Marshfield youth turns spare time into business venture
By Dannielle Konz
MARSHFIELD – With the current environment creating a lot of open time, one Marshfield youth has turned spare time into a new hobby.
Brayden Braun, an incoming Lincoln Elementary fourth grader, started baking and decorating cakes when his school went virtual due to COVID-19.
While stuck at home, Braun got the idea to start baking cakes from the Food Network show, “Kids Baking Championship.”
“It’s where kids go…and they have all the materials to make a cake and there [are] different recipes that the two judges give them. So, then they make those cakes,” Braun said.
Watching youth his own age getting creative sparked a similar idea for Braun.
But just making cakes wasn’t enough. He wanted to share his creations with others, so he started his own business called B2 Cakes.
“My dad came up with the name,” Braun explained on how his initials “B.B.” became the inspiration for the title.
Braun’s cake business has grown since he began sharing his creativity in March. At its peak, Braun said that he was making about four cakes per week.
At first, customers were family members, neighbors, and friends. However, as word got out and the business’ Facebook page took off, Braun started getting requests from community members.
On baking his cakes, Braun said, “I didn’t really learn how to (bake.) I do mostly cakes and cupcakes too.”
“He’s just really good at reading recipes and directions,” his mom, Monica added.
Braun explained that when he goes to make a cake, it takes him a couple days. He first has to start by baking the cake and then letting it sit for about a day to cool enough to decorate. Then, he will take his time in decorating the cake using whipped or buttercream frosting, marshmallow fondant, sprinkles, and other decorations; sometimes, even sugar glass. Everything that he uses to make his cakes is made from scratch.
Braun said that most of his customers will let him get creative with his work. Usually they will give him an idea of what they want and then set him free to decorate the cake in the way he thinks is best.
“I get most of my ideas from Pinterest,” Braun explained.
With a little bit of help from his mom, he puts his masterpieces together.
Of all the cakes that he has made, Braun said that his favorite was one was of a campfire.
“We used a lighter to heat up the marshmallows around it and then we made brown sticks out of fondant to make it as the sticks for the campfire,” he recalled. “Then we used sugar glass to make the fires.”
The hardest cake Braun has made was a truck cake that required him to shape the cake into the truck form. However, he recently got a truck cake mold that will make similar cakes much easier to create.
With school starting back up in the fall, though, Braun expects his ability to bake to go down considerably, but he doesn’t plan on quitting his hobby any time soon.
For more information, find “B2 Cakes” on Facebook.