The Art & Science of Baking Cakes

by Jesse Holth | photos by Janis Jean Photography

Some of the most wonderful things in life can take you completely by surprise. Seven months ago, Lorianne Koch opened the doors on something she never thought would happen: her own cake-baking business. A graphic designer and art director by trade, she now owns and operates Queen City Cakes, making high-quality, decadent layer cakes from scratch.

“When Covid hit and the majority of our clients took a break from our services, it really did take a mental toll on me creatively,” she explains. “I missed the focus and energy of design.” She also missed the joy of meeting and collaborating with new people, and soon found herself channeling that energy into baking cakes.

“I love creating something specifically tailored for someone,” Lorianne says. “It really brings me joy to think of someone taking a bite out of that cake, smiling, sharing with friends and family.” For her, baking is therapy – but there is certainly more to it than meets the eye. There was a lot of trial and error in the beginning, and as a self-taught baker, Lorianne was interested in why certain recipes worked better – or just differently – than others. “It really is an art – but also a science.”

Refining her recipes turned out to be quite a process: Lorianne would test new ingredients and flavours on her (willing) foodie friends and family. “My husband and teenage daughter are ruthless critics,” she laughs, “but bang-on with their feedback.” With a tweak here and there, a tried-and-true list of cakes started to take shape. She took the FoodSafe course, and began to sell her cakes to business owners and members of the public. “I slowly began to gain my stride in this side gig,” she explains.

One of the biggest challenges? Trying to be her own design client. “I discovered I’m quite fussy,” she says, noting that it was difficult to finally decide it was time to launch the brand in print and social media. With that hurdle out of the way, it was time for some outreach. “I made phone calls and sent emails to potential clients, baked hundreds of 3.5-inch petite rounds for tastings, and conducted meetings with masks and socially distanced protocols to get the word (and slice!) out there.”
Covid threw another wrench into the plans: no one was very keen on serving cake slices, so after some quick thinking,

Lorianne decided to pivot to cake mason jars. “This was a challenge that I didn’t realize would gain traction and actually be a springboard that boosted my custom cake business,” she says. “I would receive messages from someone who had tasted my cake jars at Sea Cider, or through Alana Catlin at The Vancouver Island Picnic Company and Shannon Cavaghan at Modern Baskets; people now wanted the whole three-layer shebang.”

Lorianne says she owes so much to these small businesses and the local community for all their support, and helping to spread the word about Queen City Cakes. She now gets orders for birthdays, engagement parties, bridal showers, weddings, anniversaries and even surprise gifts. “I’m a planner, a maker, an experimenter and collaborator, who cannot believe her good fortune,” she says. “Those marked-up and time-worn recipe cards that were held by loving, floured hands before me were the inspiration,” Lorianne adds, noting that the brilliant women in her family shared with her their passion for baking.

What she loves most about small-batch baking? That she knows exactly who the cake is going to. “I picture them in my mind, taking it out of the box, bringing it to the table, cutting and passing around a slice on the plate; I see the smiles and hear the oohs and aahs. For me, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Sourcing quality ingredients like Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste, Callebaut Chocolate, Silk Road Tea, Island dairy products, and local in-season fruit, Lorianne believes a beautifully-flavoured, scratch-made cake should be an event in itself. And, by the way, she still owns her very first Easy Bake Oven, which she’s had since she was four years old!

Some of the amazing flavours offered include: lime syrup-infused coconut vanilla bean cake; espresso chocolate peanut butter cake; signature carrot cake; and blackberry lavender layer cake (as shown!). You can find Lorianne on Instagram at _queencitycakes_.

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