From Jenn With Love - A Delicious Journey

Trigger Warning: Please listen with your best interest in mind

In this special Pride edition of Different Perspectivez, Jennifer Wiley sits down with her longtime friend and fellow Jennifer, Jennifer English, the creative genius behind From Jenn With Love. From humble beginnings to becoming a celebrated baker, Jennifer English shares her inspiring journey, the challenges of the baking business, and the secret behind her mouthwatering desserts that have captured hearts (and taste buds) all over.

You can listen to the full episode via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

Key Highlights:

• Journey into Baking:

  • Jennifer English shares her unexpected entry into the baking world, transitioning from a corporate job to a full-time baker after getting married.

  • The initial experiments with cookies and cupcakes and how they evolved into a thriving business.

• First Major Orders:

  • Her first significant order from Citgo involving dipped Oreos and how it set the stage for future business growth.

  • The pivotal moment when a big birthday party order led to the formal establishment of From Jenn With Love.

• Baking Tips and Business Insights:

  • The importance of proper storage and preparation in maintaining the quality of baked goods.

  • Why she avoids certain trends like whipped icing and cake pops, opting instead for more stable and aesthetically pleasing alternatives like cakesicles.

  • The concept of fake cakes (faux cakes) for weddings as a cost-effective and visually stunning option.

• Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community:

  • Jennifer English's commitment to inclusivity and her support for the LGBTQ+ community, ensuring that her services are welcoming and affirming.

  
  

Julie Jennifer English (From Jenn With Love

fromjennwithlove@yahoo.com

Instagram and Facebook - @FromJennWithLove

TikTok - @FromJennWithLove1

Jennifer Wiley

https://www.thejenniferexperience.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thejenniferexp

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thejenniferexperience

TikTok - @thejenniferexp

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejenniferexperience/

Until we meet again, we wish all our listeners well and peace. Thank you for tuning in to this important conversation.

Full episode transcript:

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[00:00:07] The Jennifer Experience: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome. Another pride edition, the Different Perspectivez podcast is now in session. Today, I have with me a very, very special guest. I believe I've known her since I was about 10 and she has a fabulous name. I must say, Jennifer. She owns a business called From Jenn With Love. And let me tell y'all, she makes the best, the best, the best. I just say the three times. So y'all would know the best cookies, cakes, all those baking things that you could think of, she makes them all. Specifically, there's a banana pudding cake that I would like to recommend to my audience. I've had it probably, well I'm not gonna tell y'all how many times I've had it, it's none of your business, but I've had it a lot a lot of times, and it is delicious. So, without further ado, Miss Jennifer English is on with me today. Round of applause for her. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen,

[00:01:09] From Jenn With Love: hello,

[00:01:11] The Jennifer Experience: how are you? My dear friend? It's so good to see

[00:01:14] From Jenn With Love: good. I am good. I'm good. How are you doing?

[00:01:17] The Jennifer Experience: I'm just splendid out, you know, I'd be better if I had a piece of that banana pudding cake to

[00:01:22] From Jenn With Love: I know next time I see you in person. I promise to have it. I promise to have

[00:01:26] The Jennifer Experience: All right. Y'all heard that on air. So, you know, you know, I, I have it on tape. I'm going to play that next time I see you. Yes,

[00:01:34] From Jenn With Love: I know. I know you will. I

[00:01:36] The Jennifer Experience: You know, you, you know, I'll hold you to it. So let's jump into it. How in the world, cause let me tell you, I knew you when you was a little girl, I don't remember you talking about baking or cooking or none of that. So how 

[00:01:48] From Jenn With Love: I didn't. 

[00:01:48] The Jennifer Experience: you, know what, I thought you was going to be like a teacher or something. How did you get into baking?

[00:01:52] From Jenn With Love: Well, actually, baking, I fell into baking. 

[00:01:56] The Jennifer Experience: You tripped and fell? 

[00:01:57] From Jenn With Love: Not tripped and fell in that, that way, not that kind, but fell into baking like, I can do that. Kind of situation. I had quit working at, in the corporate world, working at the courthouse for Pearland when I got married. And so once, you know, you get married, you're at home with the children. And so schools are always asking for something, cookies, cupcakes, something's for the teacher, something for a potluck, something for whatever appreciation, whoever appreciating. So I was saying that was home. I can do that. So I started with cookies. I made red velvet cookies, chocolate chip cookies, lemon cookies, German chocolate cookies,

[00:02:36] The Jennifer Experience: Red velvet cookies?

[00:02:37] From Jenn With Love: Red velvet cookies.

[00:02:39] The Jennifer Experience: I don't think I have ever had a red velvet cookie.

[00:02:42] From Jenn With Love: I have so many red velvet variations. You gotta try. I have a red velvet banana pudding. I have a red velvet cookie. I have a red velvet cake, of course. And yes, it's a lot of different red velvet variations. You got hooked to the banana pudding. You just. You stopped. Oh, the banana pudding and the rainbow shooting. You just stopped after those two. You couldn't. It was so good. You stopped.

[00:03:04] The Jennifer Experience: I will explore further, but continue.

[00:03:06] From Jenn With Love: But yes, yes. So that's how it started. I started off with cookies and I was making cookies. And then of course, cupcakes came next. And then when I was making the cupcakes, maybe I can't remember who the customer was, but they asked me to make a cake. So I just made a simple yellow cake, chocolate frosting, you know, brown people love it. So that's what I made and it just snowballed into where I am now. Just one thing after another, self taught, me and YouTube learned everything into what I am now. 

[00:03:33] The Jennifer Experience: So like the recipes that you have, cause now, listen, I, myself can cook like now I can, I can really cook. I've not known how to cook all my life, but I've learned how to cook. And I cook from recipes. Your stuff tastes like Grandmama Nem recipes. 

[00:03:49] From Jenn With Love: it is Grandmama Nem. 

[00:03:51] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, okay. Cause you just said YouTubea. 

[00:03:53] From Jenn With Love: Well no, like learning techniques on how to make the custom cakes. Like learning the piping styles learning the how to frost learning how to pipe a flower on a cupcake. So that's what Youtube taught me but the taste, is what I got from, like, you know, eating my grandmother's sweets, eating my aunt's sweets. Like, I, I watched them in the kitchen growing up. So when it was my turn, I was like, I kind of remember how they did this. I kind of remember how this tastes. So I just went off of that. And then of course, you know, the internet, Pinterest, Google help you out with some basics, but I kind of just mix and match and play around in the kitchen to find the right taste.

[00:04:34] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. And you, so you tweaked it over time.

[00:04:37] From Jenn With Love: Oh yeah, tweaks, tweaks, lots and lots of tweaks, different kind of extracts, mixing several different flavor combinations together. I like making cakes that have two different layers, like one layer might be, strawberry vanilla marble, and the top might be a vanilla funfetti. So then you can get both tastes in one. So it's a lot of flavor combinations.

[00:04:57] The Jennifer Experience: So talk about what was your first big gig, like your first big cooking assignment that you said, okay. Okay. This is this. I need to make thisFrom Jenn With Love. Like I need to create a business.

[00:05:09] From Jenn With Love: ironically, the first big order I received wasn't even something I had to bake. It was just some dipped Oreos, but it was Citgo at the time. And so I was very like, this is

[00:05:20] The Jennifer Experience: Wait a minute. Ladies and gentlemen, did you hear that? Dipped Oreo? Now I didn't even know you dipped or what is a dipped oreo? 

[00:05:27] From Jenn With Love: It's an Oreo, of course, and it's dipped in chocolate. And then you can put an edible image on top. So it was 350 dipped Oreos with the Citgo image on top.

[00:05:38] The Jennifer Experience: Anybody else hungry? Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[00:05:41] From Jenn With Love: Oh no, you're going to get the sugars listening to this podcast easily, easily, easily. But yes, that was the first big order. But then my first baking order was for a birthday party. It was a kid's birthday party. I think it was maybe their fifth birthday. And I did the cake, cakesickles, cupcakes, dipped pretzels, dipped Oreos and dipped rice Krispy treats. It was like a spread. It was the biggest thing I've ever did. And I was so excited. That was the first kickoff From Jenn With Love.

[00:06:10] The Jennifer Experience: Oh. And so is that when you create From Jenn With Love? Like what, what made you say I got to create 

[00:06:16] From Jenn With Love: Yes, when I did that one birthday party, I was like, this needs to be a business. I need a name. I need a name. Because in the very, very beginning, I wasn't From Jenn With Love. I know, it's not trademarked. It wasn't on a lot of things. It was just something I said when I dropped off a couple of things. But it was just like, hashtag bait. And I was like, I don't know if I like, this doesn't sound very professional. It doesn't sound some, something from me. Like when you get my treats, I want it to feel like I specifically made this for you, you know what I mean? So when I changed the name to, From Jenn With Love, it sounds more of a greeting and a thank you.

