’s mom came to show our class what she did for her career. She opened a big plastic case and revealed all these wonderful looking silver things…piping tips. I didn’t know what they were or what they were used for, all I know is that I wanted them. So from that moment on I had dreams of being a cake decorator at the grocery store😂. I would check out cake decorating books from the library and study them, there wasn’t internet at that time. Eventually an amazing thing called fondant started appearing everywhere and I was blown away by the beauty it offered, smooth finishes, intricate flowers…In 2002 I had an opportunity to try my hand at making my first fondant covered wedding cake for my sister-in-law. Mind you….the internet was in existence, but only for dial up and email. If YouTube was a thing I hadn’t heard about it yet. So I dove with all my library book knowledge and found myself quickly in tears realizing I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Thankfully a friend of my mother’s was there to help me and give me some tips over the phone. It took a few years and quite a bit more research until I made my next wedding cake which turned out beautiful. By this time I was working at Star Valley High School and dabbling with cakes mainly during the summertime when I was on break. I began doing orders for faculty and friends when I could. YouTube was a great resource as well as a few workshops here and there. But most of my training came from trial and error, and a lot of error😂 The cupcake craze began, then cakepops…the industry was changing as quickly as I could learn the new skills required to feel confident. After several years of teaching high school theatre and directing I resigned once my youngest graduated and moved back to UT. I had just remarried which took me back to my hometown in Davis County and rather than going back to school to become a licensed teacher in UT I decided to bake full time. It’s given me the opportunity to reconnect with old friends as they’ve now become clients and students in my cake and cookie classes. I love teaching and miss not being able to do it every day so I’m grateful that teaching others to make their own beautiful creations gives me that outlet. I’m passionate about creating art, whether it’s on the performance stage or on a cake stand, I find joy in the process. You are always learning, always failing, always growing. That’s what refines you, what helps build character. But once you master it it’s the joy that you see on a bride’s face when you deliver their dream cake, the smile that you see on the birthday boy or girl, the satisfaction you share when a student accomplishes what they thought was impossible that makes it all worth it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As I mentioned earlier, it was a tough road when access to learning was very limited. As far as present day challenges…the cost of ingredients has increased dramatically. Pricing fairly has always been a struggle of mine. Finding the sweet spot of covering your costs, and then making sure you are valuing your work while offering a quality product is harder than you think. All too often the consumer isn’t educated enough on what goes into making edible art. The hours it takes on constantly learning the new trends, the money it takes in equipment to be able to offer the new trends is one thing, then add on all the time you spend designing the product, shopping for ingredients, the hours baking and mixing various frostings…then actually assembling and decorating. People don’t realize that it can take 2 days to decorate a dozen royal icing cookies. A wedding cake can take a week. It’s several hours that we invest in your special event. We care about the taste and quality, and especially the final look. We want to be able to deliver what we are asked to do in a way that is as close to perfect as possible. With that in mind it’s not uncommon for us bakers to spend as much time as possible until it’s perfect. There have been more all-nighter’s in my baking career than I can count. Finding the balance is an every day event for me. My holidays, weekends and evenings are usually tied up with orders which can make finding time with family difficult. Being able to say no when you need to, those are the things I struggle with.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I own and operate Boss Lady Dessert Studio in Syracuse UT. I’m a one woman show. I specialize in creating desserts for any occasion. If you can dream it I’ll do my best to create it. Wedding cakes, special occasion cakes, royal icing cookies, macarons, pies, eclairs, cream puffs…those are my main items but I’m always open to learning a new dessert. I love teaching classes. I offer cake and cookie classes for individuals or groups. I also teach other dessert classes by request as well. Classes are a great idea for girls night out, date nights, bridal or baby showers, birthday parties, even corporate team building events, I’ve done them all.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I’m a Disneyland fanatic. It’s where I spent my childhood summers while my dad was working in the warehouse district of LA. I lost my dad early when I was only 16. It’s the one place I can go where I have memories of him, I can visualize him sitting on a certain bench reading the Wall Street Journal while us kids rode the rides. It will always be a special place for me.
Pricing:
- Cakes start at $65
- Royal Icing cookies start at $60/doz
- Macarons start at $30/doz
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mycustombakes.com/bossladydessertstudio
- Instagram: @boss.lady.dessert.studio
- Facebook: @bossladydessertstudio
