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When it comes to cakes, Steffany Bowling’s philosophy is “Go big or go home!” To that end, the owner of Peace, Love & Cakes has made her niche creating designed- to-order themed cakes that replicate the original to scale. “I do exactly what the customer wants. My regular customers trust me and like my style,” she says. “[We] get to a point where they can give me a theme and just let me do my thing.”
One of her recent masterpieces is a life-sized wood-grain four-top table from The Dixie Chicken bar at Northgate that could easily fool even the most discriminating eye. The plate of T-fries appears ready to dig into with chocolate plastic forks and two sides of ranch dressing made of butter-cream icing; a game of chocolate dominos is in progress, and an edible bottle of Lone Star beer looks good enough to drink — all made of cake. “The realistic stuff is really fun. I get to really be super creative,” says Steffany, who starts with a sketch and uses reference photos for inspiration. “I have a very specific job I have to do.”
To date, her longest and most difficult project was her four-by three-and-a-half-foot re-creation of Bryant Denny Stadium in Alabama that went viral on social media a few years ago with a half-million views. “I worked a total of, like, 69 hours when putting it together and carving it,” she says. “It took up my entire kitchen.” Steffany made the cake for a local couple’s wedding celebration, a surprise from the bride to the groom. Steffany recalls that when the couple saw it, they were so excited, “she was, like, skipping, and I thought she was going to cry.”
Steffany says among her favorite creations are elaborate groom’s cakes and birthday cakes. “I’m really into Marvel and Star Wars,” she says. “Those are things that I’m really connected to, even with my own kids, so that’s really fun for me to get to recreate because I know a lot about them.” She’s made dozens of Disney princesses with edible skirts, tiered wedding cakes, baby shower cakes, and numerous designs based on sports teams, movies, TV shows — even Waffle House and Whataburger cakes. “I’m obsessed with the Whataburger cakes!” Steffany says. Dining options in Corsicana where she grew up was limited, and she says she frequently joined her papaw for Sunday breakfast or went on patrol with her father, who was a police officer. “We would always end up at Whataburger, so I just have so many fond memories of that,” she says. “It’s silly, but I hold onto those memories and those places because it makes me happy, and when people order Whataburger cakes, I get so excited!”
Steffany runs her business from her home abiding by Texas cottage food laws. “I operate out of a normal home kitchen. I don’t have a double oven,” she says. Her largest pan is a half-sheet, and she bakes the cake layers as close to the event as possible. “I want the cake to be as fresh as possible,” she says. Any fondant, molds or chocolate items are pre-made a few days before that. Rice Krispies cereal covered with a thin layer of frosting and fondant is the basis for any heavier pieces that sit on top of the cake.
The baker was initially self- taught and worked for a time at Cake Junkie in Bryan (no longer in business). She honed her craft using her grandmother’s recipes that she has tweaked to her liking over time. Through trial and error using different recipes and strategies, she created cakes for family, friends, and co-workers, including one who asked her to make her sister’s "wedding cake — the first of many. “We went to the stores together to buy supplies,” Steffany says. “It was all very beginner, but that’s how I found my passion with it.”
“I never really knew what I wanted to do. I just wanted to create because I’ve always been artsy,” Steffany says. “When I made her cake and everyone loved it so much, I was like, I think I want to try this.” She waited on tables during the week and made cakes on the weekends out of her small duplex apartment, barely charging for her services. “I just started building on it, and I found my niche. It became so easy,” Steffany recalls. “I remember my husband walking in one time completely shocked that I handmade this 3-D swan for a cake,” she says. “It was really fun, and everything blossomed from there.” For six months, Steffany and her children lived in California, and she worked at a bakery in Studio City where she met and baked cakes for a number of celebrities. “It was kind of surreal,” she says. “I even got to do cookies for the whole cast of "Modern Family". It was a neat experience, but I missed home, and I missed my people.” When she came back to Texas and reopened Peace Love & Cakes again, she was flooded with orders. “My clients told me to never leave them again!” she says.
“When I opened Peace Love & Cakes in 2012, there were several families that were graduating from Texas A&M, and I did their graduation cake, and then their engagement, and their wedding, and now I’m doing their kids’ cakes,” she says. “I’m a little piece of their big moments, and it’s really special.”
For more information, visit facebook./peaceloveandcakesbysteffany.