[00:06:55] The Jennifer Experience: I know I can taste the love in the food. I can taste it. There's some loving in that banana pudding for sure. So From Jenn With Love. You came up with that name because you said you wanted people to feel the love in your baking.

[00:07:07] From Jenn With Love: Yes, I wanted you to feel it. Through the baking, like, cause I'm not going to be there when I deliver the treats, when I deliver the cakes, when I deliver whatever, I want to still be there in a sense, like this cake is going to be talked about for the rest of the party, like, you're not going to remember the party, but you're going to remember the cake kind of situation. And I hear that a lot through the reviews, through the comments, especially when someone comes to me saying, oh, you're top name in the melanin moms apparently and I'm like, wow, thanks. Didn't even know I was in there, but I appreciate it.

[00:07:38] The Jennifer Experience: It's always amazing. When you find out people have been speaking your names in rooms that you didn't even know you were in.

[00:07:44] From Jenn With Love: Exactly, exactly,

[00:07:47] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So let me ask you this. What would you say was your most difficult baking assignment as of yet, where maybe you had to even bring in help, but you said, okay, wait a minute. Now this is a lot.

[00:07:57] From Jenn With Love: I'm going to have to say during the George R. Brown bridal convention, it was my first expo. So I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how grand it actually was. I've been there once before as a bride, but I didn't really pay attention to the cake vendors. So coming in as a cake vendor, it was just a different perspective. So I just didn't know what to expect. So when I got there, the booth directly across from me was Who Made The Cake? Now, if you're from Houston, or if you know anything about cakes, Who Made The Cake is like a very, very, very big cake business in Houston. They do cakes for the Astros, the Rockets, and, the Texans. So they're a really, really big business. And then, right behind me was Wedding Cakes by Tammy Allen. Who also is a very big black owned business, but he's also a very big wedding cake vendor in Houston. So with that being said, once we start the expo, I had a line wrapped around, like the booths trying to get to my booth because of my cake taste. So after the expo was over, I, it wasn't like an award award, but the, people who run the expo said that I had the best cake. Even Tami Allen came to my booth because she heard about my cake flavors and wanted to taste it. So that was really big for me coming from my house, making all these cake samples to go to the Georgia Brown to have Tammy Allen say that she liked my cake was just mind blowing. So that was my biggest accomplishment. That was amazing.

So I'm curious, because one thing that I did notice about your particular baking products, anything that you have made, because for those of you that don't know, I did have a birthday party and I had Jennifer do my baking stuff. And I had, what do you call them? Shooters,

You had, yes, dessert shooters. Mm hmm. 

[00:09:52] The Jennifer Experience: I had dessert shooters and, I, of course, as you know, at your own birthday party, you hardly ever eat because you're having so much fun as I was. And so, I didn't get to eat my dessert shooters until the very next day. Now, I was at a hotel because we were in another place. And so, at the hotel, I didn't put them in the refrigerator. They literally were in a styrofoam container and it was probably like five of them because I had different flavors. These dessert shooters sat out all night long in a styrofoam container in the hotel room. When I woke up the next morning, of course I was hungry. I went to go eat one of these dessert shooters and they tasted like Jennifer had just made them.

[00:10:32] From Jenn With Love: And brought them to your room.

[00:10:34] The Jennifer Experience: I was amazed. Because normally cake is stale, it's not moist the next day, you know, and I mean, it was like scrumptious, like you literally had just given it to me. And so I was like, how does Jennifer do it? So I'm wondering, it took you a week. Like, don't give your secret away, but like, is the ingredients that keeps it fresh? 

[00:10:52] From Jenn With Love: No, it's about how you store them, and how you prepare them because of course you have to refrigerate them, before you bake them, but not too too far I know I said about a week, but that's the whole process, you know baking the fruit to put them in the pies, rolling out everything. So like the last two days is really filling and baking. So it was like the day before the wedding, everything is baked. Like that night it's all boxed up, it's wrapped. And so it can keep all that moisture on the inside and not be released really until you bite into it. It just stays inside this little either container or its pie shell or with my cakes until you make that first cut, that slice, all of that moisture and all of that yumminess is going to stay inside. So you can literally order a cake a week before your birthday, keep it refrigerated, and then the day you want to enjoy your cake is going to taste like you just bought it that day.

[00:11:45] The Jennifer Experience: Now that brings me to this question. Is that still a tradition where you're supposed to freeze like a layer of your wedding cake?

[00:11:50] From Jenn With Love: Yes, some people still do that.

[00:11:51] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So you freeze, is it the top layer, like the 

[00:11:54] From Jenn With Love: It's a top layer. No, just the whole top layer of your wedding cake,

[00:11:58] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So you've had people freeze your okay. And

[00:12:03] From Jenn With Love: Even after the wedding, even after the wedding is sit there for the reception the entire time, you know, when it's time to serve the cake, they take the first hair off, they box it up, they put it away. And then they tell me that I usually get a picture, maybe a week after the wedding that it's in their freezer. And then when they open it up on the year anniversary, they're like, the cake is still moist.

[00:12:22] The Jennifer Experience: That's the From Jenn With Love magic, huh?

[00:12:25] From Jenn With Love: From Jenn With Love effect. From Jenn With Love experience?

[00:12:28] The Jennifer Experience: I'm all right with it. Now let me shift this a little bit because this is pride month andyes, yes, yes. And I want all my gay friends, all my gay sisters and brothers to know that Jennifer is absolutely an LGBT friendly, bakery and a lot of the times when I'm doing weddings, people are asking me, who do I want to refer for different services and things, because you'd be surprised how many people out here do not, you know, want to bake our cakes. And so listen, it is shocking, but people are still like that. And so I want to highly recommend if you're listening to me From Jenn With Love, go ahead. Book her. Now, let me ask you this for people who are not in your area. Are you still available to come to them? How, like, how does that, 

[00:13:18] From Jenn With Love: Yes, see I'm in Houston, Texas. and I have gone to all the surrounding cities around Houston as far as Huntsville as you know, as far as Huntsville to the north and as far as Galveston to the south and all around now, for weddings out of state, of course, you know, you got to call me and we can work out something. But of course, it's going to be, I will be able to travel for weddings. I do travel for weddings. 

[00:13:41] The Jennifer Experience: And then when you travel, how would you make it? 

[00:13:44] From Jenn With Love: I would have to rent like maybe an Airbnb just for the kitchen purposes, because I would have to bake, if not bake the cake, cause I have the cake already with me when I come, but just for, you know, frostings and last minute things, I would need to have a kitchen accessible for the cake, for whatever I'm making. Cause some things are time sensitive and I wouldn't be able to do it until the day of or the day before the wedding.

[00:14:08] The Jennifer Experience: Understandable, understandable. Now tell everybody about your rainbow cakes because they are now, I mean, banana pudding. I'm a little, you know, partial to them because that just happens to be my favorite, but the rainbow cakes are. Phenomenal. So tell them how it's layered and then you have a little cookie on. It's so cute, but y'all, y'all tell them about the cakes.

[00:14:30] From Jenn With Love: Yes, it's another. It's a little dessert shooter that I make, and most cake dessert shooters have this two layers of cake. There's two pieces of cake. Cake, frosting, cake, frosting. That's it. But for the rainbow shooters, it's all of the colors of the rainbow. So it's what six layers. ROYGBIV. How many layers is that? So it's six layers of all the colors with a little thin layer of frosting in between. So when you get your rainbow shooter. It's the whole rainbow. So you'll be able to literally taste the rainbow as you're eating the cake shooter. And it also comes in regular cakes or cupcakes. I could make a rainbow swirl in the cupcakes. And when you bite into the cupcake, you can see all the colors on the inside. So it's really whatever you want. I can make rainbow. Dipped pretzels, rice crispy treats, cake, cupcakes. Anything that can be dyed or colored with sprinkles, you got it.

[00:15:23] The Jennifer Experience: What do you think is the most creative thing you've done with the rainbow?

[00:15:26] From Jenn With Love: There was this one event I had to do, she just wanted the cupcakes in the solid colors of the rainbow. So she had six dozen cupcakes. For each color. And it just came from the top all the way to the bottom. And it was just really pretty because it was such bright, vibrant colors. I know it sounds simple, but it was really pretty at the same time. Then I made this six layer unicorn cake. So on the outside, it just was a solid color. But then when you, once you cut into it, you saw all the layers and it was, you know, it's pretty. They're all on my page on Instagram or Facebook. You can see all my work, all my rainbow goodies.

[00:16:00] The Jennifer Experience: Out of all of the projects that you've done. Because you're an artist, right? What is the one cake or the cupcakes, or the, whatever, what is the project that you're the most proud of that you can remember baking?

