Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Sideserf.
Natalie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
After I graduated from college in 2008, a friend of mine suggested that I try making a sculpted cake in the shape of a cow skull for a birthday party (my very first still life cake!). Although I was unfamiliar with using cake as a medium, I really enjoyed the idea of working with edible materials and saw the potential for realism in cake. When I first started, hyperrealism was pretty much limited to sugar flowers so having a fine art background, I decided to focus on portraits and still life. In February 2013, I made the first realistic bust cake to go viral in the shape of Willie Nelson after it reached #1 on Reddit. I started my own business sooner after and coined the term “Cake Studio” because I was so much more familiar with art studios rather than bakeries, and I’ve been making hyperrealistic cakes go viral ever since.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road was incredibly bumpy. After graduating from college, I decided I wanted to make hyperrealistic cakes but had no prior baking or decorating experience, so I went to work for a bakery where I learned that sculpted cakes can be a fairly difficult to sell. So when I started Sideserf Cake Studio in 2013, the plan was to sell elaborate realistic cakes to local businesses and to incentivize the sale, we could cross-post the cakes on our social media accounts to help promote the business. While this wasn’t necessarily a successful strategy with local businesses, larger companies took notice and I’ve since made cakes for businesses like Whataburger, Buffalo Wild Wings, Paramount Pictures, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and lots more. Social media presence is a huge part of my business, and there are times when growth sort of stagnates which can feel hopeless at times. But in the end, perseverance always pays off.
We’ve been impressed with Sideserf Cake Studio, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m extremely proud of the Sideserf Cake Studio brand and business that I’ve been able to build in the creative space, especially considering how difficult of an industry it is to break into. I’ve put a lot of effort into building a brand that can appeal to everyone, and we have come to be known by my signature green buttercream. Lots of social media accounts clip our content from Instagram and YouTube for cake-cutting compilations, but they often go without crediting the artists. So if you see one of these videos online and there is green buttercream inside, there’s a very good chance it’s a Sideserf Cake.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The single most important lesson I’ve learned is the only way I can fail is if I quit. I love making new YouTube videos every week, and my channel has really evolved over the years because when we first started out, we (my husband Dave and I) had no idea what we were doing. We just tried to make each video a little bit better than the last one and eventually came up with a format that we’re really proud of. There were lots of times when it would have just been easier to do something else instead, but quitting was never an option for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: sideserfcakes.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sideserfcakes
- Facebook: facebook.com/sideserfcakes
- Twitter: twitter.com/nataliesideserf
- Youtube: youtube.com/sideserfcakestudio
- Other: tiktok.com/@sideserfcakes
Image Credits
Sideserf Cake Studio
