Cake Artist Jennifer Bratko established her original cake studio, From Scratch, SF in 2009, winning multiple competitions including several 1st place wins at Iron Cupcake, SF, as well as being crowned “Best Bay Area Cupcake” at Vino Moda’s Cupcake Wars. Wanting to hone in more on her love of making wedding cakes, From Scratch, SF has evolved into her more specialized cake studio, Beyond Buttercream.
Growing up in Southern California, Jennifer was a nosy, precocious child that could never manage to stay out of Mom’s way in the kitchen. At the age of 7, Jennifer insisted on making her own birthday cake, refusing any help from anyone and throwing a big tantrum if anyone dared step foot in the kitchen. The family expected her to make a box of cake mix like any small child would, but Jennifer surprised everyone by making a chocolate cake from scratch using the recipe off the back of the can of cocoa powder. And even more surprising… it was delicious. From that point on, Jennifer became the official go-to person for all family cakes, cookies, pies and various other pastries.
Jennifer has come a long way since making her 7th birthday cake. She has dedicated herself to the science of baking and has spent countless hours perfecting her skills penning over 50 original mouth-watering recipes using only the purest and highest quality ingredients. From her moist Madagascar vanilla bean cake to the sinfully rich Guittard’s Devil’s Food cake all topped with her signature Swiss meringue buttercream, making the flavor and texture of all her cakes taste as beautiful as they look is her passion as well as her obsession.
Oh wow Jennifer you rock!! you made your own wedding cake??!! my respects to youuuuu.
I’m so happy I found your blog! especially because I want to ‘try’ SMB’ but I’m afraid to (‘blushing’ here) why? because I’ve heard ‘some’ stories. However, I am willing to try following your awesome tutorial. I will keep you posted….that is, if I succeed LOL 🙂
Thank you very much and have a wonderful day!!
Rosie L
Jennifer,
I love your blog! I was looking at some of your gorgeous photos on your website and wanted to know how you cut out the writing for your cakes…..was it with a cricut fondant/gumpaste cutter? If so, could you pass along some tips. My parents were kind enough to purchase one for me as a birthday gift and I have not had any success cutting out anything! The writing on your cakes is what I have been trying to achieve.
Thanks,
Danielle 🙂
Thank you! I think I might have a few cakes on my page where I used a Cricut, but it’s too much of a pain and I can cut the letters faster by hand with my Tappits cutters.
Thanks for reading!
Hello. First I want to tell you that you and your blog rock! Now that I got that off my chest. I was wondering if you could give me your grandma’s butter nut balls recipe please? I got everything ready to make them today but the recipe is gone. These were gonna be part of my anniversary present to my husband because he loves them so much. Your recipe looked better then any of the others I found.
Sure! Please email jennifer@beyondbuttercream.com and I’ll email it to you.
I AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR PAGE!
I need help with something cupcake. I am on a mission to find who can help me and I have been unsuccessful for almost two months. It’s a challenge. I am so new to everything and I am experimenting with everything. I am male home cake maker and I have requests to bring cupcakes and stuff to my fiends all over. There is a particular kind of cupcake holder I am seeking. It’s a twelve cupcake holder plastic clam shell, but not just any clam shell, I can find those easy. I need a cupcake clam shell that will hold 12 but each cupcake needs to have its own dome or compartment if you will, almost like two bottoms put together. I have only seen them in pictures (I see from your blog DC Cupcakes use them, I saw an image on Google as well) but I cannot seem to find a manufacturer or distributor. The reason I am looking for this is I have had many mishaps with the standard 12 cupcake holders that have one big top compartment. If I have a variety and I have a mishap my Butter cream and flavors fall into the next. It ruins the integrity of my flavors. I try to be extra careful but stuff happens you know.
Any help you may have would be greatly appreciated! I am reaching out to anyone who will listen and take on this challenge with me.
Do any of your followers know anyone?
Sorry! I don’t know. If you find a resource please post the link!