[00:16:11] Ad: In a world where every love story is unique, From Jenn With Love celebrates every shade of love. We believe in the power of love that knows no bounds, and we're here to add a sprinkle of joy to your most cherished moments. From the first glimpse of your dream wedding cake to the moment you share the first bite, we're with you every step of the way. Our bespoke cakes are crafted with the utmost care and personalized to reflect your unique journey together. Imagine a cake as unique as your love story. Rather, it's the colors of the rainbow that speak to you, or the intricate designs that tell your tale. Our creations are more than just cakes. They're symbols of celebration, love, and inclusivity. At From Jenn With Love, we're proud to stand with the LGBTQ+ community. Our doors are open to everyone and our mission is to create beautiful, memorable experiences for all couples because love in all its forms is worth celebrating. Let us be a part of your love story. Together, we'll create a masterpiece that's extraordinary as your love because every love story deserves to be celebrated. From Jenn With Love. Visit our website or call us today to start planting the cake of your dreams. 

[00:17:31] The Jennifer Experience: What is the project that you're the most proud of that you can remember baking? 

[00:17:35] From Jenn With Love: The one that I was most proud of was the 150 mini pies. I did all that myself, man. I did all that by myself, every single pie. I had help delivering, but making and baking and all of that by myself and did all every single pie. These hands touched and I did every single pie. Yes. It was, like I said, the pictures are on my Instagram and my Facebook and it was a really pretty display. But yes, all those pies, it was a sight to see. When I was setting up for the reception and people were coming in because the wedding was almost over. All you heard was just, wow, look, it's so many. It's all handmade. Like I was just ear to ear. Ear to ear smile, just ear to ear, like a care bear. My heart was screaming out.

[00:18:25] The Jennifer Experience: You were so proud.

[00:18:27] From Jenn With Love: I was so proud of all my hard work. And then every single pie was eight, every single pie, there was none left over. The bride said there was nothing 

[00:18:36] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. Wow. Okay. What's your favorite out of all the things that you make? I have actually spoken to people who like make sweets and stuff. And they'd be like, I don't even like sweets. I just made them. So I'm just curious, like, do you have a favorite?

[00:18:49] From Jenn With Love: I'm good, okay, I don't want to just take it out of your mouth because you just said it, but I don't really eat a lot of sweets. But, but, but, I will say, I will say, I do like cookies and brownies. I will take a cookie and brownie. Any day or when I have to make, Italian cream cake, when someone orders Italian cream cake, I get a little excited because then I make a little mini six inch for myself and I just squirrel it away.

[00:19:16] The Jennifer Experience: Mini six, you make a mini six inch for yourself. 

[00:19:19] From Jenn With Love: Not or a mini cupcake. No, a mini six inch for myself. 

[00:19:24] The Jennifer Experience: So you have an Italian cream, a fetish is what I'm hearing. 

[00:19:29] From Jenn With Love: Just a little bit. And it's, you know, that's that old people cake, but it's so good, So anytime someone texts me that they want that for their wedding or birthday or whatever, I'm just like, Oh yes, I'll just put a little to the 

[00:19:39] The Jennifer Experience: I I know I do not like the whipped icing.

[00:19:43] From Jenn With Love: Oh no, I discourage people from,

[00:19:45] The Jennifer Experience: Do not, whatever you do, all you listeners out there. If you ever send me a gift, do not send me no whipped icing.

[00:19:52] From Jenn With Love: Do not, no, all the listeners out here, do not ask me for whipped icing. It's not stable. Don't put me through that unnecessary stress.

[00:20:00] The Jennifer Experience: No, Jennifer, explain that. What do you mean by it's not stable? Cause people might not understand what that means.

[00:20:05] From Jenn With Love: Okay, the stability of whipped icing is not strong enough to hold design. If you want a two tier cake or a grand cake, whipped icing is not your go to. It's not strong enough. It's just going to slide off. Whipped icing is made for fruit cakes. Like, if you're just going to have a piece of cake, fruit in the middle, put some whipped icing in between that, and then another piece of cake. Perfect. But if you're trying to completely cover this cake with this whipped icing, it's just going to melt off. Don't stress me out. I'll put some whipped icing on top of a fruit cup and go on about your business. But don't stress me out trying to put whipped icing on a cake. Also, I do not make cake pops. Another stressor. We broke up years ago. I don't want that toxicity in my life. 

[00:20:51] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, y'all are my witness. You walked into this because there's somebody listening that was getting ready to call you and ask you about some cake pops. 

[00:21:00] From Jenn With Love: See, I will redirect them a cakesickle. 

[00:21:03] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, what's the difference between a cake pop and a cakesickle? 

[00:21:06] From Jenn With Love: A cake pop is a little bitty circle, right? On the end of a stick. It's too small to work with. I don't like them. My hand eye coordination is not that great. I can't with cake pops, but a cake sickle is bigger. 

[00:21:19] The Jennifer Experience: It's like a popsicle?

[00:21:21] From Jenn With Love: It's like a Popsicle. Yes. On a Popsicle stick. It is a bigger piece of cake. It's more cake. I feel like it's a better option because it's, like I said, it's more cake than them. Cake balls. I don't like them. I will redirect them to cakesickles and they'll be just as beautiful. And then even with cakesickles, guess what? You can put a rainbow cake inside of them. But you can't put a rainbow cake inside of a cake pop. 

[00:21:43] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, y'all, she has a prejudice against cake pops. So, unfortunately, if you are a cake pop person, she's going to redirect you to the cakesickle instead. 

[00:21:54] From Jenn With Love: And you're gonna love them. 

[00:21:55] The Jennifer Experience: Oh, and, oh, excuse me, and you're going to love them.

[00:21:58] From Jenn With Love: You're gonna love them, and you're gonna say, thank you. 

[00:22:01] The Jennifer Experience: You're, okay, and you're going to say thank you because she's going to give you a better option. All right, well, I, okay. 

[00:22:08] From Jenn With Love: More beautiful on the dessert table. I'm telling you. 

[00:22:11] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. 

[00:22:12] From Jenn With Love: I'm doing this all out of love.

[00:22:14] The Jennifer Experience: It's hey, 

[00:22:15] From Jenn With Love: From Jenn With Love. 

[00:22:16] The Jennifer Experience: From Jenn With Love. I mean, okay. Now, what are the future plans for, From Jenn With Love? You plan on opening a bakery one day? Is that in your future foresight?

[00:22:26] From Jenn With Love: Yes. One day I will have a brick and mortar storefront. That's in the future because we also sell on Amazon. So we're gonna need space. Lots and lots of space. Oh, I had to educate my dear friend Jennifer here about fake cake.

[00:22:40] The Jennifer Experience: I was going to get to that. Don't be trying to skip. 

[00:22:42] From Jenn With Love: we're on Amazon. 

[00:22:43] The Jennifer Experience: But you don't have to call me out. Cause I'm not the only person that didn't know about you. Look now, listen, listen, this is what she's talking about y'all. I was not up to date on the fake cake because I'm not interested in buying something I can't eat if it's a cake. So that is really what it was about. But anyway, while she trying to call me out, explain to the people, is it bespoke? Is that how you pronounce that? It's a bespoke cake? 

[00:23:06] From Jenn With Love: Bespoke is another word for custom. It's a fancy word for custom.

[00:23:09] The Jennifer Experience: Well then it's not another word for fake.

[00:23:11] From Jenn With Love: No, you could say fake cake or faux cake, but it's all the same. It's just a styrofoam cake that you cannot eat that people use for weddings. And it makes sense because here in Houston, Texas, it's a hundred thousand degrees.

[00:23:26] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, you gonna have me sued for misrepresentation. It's not at that hundred thousand degrees in Texas. Ladies and gentlemen, it might be 99 today, but it's not a hundred. I don't live in Houston, but it's not a hundred thousand degrees. 

[00:23:37] From Jenn With Love: Okay, I'm sorry. It's a hundred degrees, but then it says the real feel is a hundred billion degrees. So with that being said, summertime weddings are not nice to buttercream. Buttercream, cream cheese, summertime and frostings don't mix. 

[00:23:53] The Jennifer Experience: And I love my buttercream.

[00:23:54] From Jenn With Love: Exactly. Cakes melt. That's why the next best option is to get the your cake of your dreams as a fake cake. Okay. And then it will stay the entire wedding without melting. You can have a little section in the back. That's a piece of real cake and go into, so you can cut for the pictures and then your guests will be served the cake that's in the back, but then your cake stays beautiful the entire ceremony. 

[00:24:20] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. But well, okay. So it's a cheaper option because the design cake is made and it's fake, right? And then, so then the actual cake that you're actually ordering is somewhere in the back being served, but it doesn't have to be in a design. Is that why it's a cheaper option? 

