Wife and mom, Katie Lubeck, of Cookie Art KC, never set out to start a cookie business. But almost 4 years ago, this former teacher, had a freak episode that left her unable to drive for 6 months and looking for something to fill her time. Reflecting back on her lifelong love of baking, it’s now easy to see how she ended up with a successful baking business. Like many bakers, her love and passion for the art snowballed into a thriving business she loves while balancing family life. Oh, and she can create some of the most beautiful royal icing florals you’ve ever seen! Read on to hear her journey and see some of her stunning work!
learning How To Bake
Katie credits her mom and grandma for teaching her all the foundations of baking. Katie shared that her mom was really good at explaining each step and the science or reasoning behind them. As an accomplished baker, Katie learned to enjoy every step of the process. She shared, “I love seeing the artistic process come to fruition.”
But even though Katie had the foundations of baking, cookie decorating was a whole different animal. “I tried my hand at it once or twice and it was just a miserable failure. I chalked it up to something I was just never going to be good at.” Katie had been following decorating artists on social media and really wanted to learn the skills of cookie decorating. She was able to connect with a local cookier who offered in-person decorating classes. Taking one class gave her many of the fundamentals and she also found she had been “bit by the decorating bug,” and really started practicing.
Practice Makes A Business?
Katie’s first real set she tackled was for her daughter’s birthday party. From there, she had started making cookies for neighbors, family and friends while post pics on Facebook. Within about 6 months, Katie was starting to receive requests from others outside her circle. So, in 2019, she started her business slowly, first with a dedicated Facebook business page, then starting to grow her Instagram page. She also partnered with a local mom blogger which helped her really expand her reach.
Today, Katie takes on one order per week. Sometimes that order may only be a couple dozen or sometimes it may be several dozen. She also books several weeks in advance (currently booked about 10 weeks out). She encourages her clientele to get on her calendar if they know of a future date they’ll need cookies, even if they don’t know all the design details yet. This strategy has given Katie the best balance to dedicate to her family while also focusing on creating one FABULOUS order each week.
Cookier Or Florist?
A common skillset that cookiers strive to master is florals. I have connected with A LOT of bakers and this is one recurring skill that can be a bugger to master! But let me tell you, Katie has done it. Her florals are absolutely stunning! I asked her how she learned this skill and she said, “It was 100% watching videos.” She stressed the importance of the right consistency with florals, which needs to be stiff. But we all know “stiff” can still be vague and that is where practice comes in. She also stressed, “Pay attention to the angle and placement of the tips and the movements,” when watching videos. She shared encouraging advice that once cookiers understand the foundations of florals, they translate well to all kinds of florals, so keep practicing! Here is one of my favorites!
What’s In Store For The Future of Cookie Art KC?
Katie has two young kiddos so business will continue like this until they are both in school. At which point she would love to be able to take on more orders. But she’s also very careful not to turn this business into something stressful. Right now, she says, “the fun outweighs the work,” and that’s how she’d like to keep it.
If you’re an aspiring or current cookie decorator, I highly encourage you to visit Katie’s socials to appreciate her work and really take in the details! She is definitely cookie goals! If you are near Olathe, Kansas, I encourage you to connect with Cookie Art KC for your next event! Her vanilla/almond cookies are as delicious as they are beautiful! And if I were you, I’d request a floral design! 😉
Orders for Katie’s work can be placed HERE!
Katie’s socials can be found at these links!
I hope you take the time to appreciate Katie’s incredible gallery of work below!
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