Katelyn Ann James got interested in baking at home with her grandmother. She worked in the front of the house at several local restaurants before taking a pastry job at Sucre and then a baking job La Louisiane Bakery. During the pandemic, she started her baked goods business Gabe & Gray Confections (@gabengrayconfections on Instagram), and she recently provided pastries for an event in chef-restaurateur Nina Compton’s Black History Month dinner series.
Gambit: How did you get interested in baking?
Katelyn Ann James: My grandmother taught me to bake after (Hurricane) Katrina. I would be in the kitchen measuring ingredients with her and learning tips and hearing stories. She liked to bake pound cake, so that’s how I started. She made pound cakes for friends or family, and it grew.
It wasn’t a passion at that time. I’d take a box mix and make cupcakes, but it wasn’t something I thought I wanted to do.
Later, I started getting orders from friends, and they’d ask, “Can you make cupcakes with strawberry icing?” That was my first time making strawberry icing from scratch. It went on to cupcakes, apple crisps, and we played around with flavors. My grandmother was a really big help and inspired me to be a baker and be my own boss.
I worked at (the wholesale bakery) La Louisiane. That’s the job that pushed me into starting my own business. I was there for two years. At first, it was making cookies and mini pastries. Then, I gained more experience and was getting taught on the cake-decorating side. They taught me how to level a cake and color buttercream and things you think would be simple, but there’s a process.
Gambit: How did you start your pop-up?
James: I started in early 2020 when the pandemic first hit. That was when I went into it full force, because I was let go from my baking job. My husband was like, “Why don’t you start your own thing?”
The first (pop-up) happened by accident. I used to frequent a flower shop on Magazine Street and I was invited to a pop-up. I had four days to pull that off. I was baking and doing packaging — I didn’t have stickers and business labels. I almost sold out of everything: lemon-raspberry pound cake, brownies, cookie butter brownies, double fudge, cookie sandwiches, red velvet cookie sandwiches with caramel butter cream, and coco bombs.
I always watched Food Network, because I enjoyed cooking and baking. Fashion was always an inspiration for my cakes. Any type of design is in my world of creation.
I love color and finding new mediums to work in, like wafer paper. That’s a new thing. It’s edible paper — it melts in your mouth. I use it to create flowers and other things. You hold the paper over steam and bend it to form different shapes or textures. You could make a flower or tutu. I am also experimenting with rice paper. My favorite thing to use is gold leaf.
I love flowers and floral arrangements — I like mixing fruit and flowers.
It’s no accident that Hieu Doan is a go-getter running two restaurants: Boil Seafood House on Magazine Street and the newly opened Hieux Boil …
Gambit: Tell us about your baking business plan.
James: Gabe & Gray Confections is named for my two boys. Gabriel is 5 and Grayson will be 2. They’re the inspiration for my business and my motivation. In the end, I am doing it for them.
Right now, I take orders through direct messages and email.
With every order, I keep investing in the business. I am finishing my LLC, then I will work on a website. I don’t have an actual date, but I’d like to finish it in the next three months.
Sheryl Boudy spoke with Gambit about how cooking was passed down in her family and collecting her father's recipes for a new book.
March 15, 2021 at 07:00PM
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Katelyn Ann James launched Gabe & Gray Confections to bake cakes and more - NOLA.com
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