[00:24:37] From Jenn With Love: Yeah that's why it's cheaper because with wedding cakes what you're paying for is not only per slice but you're paying for all the design that goes into the cake. So it's all of that included with the slot with the per slice price. So when you have a fake cake, you're just gonna pay a base price for a fake cake. So this is an example price. Let's just say the fake cake is a hundred dollars. Okay. So now you have a hundred dollar wedding cake that's on the table that you spend versus spending twelve hundred dollars for the same cake on the table. But now you have to cut into it and it won't be there for the entire ceremony because everyone has ate it. But if you get a fake cake, you can look at the cake the entire time, pictures, you know, for the whole ceremony and then the cake is in the back for the staff to serve 

[00:25:25] The Jennifer Experience: So I'm curious, how many people are like doing this nowadays? Because this is interesting to me. I really didn't know about this. 

[00:25:31] From Jenn With Love: Yes, a lot of people do it. I've been selling fake cakes on Etsy and Amazon for maybe like a year now. And on Amazon, I'll sell almost a cake a day.

[00:25:40] The Jennifer Experience: Really?

[00:25:41] From Jenn With Love: Yes.

[00:25:42] The Jennifer Experience: And what do fake cakes run? 

[00:25:44] From Jenn With Love: They can go anywhere between, cause we go from one tier all the way to four tiers. So it's probably like 70 for the first one up to maybe like 250, 275. 

[00:25:54] The Jennifer Experience: And then versus a real cake runs?

[00:25:57] From Jenn With Love: About 1, 200 for a four tier because you're paying by the slice,

[00:26:02] The Jennifer Experience: Right, right. So there's a huge difference. So you selling at least one of those fake cakes a day?

[00:26:07] From Jenn With Love: Yes. Cause when you do that, then you have your fake hate. You order it on Amazon. You take it to your wedding. You go to Sam's. Get some cupcakes or get a sheet cake. Boom. You're done. And your guests have cake and you have this cake on your reception and you can take pictures by it and it's gorgeous and it won't melt. And then if you like it, well, of course you'll like it, but you can keep it forever.

[00:26:27] The Jennifer Experience: Oh my, that's interesting. 

[00:26:30] From Jenn With Love: It become a centerpiece in your living room.

[00:26:32] The Jennifer Experience: Now, the only thing that I don't like about that though, is they don't get to taste your cake.

[00:26:36] From Jenn With Love: Oh no. The customers. Yeah. The customers online, they don't get to taste my cake, but local customers who do order fake cake, they also get to taste my cake. Cause sometimes when they order a fake cake from me for their wedding, all of that is included. We do the sheet cake, pre sliced. So when you have your wedding, the slices are already made. So then the serving staff, you just pass out your cake that you chose for your wedding.

[00:26:57] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. Well, that makes sense. All right. 

[00:26:59] From Jenn With Love: It's a cheaper option. It's a more cost effective option. If you're trying to cut costs somewhere.

[00:27:04] The Jennifer Experience: And listen, this is pride season. Some of us are going to get married on a budget this season. Look on Amazon. How do they find you on Amazon? Are you From Jenn With Love? 

[00:27:13] From Jenn With Love: Yes. From Jenn With Love, or you can just type in fake cakes and we're going to be the first business that comes up under fake cakes on Amazon. Yes, ma'am. Girl, we're the only market that is selling fake wedding cakes on Amazon.

[00:27:25] The Jennifer Experience: Round of applause again. Again. 

[00:27:28] From Jenn With Love: Black owned business, black owned business. 

[00:27:31] The Jennifer Experience: Can I also do a shameless plug From Jenn With Love is an official trusted partner of The Jennifer Experience. So, that makes sense. Yes, that makes sense. That makes sense. That makes sense that you would be at the top of the list. That makes a lot of sense. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. So listen, before we go, I want you to tell all the people, how do they find you? I know it's pride month. So if you have any of those special offerings you want to offer, if anyone wants to book you from hearing this podcast, all that kind of stuff, tell me how they find you, tell them about your discount, tell them all that.

[00:28:04] From Jenn With Love: Okay, well, if you have Instagram, which most people do Instagram and Facebook, you can find me on both of those social medias as with From Jenn two Ns With Love. From Jenn With Love. And anybody who listens to this podcast and can refer to this podcast will get 10 percent off their wedding services this month. My email address is fromjennwithlove@yahoo.com. I think it's FromJennWithLove1 on TikTok for some unknown reason. I think someone has my name. I don't like that, but that's a different story. But yes. 

[00:28:37] The Jennifer Experience: All right. And if you go to www.thejenniferexperience.com and click on Trusted Partners, scroll down, you will find From Jenn With Love there as well. Listen, Jennifer, my namesake, it has been great interviewing you. I, I've learned some stuff today that I didn't know about cakes and stuff. This is interesting because even though I can cook, I am not a baker. And so I, am really like, Really? I mean, I'm I'm outdone it. Some of the stuff you have said today and especially learning about your fake case and all that. That's interesting too that you're able to do that. But that's also, I think smart business too. So, shouts out to you. Black business owner. Black woman, business owner, shout out to you, letting that black magic shine, girl, go ahead with your bad self. So listen, y'all go find From Jenn With Love, go follow her on all the social media platforms. You will see her beautiful cakes. You will see her cookies. You will even see the banana pudding cake that I'm referring to. And I know on her Instagram, there's a picture of the cake shooters that were at my party. If you go look.

[00:29:42] From Jenn With Love: Rainbow shooters, they're there.

[00:29:44] The Jennifer Experience: Yep. 

[00:29:44] From Jenn With Love: Oh, and every day for Pride Month, I'm displaying another rainbow cake I've made. So each day you'll see a new rainbow cake or new rainbow treat I made all throughout the years for Pride Month.

[00:29:55] The Jennifer Experience: Wonderful. Oh, I know one more thing I need to ask you. Now for weddings, do you do taste testing? 

[00:30:00] From Jenn With Love: Oh, yes, absolutely. Yes, contact me for cake tastings. You can pick four flavors. I have an array of cake flavors you can choose from. And even if you don't see a flavor that I offer, we can create one together.

[00:30:12] The Jennifer Experience: This girl is a bad mamma jamma. She can create flavors for you. What can I, man.

[00:30:17] From Jenn With Love: Yes, yes, yes. 

[00:30:18] The Jennifer Experience: I'm proud of you, my friend. You have grown up to do some marvelous things, marvelous things. I know your parents are proud as well. So you keep on doing it. I am again, elated that you came on today. I'm glad to have you as a friend and as a trusted partner, and I wish you all the best in your business. I will continue to patronize it for sure. I have a whole lot more banana pudding cakes I can eat. 

[00:30:43] From Jenn With Love: I got them for you. I'm ready.

[00:30:45] The Jennifer Experience: I know you are. I know you are. Thank you all for coming out and listening today to the Different Perspectivez podcast. It has been great. Happy pride month to everyone. 

[00:30:55] From Jenn With Love: Happy Pride! 

[00:30:56] The Jennifer Experience: Yes. And we will see you again soon. 

Hello listeners, Jennifer here, host of Different Perspectivez. As we celebrate Pride Month, I want to take a moment to share something very special with all of you. Have you ever found yourself navigating the complex journey of parenthood after your child has said to you they're gay? It can be a challenging road to walk, but let me assure you, you're not alone. That's why I wrote the booklet Shades of Acceptance: Navigating Parenthood After Coming Out. In this heartfelt booklet, I share my own experiences along with practical advice. And compassionate guidance to help parents like you understand, accept, and support your LGBTQ plus children with love and authenticity, no matter how old they are, whether you're struggling with questions of faith, acceptance, or simply how to best support your child. Shades of Acceptance offers insight and wisdom to guide you on this journey. I encourage you to get your copy today. Head over to Amazon or my website, www.thejenniferexperience.Com to grab your copy today. As a matter of fact, I have a special treat for you. If you use the code PRIDE, P R I D E, you'll get 10 off either the e booklet or a physical copy. Let's make this Pride Month a celebration of love, understanding, and acceptance for all. Thank you for listening and remember, love is always the answer and love still conquers all. I love all of you. Take good care.

[00:32:38] From Jenn With Love: ​Um, I'm going to have to say during the George R. Brown bridal convention, it was my first expo. So I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how grand it actually was. I've been there once before as a bride, but I didn't really pay attention to the cake vendors. So coming in as a cake vendor, it was just a different perspective.

So I just didn't know what to expect. So when I got there, the booth directly across from me was Who made the cake? Now, if you're from Houston, or if you know anything about cakes, who made the cake is like a very, very, very big cake business in, um, Houston. They do cakes for the Astros, the Rockets, and, um, the Texans.

So they're a really, really big business. And then, uh, right behind me was Wedding Cakes by Tammy Allen. Who also is a very big, uh, she's a black owned business, but he's also a very big wedding cake vendor in um, Houston. So with that being said, once we start the expo, I had a line. Wrapped around, um, like the booths trying to get to my booth because of my cake taste.

So after the expo was over, I, it wasn't like an award award, but the, um, people who run the expo said that I had the best cake. Even Tami Allen came to my booth because she heard about my cake flavors and wanted to taste it. So that was like, That was really big for me coming from a, coming from my house, making all these cake samples to go to the Georgia Brown to have Tammy Allen say that she liked my cake was just mind blowing.

