ABOUT TAKEWHISKS

Hi, I’m Allie! I discovered baking in the kitchen with my dad, and started making sweets and treats for friends and family at a young age.

From there, baking stuck around with me through my different stages of life. In college, I worked at a cupcake shop in order to pay my tuition. I knew I loved being in a bakery environment because it didn’t feel like work, helping with baking and chatting with customers about our new flavors.

After college, I started my first full-time job working on cookie product development for Nabisco. This was around the time that all the Tasty and baking videos were really becoming popular on social media. I found myself watching cake decor videos, entranced by how these works of artistry could be so beautiful and delicious at the same time!

I decided I wanted to learn how to make beautiful cakes myself. Cakes for me, in addition to being a wonderful match of art and science, were a symbol of happiness. Sure, I loved making cookies, bars, and brownies, but CAKE—you made cake for a real celebration.

Having my 9-5 job, which also required frequent travel, I didn’t have a lot of time for pastry school, so I started researching and emailing local bakers in the area to see if I could shadow them. That’s when I found Pink Cake Box, a women-owned shop churning out gorgeous custom cakes. I was ecstatic when they told me I could shadow and volunteer at their bakery on the weekends. Here, I learned many of the tips and tricks to cake decor that I still use today, including piping and cake assembly techniques.

Around this time, TakeWhisks was born, beginning as an Instagram profile to showcase my latest bakes to friends and family. When I moved to Austin, TX for a new job working for Whole Foods product development, I continued baking for coworkers and friends of friends. As word of mouth spread, I started baking more and more cakes and even had my first wedding cake gig.

I then moved to Portland in the summer of 2019, and the amazing local food scene and friendly entrepreneurial culture made me want to share my custom cakes, food science education, and desire for adventure in baking with the local community. As a Food Science Consultant for the local food & beverage industry, my baking serves as a creative outlet to express myself and share my love of food and culinary adventure with the world.