So that was my biggest accomplishment. Yeah, that was, that was amazing.

Um, I'm going to have to say during the George R. Brown bridal convention, it was my first expo. So I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how grand it actually was. I've been there once before as a bride, but I didn't really pay attention to the cake vendors. So coming in as a cake vendor, it was just a different perspective.

So I just didn't know what to expect. So when I got there, the booth directly across from me was Who made the cake? Now, if you're from Houston, or if you know anything about cakes, who made the cake is like a very, very, very big cake business in, um, Houston. They do cakes for the Astros, the Rockets, and, um, the Texans.

So they're a really, really big business. And then, uh, right behind me was Wedding Cakes by Tammy Allen. Who also is a very big, uh, she's a black owned business, but he's also a very big wedding cake vendor in um, Houston. So with that being said, once we start the expo, I had a line. Wrapped around, um, like the booths trying to get to my booth because of my cake taste.

So after the expo was over, I, it wasn't like an award award, but the, um, people who run the expo said that I had the best cake. Even Tami Allen came to my booth because she heard about my cake flavors and wanted to taste it. So that was like, That was really big for me coming from a, coming from my house, making all these cake samples to go to the Georgia Brown to have Tammy Allen say that she liked my cake was just mind blowing.

So that was my biggest accomplishment. Yeah, that was, that was amazing.

[00:37:04] The Jennifer Experience: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome. Another pride edition, the different Perspectivez podcast is now in session today. I have with me a very, very special guest. I believe I've known her since I was about 10 and she has a fabulous name. I must say Jennifer. She owns a business called from Jenn with love.

And let me tell y'all, she makes the best, the best, the best. I just say the three times. So y'all would know the best cookies cakes. All those baking things that you could think of, she makes them all. Specifically, there's a banana pudding cake that I would like to recommend to my audience. I've had it probably, well I'm not gonna tell y'all how many times I've had it, it's none of your business, but I've had it a lot a lot of times, and it is delicious.

So, without further ado, Miss Jennifer English is on with me today. Round of applause for her. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen,

[00:38:15] From Jenn With Love: hello,

[00:38:17] The Jennifer Experience: how are you? My dear friend? It's so good to see

[00:38:19] From Jenn With Love: good. I am good. I'm good. How are you doing?

[00:38:23] The Jennifer Experience: Um, I'm just splendid out, you know, I'd be better if I had a piece of that banana pudding cake to

[00:38:28] From Jenn With Love: I know next time I see you in person. I promise to have it. I promise to have

[00:38:32] The Jennifer Experience: All right. Y'all heard that on air. So, you know, you know, I, I have it on tape. I'm going to play that next time I see you. Yes,

[00:38:40] From Jenn With Love: I know. I know you will. I

[00:38:42] The Jennifer Experience: You know, you, you know, I'll hold you to it. So let, let's, let's jump into it. How in the world, cause let me tell you, I knew you when you was a little girl, I don't remember you talking about baking or cooking or none of that. So how

[00:38:56] From Jenn With Love: I didn't.

[00:38:56] The Jennifer Experience: you know what, I thought you was going to be like a teacher or something. How did you get into baking?

[00:39:02] From Jenn With Love: Well, actually, baking, I fell into baking.

[00:39:07] The Jennifer Experience: You tripped and fell?

[00:39:08] From Jenn With Love: not tripped and fell in that, that way, not that kind, but fell into baking like, I can do that. Kind of situation. I had quit working at, in the corporate world, working at the courthouse for Pearland when I got married. And so once, you know, you get married, you're at home with the children.

And so schools are always asking for something, cookies, cupcakes, something's for the teacher, something for a potluck, something for whatever appreciation, whoever appreciating. So I was saying that was home. I can do that. So I started with cookies. I made red velvet cookies, chocolate chip cookies, lemon cookies, German chocolate cookies,

[00:39:47] The Jennifer Experience: Red velvet cookies?

[00:39:49] From Jenn With Love: red velvet cookies.

[00:39:50] The Jennifer Experience: I don't think I have ever had a red velvet cookie.

[00:39:53] From Jenn With Love: I have so many red velvet variations. You gotta, you gotta try. I have a red velvet banana pudding. I have a red velvet cookie. I have a red velvet cake, of course. And yes, it's a lot of different red velvet variations. You just got, you, you got hooked to the banana pudding. You just. You stopped.

Oh, the banana pudding and the rainbow shooting. You just stopped after those two. You couldn't. It was so good. You stopped.

[00:40:24] The Jennifer Experience: I will explore further, but continue.

[00:40:27] From Jenn With Love: But yes, yes. So that's how it started. I started off with cookies and I was making cookies. And then, then of course, cupcakes came next. And then when I was making the cupcakes, maybe I can't remember who the customer was, but they asked me to make a cake. So I just made a simple yellow cake, chocolate frosting, you know, has.

I was brown people love it. So that's what I made and it just snowballed into where I am now. Just one thing after another, self taught, me and YouTube learned everything into what I am now.

[00:40:58] The Jennifer Experience: So you really, so like the recipes that you have, cause now, listen, I, I, myself can cook like now I can, I can really cook. I've not known how to cook all my life, but I I've, I've learned how to cook. And I cook from recipes. Um, yo Your stuff tastes like grandmama Nem recipes.

[00:41:22] From Jenn With Love: it is Grandmama Nem

[00:41:24] The Jennifer Experience: okay, okay.

So you got it. Cause you just said YouTubea

[00:41:27] From Jenn With Love: Well no, like learning techniques on how to make the custom cakes. Like learning the piping styles learning the how to frost learning how to pipe a flower on a cupcake So that's what youtube taught me but the taste is what I got from, like, you know, eating my grandmother's sweets, eating my aunt's sweets.

Like, I, I watched them in the kitchen growing up. So when it was my turn, I was like, I kind of remember how they did this. I kind of remember how this tastes. So I just went off of that. And then of course, you know, the internet, Pinterest, Google help you out with some basics, but I kind of just mix and match and play around in the kitchen to find the right taste.

[00:42:12] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. And you, so you tweaked it over time.

[00:42:15] From Jenn With Love: Oh yeah, tweaks, tweaks, lots and lots of tweaks, different kind of extracts, mixing several different flavor combinations together. Some, I like making cakes that have two different Layers, like one layer might be, um, a strawberry marble, strawberry vanilla marble, and the top might be a vanilla funfetti. So then you can get both tastes in one.

So it's a lot of flavor combinations.

[00:42:41] The Jennifer Experience: So talk about what was your first big gig, like your first big cooking assignment that you said, okay. Okay. This is this. I need to make this a, a, a, from Jenn with love. Like I need to create a business.

[00:42:55] From Jenn With Love: My first, ironically, it wasn't even something I, the first big order I received wasn't even something I had to bake. It was just some dipped Oreos, but it was Citgo at the time. And so I was very like, this is

[00:43:09] The Jennifer Experience: Wait a minute. Ladies and gentlemen, did you hear that? Dipped Oreo? Now I didn't even know you dipped or what is a dipped Oreo?

[00:43:16] From Jenn With Love: It's an Oreo, of course, and it's dipped in chocolate. And then you can put an image on, an edible image on top.

So it was 350 dipped Oreos with the Citgo image on top.

[00:43:30] The Jennifer Experience: Anybody else hungry? Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[00:43:32] From Jenn With Love: Oh no, you're going to get the sugars listening to this podcast easily, easily, easily. But yes, that was the first big order. But then my first baking order was for a birthday party Um, it was a kid's birthday party. I think it was maybe their fifth birthday. And I had, I did the cake, um, cakesickles cupcakes, dipped pretzels, dipped Oreos and dipped rice Krispy treats.

It was like a spread. It was the biggest thing I've ever did. And I was so excited. That was the first kickoff from Jenn with Love.

[00:44:07] The Jennifer Experience: Oh. And so is that when you create From Jenn with love? Like what, what made you say I got to create

[00:44:12] From Jenn With Love: yes, when I did that one birthday party, I was like, this needs to be a business. I need a name. I need a name. Because in the very, very beginning, I wasn't from Jenn with Love. The original name, I know, it's not trademarked. It wasn't on a lot of things. It was just something I said when I dropped off a couple of things.

But it was just like, hashtag bait. And I was like, I don't know if I like, this doesn't sound very professional. It doesn't sound some, something from me. Like when you get my treats, I want it to feel like I specifically made this for you, you know what I mean? So when I changed the name to, from Jenn with love, it sounds more of a greeting and a thank you.

[00:44:54] The Jennifer Experience: and we can, I can, I know I can taste the love in the food. I can taste it. There's some loving. in that banana pudding for sure. So from Jenn with love. So you, you came up with that name because you said you wanted people to feel the love in your, in your baking.

[00:45:14] From Jenn With Love: Yes I wanted you to feel it. Through the baking, like, cause I'm not going to be there when I deliver the treats when I deliver the cakes when I deliver whatever, I want to still be there in a sense, like you're, this cake is going to be talked about for the rest of the party, like, you're not going to remember the party, but you're going to remember the cake kind of situation.

And I hear that a lot through the reviews, through the comments, especially when someone comes to me saying, oh, found your, you have. Huge reviews your, your top, you're top name in the melanin moms apparently and I'm like, wow, thanks. Didn't even know I was in there, but I appreciate it.

[00:45:52] The Jennifer Experience: It's, it's, it's always amazing. When you find out people have been speaking your names in rooms that you didn't even know you were in.

[00:46:00] From Jenn With Love: Exactly, exactly,

[00:46:04] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So let me, let me ask you this. Um, once, what, what, what would you say was your most difficult Baking assignment as of yet, where you said, where you said, I need to, maybe, maybe you had to even bring in help, but you said, okay, wait a minute. Now this is a lot.

[00:46:23] From Jenn With Love: yes, yes. It was, I had a wedding and they wanted a hundred and fifty mini pies,

[00:46:29] The Jennifer Experience: Mini pot. Did you say pies

[00:46:31] From Jenn With Love: mini pies, like mini, like six, like four inch pies. So there was all, it's all, it's, you know, it's handmade. So I had to roll out the dough for all the pies and lattice, lattice, uh, design on the top for all of the pies.

It was apple, blueberry, key lime, pumpkin, and French silk. And then

[00:46:56] The Jennifer Experience: wait? And what, what was the last one?

[00:46:58] From Jenn With Love: French, French silk, it's a chocolate custard pie. And then I had to make 10 that were gluten free that couldn't touch any of the other pies. So I had to make 150 pies at one time and then completely clean my kitchen, completely clean all my, my, uh, appliances that

[00:47:19] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So pause. So pause right there. So for all of you people who are gluten free,

say that again. So Jennifer, you do gluten free and your process is

when you do gluten free,

how do you do it?

[00:47:32] From Jenn With Love: Yes. And so when it's time for me to bake my gluten free desserts, I have to completely clean my kitchen, completely disinfect everything. So nothing is cross contaminated for my gluten free clients.

[00:47:44] The Jennifer Experience: And you make. Can everything be made gluten free or just some things can be made gluten-free

[00:47:52] From Jenn With Love: Anything, pretty much anything can be made gluten free. Cakes can be gluten free, pies can be gluten free. Um, I haven't made a pudding gluten free yet, but. I retract my statement saying all. A few things can be made gluten free. I've done cakes, I've done pies, and I've done cookies.

Gluten free.

[00:48:15] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So you had this big job with these pies. So now with the, with these little, what size was these pies?

[00:48:21] From Jenn With Love: There are 4 inch pies.

[00:48:23] The Jennifer Experience: So you had the little four inch pans too?

[00:48:25] From Jenn With Love: Mm hmm. All the little mini 4 inch pans, 4 inch pies. Yeah, they're tiny. You know, like the little personal pie. So, so each person had their own pie,

[00:48:36] The Jennifer Experience: I'm scared to ask how long did that take?

[00:48:39] From Jenn With Love: It took about a week. It took about a week. Because I had, because it's detailed. It's very detailed. And then you have to, it was like an assembly line.

I had to make all the pies and then I refrigerated all the pies and then I started baking all the pies. Yeah, it took about, it took about a week.

[00:48:59] The Jennifer Experience: So I'm curious, because one thing that I did notice about your particular baking products, anything that you have made, uh, because for those of you that don't know, I did have a birthday party and I had Jennifer. Um, do my, my, my baking stuff. And I had, what do you call them? Shooters,

[00:49:17] From Jenn With Love: You had, yes, dessert shooters Mm

hmm 

[00:49:19] The Jennifer Experience: I had dessert shooters and, um, I, of course, as you know, at your own birthday party, you hardly ever eat because you're having so much fun as I was.

And so, I didn't get to eat my dessert shooters until the very next day. Now, I was at a hotel because we were in another place. And so, at the hotel, I didn't put them in the refrigerator. They literally were in a styrofoam container and it was probably like five of them because I had different flavors.

These dessert shooters sat out all night long in a styrofoam container in the hotel room. When I woke up the next morning, of course I was hungry. I went to go eat one of these dessert shooters and they tasted like Jennifer had just made them.

[00:50:02] From Jenn With Love: And brought them to your room.

[00:50:03] The Jennifer Experience: I was amazed. Because normally cake is stale, it's not moist the next day, you know, no matter how you Yes, and I mean, it was like scrumptious, like, like it had just Like you literally had just given it to me.

And so I was really, I was like, how does Jennifer do it? So I'm wondering, it took you a week. How'd you keep them past? Like, do you have like, don't give your secret away, but like, do you, is there, is it what you, is the ingredients that keeps it fresh

[00:50:33] From Jenn With Love: No, it's about how you is storing is how you store them and how you prepare them because you can't you because of course you have to refrigerate them, of course, before you bake them, but you can't. I'm not too too far I know I said about a week, but that's the whole process, you know baking the fruit to put them in the pies, rolling out everything.

So like the last two days is really filling and baking. So it was like the day before the wedding, everything is baked. Like that night it's all boxed up, it's wrapped. And so it can keep all that moisture on the inside and not be released really until you bite into it. It just stays inside this little either container or its pie shell or with my cakes until you make that first cut, that slice, all of that moisture and all of that yumminess is going to stay inside.

So you can literally order a cake a week before your birthday, keep it refrigerated, and then the day you want to enjoy your cake is going to taste like you just bought it that day.

[00:51:38] The Jennifer Experience: Now that brings me to this question. You know how you're supposed to free, are you supposed to, is that still a tradition where you're supposed to freeze like a layer of your wedding cake?

[00:51:47] From Jenn With Love: Yes, some people still do that.

[00:51:48] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So you freeze, is it the top layer, like the

[00:51:51] From Jenn With Love: It's a top layer. No, just the whole top layer of your wedding cake,

[00:51:55] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So you've had people freeze your okay. And

[00:52:00] From Jenn With Love: even after the wedding, even after the wedding is sit there for the reception the entire time, you know, when it's time to serve the cake, they take the first hair off, they box it up, they put it away. And then they tell me that I usually get a picture, maybe a week after the wedding that it's in their freezer.

And then when they open it up on the year anniversary, they're like, the cake is Still moist

[00:52:23] The Jennifer Experience: that's the from Jenn with love magic, huh?

[00:52:25] From Jenn With Love: from Jenn with love effect from Jenn with Love experience

[00:52:29] The Jennifer Experience: Hey, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm all, I'm all right with it. I'm all right with it. Now let's talk about, let me shift this a little bit because this is pride month and um, yes, yes, yes. And, and I want all my, my, my gay friends, all my gay friends, all my gay sisters and brothers.

To know that Jennifer is absolutely an LGBT friendly, uh, bakery. Um, and a lot of the times when I'm doing weddings, people are asking me, who do I want to, uh, refer for different services and things, because you'd be surprised how many people out here do not, you know, want to bake our, bake our cakes. And so listen, it is shocking, but we, people are still like that.

And so I want to highly recommend if you're listening to me from Jenn with love, go ahead. Book her. Now, let me ask you this for people who are not in your area. Can they, are you still available to come to them? How, like, how does that,

[00:53:37] From Jenn With Love: yes, see i'm located in here i'm I'm in houston, texas. I'm located in houston, texas And I can do and I have gone to all the surrounding cities in around houston as far as Huntsville as you know, as far as Huntsville to the north and as far as Galveston to the south and all around now, um, for weddings out of state, of course, you know, you got to call me and we can work out something.

But of course, it's going to be, I will be able to travel for weddings. I do travel for weddings.

[00:54:10] The Jennifer Experience: And then when you travel, do you, how, how, how would you make it? Do you make it in, uh,

[00:54:17] From Jenn With Love: I would, I would have to, I would have to rent like maybe an Airbnb just for the kitchen purposes, because I would have to bake, if not bake, if not bake the cake, cause I have the cake already with me when I come, but just for, you know, frostings and last minute things, I would need to have a kitchen accessible for the cake, for whatever I'm making.

Cause some things are time sensitive and I wouldn't be able to do it until the day of or the day before the wedding.

[00:54:46] The Jennifer Experience: understandable, understandable. Now tell, tell everybody about your rainbow cakes because they are now, I mean, banana, banana pudding. I'm a little, you know, partial to them because that just happens to be my favorite, but the rainbow cakes are. Phenomenal. I mean, so tell them how it's layered and then you have a little cookie on.

It's so cute, but y'all, y'all tell them about the cakes.

[00:55:10] From Jenn With Love: Yes, it's another. It's a little dessert shooter that I make, and it's all most cake dessert shooters have this two layers of cake. There's two pieces of cake, cake, frosting, cake, frosting. That's it. But for the rainbow shooters, it's all of the colors of the rainbow. So it's what six layers. ROYGBIV How many layers is that?

So it's six layers of all the colors with a little thin layer of frosting in between. So when you get your rainbow shooter. It's the whole rainbow. So you'll be able to literally taste the rainbow as you're eating the cake shooter. And it also comes in regular cakes or cupcakes. I could make a, um, rainbow swirl in the cupcakes.

And when you bite into the cupcake, you can see all the colors on the inside. So it's really whatever, um, you want. I can make rainbow, Dipped pretzels, rice, crispy treats, cake, cupcakes. Anything that can be dyed or colored with sprinkles, you got it.

[00:56:09] The Jennifer Experience: What do you think is the most creative thing you've done with the rainbow?

[00:56:14] From Jenn With Love: There is this, um, cupcakes. There was this one event I had to do that they, she just wanted the cupcakes in the solid colors of the rainbow. So we, so she had six dozen cupcakes. For each color. And it just came from the top all the way to the bottom. And it was just really pretty because it was such bright, vibrant colors.

And I just like, I just like, I know it sounds simple, but it was really pretty at the same time. And then they'll make, then I made this, um, six layer unicorn cake. So on the outside, it just was a solid color. But then when you, once you cut into it, you saw all the layers and it was, you know, it's pretty.

They're all on my, on my page on Instagram or Facebook. You can see all my work, all my rainbow goodies.

[00:57:01] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. So let me, let me ask you this. What out of all of the, the, the projects that you've done as, cause you're an artist and I'm sure you're sensitive about your Right? Because you're, you're an artist, right? You're, as a cake, you're an artist. Okay, so what, what is the one that you're, the cake that you're, or the, or the, or the cupcakes, or the, whatever, what is, what is the project that you're the most proud of that you can remember baking?

[00:57:31] From Jenn With Love: The one that I was most proud of was the 150 mini pies. I did all that myself, man. I did all that by myself, every single pie. Not that I, I had help delivering, but making and baking and all of that by myself and did all every single pie. These hands touched and I did every single pie. Yes. It was, like I said, the pictures are on on my Instagram and my Facebook and it was a really pretty, uh, display.

But yes, all those pies, it was a sight to see. It was a whole, and that's when, when I was setting up for the reception and people were coming in because the wedding was almost over. All you heard was just, wow, look, it's so many. It's all handmade. Like I was just ear to ear. Ear to ear smile, just ear to ear, like a care bear.

My heart was screaming out.

[00:58:30] The Jennifer Experience: You were so, you were so proud.

[00:58:32] From Jenn With Love: I was so proud of all all my hard work. And then every single pie was eight, every single, pie there was none left over. The bride said there was nothing.

[00:58:43] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. Wow. Okay. What, what's your favorite out of all the things that you make? Cause see some, I have actually spoken to people who like make sweets and stuff. And they'd be like, I don't even like sweets. I just made them. So I'm just curious, like, do you have a favorite?

[00:59:00] From Jenn With Love: I'm good, okay, I don't want to just take it out of your mouth because you just said it, but I don't really eat a lot of sweets. But, but, but, I will say, I will say, I do like cookies. Cookies are, cookies are good for, cookies and brownies. I will take a cookie and brownie. Any day or when I have to make, um, Italian cream cake, when someone orders Italian cream cake, I get a little excited because then I have to, I make a little mini six inch for myself and I just squirrel it away

[00:59:31] The Jennifer Experience: mini six, you make a mini six inch for yourself.

[00:59:35] From Jenn With Love: Not a mini four or a mini cupcake. No, a mini six inch for myself.

[00:59:40] The Jennifer Experience: So you have an Italian cream, a fetish is what I'm hearing.

[00:59:45] From Jenn With Love: Just a little bit. And it's, you know, that's that old people cake, but it's so good, but it's so good. So anytime someone texts me that they want that for their wedding or birthday or whatever, I'm just like, Oh yes, I'll just put a little to the

[00:59:59] The Jennifer Experience: I, I know I do not like the whipped icing.

[01:00:02] From Jenn With Love: Oh no, I discourage people from,

[01:00:05] The Jennifer Experience: Do not, whatever you do, all you listeners out there. If you ever send me a gift, do not send me no whipped icing.

[01:00:12] From Jenn With Love: do not, no, all the listeners out here, do not ask me for whipped icing. It doesn't, it's not stable. Don't put me through that unnecessary stress.

[01:00:21] The Jennifer Experience: No, Jennifer, you, you know what? Explain that. What do you mean by it's not stable? Cause people might not understand what that means.

[01:00:26] From Jenn With Love: okay, the stability of whipped icing is not strong enough to hold design. If you want a two tier cake or a grand cake, whipped icing is not your go to. It's not strong enough. It's just going to slide off. Whipped icing is made for fruit cakes. Like, if you're just going to have a piece of cake, fruit in the middle, put some whipped icing in between that, and then another piece of cake.

Perfect. But if you're trying to cover, completely cover this cake with this whipped icing, it's just going to melt off. Don't stress me out. I'll put some whipped icing on top of a fruit cup and go on about your business. But don't stress me out trying to put whipped icing on a, on a, on a cake. Also, I do not make cake pops.

Also, I do not make cake pops. Another stressor. We broke up years ago. I don't want that toxicity in my life.

[01:01:23] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. Okay. Now you see now, ladies and gentlemen, y'all are my witness. You walked now you walked into this. You walked into this because there's somebody there is somebody listening that was getting ready to call you and ask you about some cake pops.

[01:01:38] From Jenn With Love: but I would see, I will redirect them a cakesickle

[01:01:43] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, what's the difference between a cake pop and a cakesickle

[01:01:47] From Jenn With Love: A cake pop is a little bitty circle, right? On the end of a stick. It's too, I can't, it's, it's too small to work with. I don't like them. My hand eye coordination is not that great. I just can't, I can't with cake pops, but a cake sickle is bigger.

It's like an actual.

[01:02:08] The Jennifer Experience: It's like a popsicle.

[01:02:10] From Jenn With Love: It's like a Popsicle. Yes. On a, on a Popsicle stick. And you can design. It is a bigger piece of cake. It's more cake. I feel like it's a better option because it's, like I said, it's more cake than them. Cake balls. I don't like them. I will redirect them to cakesickles and they'll be just as beautiful.

And then even with cakesickles guess what? You can put a rainbow cake inside of them. But you can't put a rainbow cake inside of a cake pop. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

[01:02:40] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, y'all, she has a, she has a prejudice against cake pops. So, um, unfortunately, if you are a cake pop person, um, she's going to redirect you to the cakesickle instead.

[01:02:54] From Jenn With Love: and you're gonna love them.

[01:02:55] The Jennifer Experience: oh, and, oh, excuse me, and you're going to, and you're going to love them.

[01:02:59] From Jenn With Love: You're gonna love them, and you're gonna say, thank you.

[01:03:02] The Jennifer Experience: You're, okay, and you're going to say thank you because she's going to, she's going to give you a better option.

All right, well, I, okay.

[01:03:10] From Jenn With Love: more beautiful on the dessert table. I'm telling you.

[01:03:13] The Jennifer Experience: Okay.

[01:03:14] From Jenn With Love: I'm doing this all out of love.

[01:03:16] The Jennifer Experience: It's Hey,

[01:03:17] From Jenn With Love: From Jenn with love.

[01:03:19] The Jennifer Experience: from Jenn with love from Jen with love. I mean, okay. Now, what, what are the, what are the future plans for, from Jenn with love? Do you, you plan on opening a bakery one day? Is that in your, is that in your future foresight?

[01:03:32] From Jenn With Love: Yes. One day I will have a brick and mortar storefront. That's in the future because we're also, um, we also sell on Amazon. So we're gonna need space. Lots and lots of space. Oh, I had to educate my dear friend Jennifer here about fake cake.

[01:03:48] The Jennifer Experience: I was, I was going to get to that. Don't be trying to skip. Don't

[01:03:52] From Jenn With Love: we're on Amazon.

[01:03:53] The Jennifer Experience: Why you have, but you don't have to call me out. Cause I'm not the only person that didn't know about you. Look now, listen, listen, this is what she's talking about y'all. I was not. Uh, up to date on the fake cake because I'm not interested in buying something I can't eat if it's a cake.

So that is really what it was about. But anyway, while she trying to call me out, explain to the people, is it bespoke? Is that how you pronounce that? It's a bespoke cake?

[01:04:19] From Jenn With Love: Bespoke

Bespoke 

is another word for custom. It's a fancy word for custom.

[01:04:24] The Jennifer Experience: so it's not, well then it's not another word for fake.

[01:04:27] From Jenn With Love: no, it would be, you could say fake cake or faux cake, but it's all the same. It's just a styrofoam cake that you cannot eat that people use for weddings. And it makes sense because Here in, here in Houston, Texas, it's a hundred thousand degrees.

[01:04:44] The Jennifer Experience: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it's not okay. Um, you gonna have me sued for misrepresentation. It's not at that hundred thousand degrees in Texas. Ladies and gentlemen, it might be 99 today, but it's not a hundred. I don't live in Houston, but it's not a hundred thousand degrees.

[01:04:57] From Jenn With Love: Okay, I'm sorry. It's a hundred degrees,

but then it says the real feel is a hundred billion degrees. So with that being said, summertime, yes, summertime weddings are not nice to buttercream, buttercream, cream cheese, summertime and frostings don't mix.

[01:05:17] The Jennifer Experience: And I love my buttercream.

[01:05:19] From Jenn With Love: Exactly. Cakes melt. That's why The next best option is to get the your cake of your dreams as a fake cake.

Okay. And then it will stay the entire wedding without melting. You can have a little section in the back. That's a piece of real cake and go into, so you can cut for the pictures and then your guests will be served the cake. That's in the back, but then your cake stays beautiful the entire ceremony

[01:05:50] The Jennifer Experience: Wow. But well, but okay. So it's a cheaper option because you, the design cake is made and it's, Fake, right? And then, so then the actual cake that you're actually ordering is somewhere in the back being served, but it doesn't have to be in a design. Is that why it's

a cheaper option? Okay.

[01:06:13] From Jenn With Love: yeah That's why it's cheaper because what you went with wedding cakes what you're paying for is not only per slice But you're paying for all the design that goes into the cake So it's all of that included with the slot with the per slice price So when you have a fake cake, you're just gonna pay a base price For a fake cake.

So this is an example price. Let's just say the fake cake is a hundred dollars. Okay. So now you have a hundred dollar wedding cake that's on the table that you, um, spend versus spending twelve hundred dollars for the same cake on the table. But now you have to cut into it and it won't be there for the entire, you know, entire ceremony because everyone has ate it.

But if you get a fake cake, you can look at the cake the entire time pictures. The, you know, for the whole ceremony and then the cake is in the back for the, for the staff to serve

[01:07:09] The Jennifer Experience: So I'm curious, how many people are like doing this nowadays? I'm, I'm, I'm, because this is interesting to me. I really didn't know about this.

[01:07:15] From Jenn With Love: We, um, yes, a lot of people, a lot of people do it. I've been selling fake cakes on Etsy and Amazon for maybe like a year now. And on Amazon, I'll sell almost a cake a day.

[01:07:29] The Jennifer Experience: Really?

[01:07:30] From Jenn With Love: Yes.

[01:07:31] The Jennifer Experience: And what do fake cakes run?

[01:07:33] From Jenn With Love: They can go anywhere between, cause we go from one tier all the way to four tiers. So it's probably like 70 for the first one up to maybe like 250, 275,

[01:07:44] The Jennifer Experience: And then versus a real cake runs?

[01:07:47] From Jenn With Love: about 1, 200 for a four tier because you're paying by the slice,

[01:07:52] The Jennifer Experience: Right, right. So there's a huge difference. So you selling at least one of those fake cakes a day?

[01:07:58] From Jenn With Love: a day and they're going everywhere. Yes. Cause when you do that, then you have your fake hate. You, you order it on Amazon. You take it to your wedding. You go to Sam's get some cupcakes or get a sheet cake. Boom. You're done. And your guests have cake and you have this cake and you have this cake on your reception and you can take pictures by it and it's gorgeous and it won't melt.

And then if you like it, well, of course you'll like it, but you can keep it forever.

[01:08:24] The Jennifer Experience: Oh my, that's interesting.

[01:08:27] From Jenn With Love: It become a centerpiece in your living room.

[01:08:29] The Jennifer Experience: Now, the, the only thing that I don't like about that though, is they don't get to taste your cake.

[01:08:34] From Jenn With Love: Oh no. The customers. Yeah. The customers online, they don't get to taste my cake, but local, but local customers who, or who do order fake cake, they also get to taste my cake. cause sometimes when they order a fake cake from me for their wedding, the a sheet cake is in, you know, all of that is included. We do the sheet cake pre sliced.

So when you have your wedding, The slices are already made. So then the serving staff, you just pass out your cake that you chose for your wedding.

[01:09:02] The Jennifer Experience: Okay. Well, that makes sense. All right.

[01:09:04] From Jenn With Love: It's a cheaper option. It's a more cost effective option. If If you're trying to cut costs somewhere.

[01:09:11] The Jennifer Experience: And listen, and most people are so, uh, you know, Hey, I, I know a lot of, um, this is, this is pride season. Some of us are going to get married on a budget this season. Look on Amazon. How do they find you on Amazon? Are you on from Jenn with love?

[01:09:27] From Jenn With Love: yes. From Jenn with love, or you can just type in fake cakes and we're going to be the first business that comes up under fake cakes on Amazon. Yes, ma'am. Girl, we're the only market that is selling fake wedding cakes on Amazon.

[01:09:40] The Jennifer Experience: Round of applause again, again,

[01:09:43] From Jenn With Love: Black owned business, black owned business,

[01:09:45] The Jennifer Experience: can I also do a shameless plug from Jenn with love is an official trusted partner of the Jennifer experience. So, that makes sense. Yes, that makes sense. That makes sense. That makes sense that you would be at the top of the list that that makes a lot of sense.

I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. So listen, before we go, I want you to tell all the people, how do they find you? Um, I know it's pride month. So if you have any of those special offerings you want to offer, um, if anyone wants to book you from hearing this podcast, all that kind of stuff, tell me how they find you, tell them about your discount, tell them all that.

[01:10:23] From Jenn With Love: Okay, well, if you have Instagram, which most people do Instagram and Facebook, you can find me on both of those social medias as with from Jenn two Ns With love from Jenn with love and anybody who listens to this podcast and can refer to this podcast will get 10 percent off their service wedding services.

Let me correct that 10 percent off wedding services this month. Um, let me see my email address is fromjennwithlove@yahoo.Com Um, let me see. Oh, tick tock. Also on TikTok from Jenn with love. I think it's FromJennWithLove1 on TikTok for some unknown reason. I think someone has my name. I don't like that, but that's a different story.

But yes, I'm on TikTok from Jen with love the number one.

[01:11:13] The Jennifer Experience: All right. And if you go to www.thejenniferexperience.com and click on trusted partners, scroll down, you will find from Jenn with love there as well. Um, listen, Jennifer, my namesake, it has been great interviewing you. I I've learned some stuff today that I didn't know about cakes and stuff. This is interesting because even though I can cook, I am not a baker.

And so I, I am really like, Really? I mean, I'm I'm outdone it. Some of the stuff you have said today and especially learning about your your fake case and all that. That's interesting too that you're able to do that. Um, but that's also, um, I think smart business too. So, uh, shouts out to you. Black business owner.

Black woman, business owner, shout out to you, letting that black magic shine, girl, go ahead with your bad self. So listen, y'all go find from Jenna from Jenn with love, go follow her on all the social media platforms. You will see her beautiful cakes. You will see her cookies. You will even see the banana pudding cake that I'm referring to.

And I know on her Instagram, um, there's a picture of the cake shooters that were at my party. If you go look.

[01:12:23] From Jenn With Love: Rainbow shooters, they're there.

[01:12:24] The Jennifer Experience: yep,

[01:12:26] From Jenn With Love: Oh, and for Pride Month, for Pride Month, every day for Pride Month, I'm displaying another rainbow cake I've made. So each day you'll see a new rainbow cake or new rainbow treat I made all throughout the years for Pride Month.

[01:12:40] The Jennifer Experience: wonderful. Oh, I know one more thing I need to ask you. Now for weddings, do you do taste testing

[01:12:45] From Jenn With Love: Oh, yes, absolutely. Yes. Um, contact me for cake tastings. You can pick four flavors. I have an array of cake flavors you can choose from. And even if you don't see a flavor that I offer, we can create one together.

[01:13:00] The Jennifer Experience: This girl is a bad mamma jamma. She can create flavors for you. What can I, man.

[01:13:04] From Jenn With Love: Yes, yes, yes.

[01:13:05] The Jennifer Experience: You, you go ahead with your bad. So I'm, I'm listening. I'm proud of you, my friend. It, you have grown up to do some marvelous things, marvelous things. I know your parents are proud as well. So you keep on doing it. I am again, elated that you came on today.

I'm glad to have you as a friend and as a trusted partner, and I wish you all the best in your business. I will continue to patronize it for sure. I have a whole lot more banana pudding cakes I can eat.

[01:13:33] From Jenn With Love: I got them for you. I'm ready.

[01:13:35] The Jennifer Experience: I know you are. I know you are. Thank you all for coming out and listening today to the different Perspectivez podcast. It has been great. Happy pride month to everyone.

[01:13:45] From Jenn With Love: Happy Pride

[01:13:46] The Jennifer Experience: Yes. And we will see you again soon.