“Is this really cake?” asked one woman after another.

“Yes, it’s cake,” she replied again and again.

Taresa Hancock was one of at least 30 vendors at The Valdosta Daily Times’ Diva Day on Saturday, April 26, at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center. Fancy cake balls and birthday and wedding cakes that appeared better suited for an art gallery than a paper plate were just some of the treats that she shared with those who stopped by her display. She called her little setup T Cakes.

“I probably said, ‘Yes, it’s cake,’ a thousand times that day,” she shared. “People just could not believe it.”

Born and raised in Adel, Hancock did not grow up in a family full of bakers. She did not spend hours after school or on weekends in the kitchen with her mother or grandmother baking cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, as might be expected. Even when she had children of her own, a desire to bake just was not there, although she was a talented cook.

That all changed roughly 18 months ago when Hancock discovered the Food Network.

“I started watching the different cake challenges, and something just clicked,” she said. “I can’t explain it. I was inspired.”

All of a sudden — or at least it seemed that way — Hancock had the ability to turn ordinary cake batter into a three-dimensional work of art. It was as if the shows she watched had unlocked some hidden potential. Family members and close friends became her guinea pigs.

“And I think they liked it,” she said.

Hancock’s talents quickly became evident to everyone around her and thoughts of turning a hobby into a full-time job — Isn’t that everyone’s dream? — began to invade her mind. Then a friend encouraged her to register as a vendor at Diva Day.

“I prayed about it for a while,” she said. “I asked God to open up an avenue for me if this is what He wanted me to do. I know it sounds unbelievable, but with half an hour left in the day, this woman ... who owned a bridal shop, stopped by my booth and told me that no one around here has cakes like mine. That’s when I knew I could potentially turn this thing into a business.”

Hancock dropped the name T Cakes and named her business Yes, It’s Cake (visit www.yesitscake.com).

Like Colette Peters and Margaret Braun, a Hancock cake is not so much something to eat as it is a work of art. Of course, that does not mean her cakes don’t also taste good.

“I have a good basic recipe that I work with,” she said. “It holds firm with all of the carving that I do, and it tastes good. That’s not always easy to come by. It took me several attempts to get it right.”

“I enjoy everything about making these cakes,” she added. “I love it. I have so much fun, and when I give these cakes to the recipients ... when they come to pick them up ... just the expression on their faces makes the 10 to 20 hours of work worth it.”



Fancy Cake Balls



INGREDIENTS

• Any cake recipe of your choosing

• Flavored, concentrated liquid

• 1 pound of candy coating

• 1 tablespoon of Crisco



DIRECTIONS

Bake your cake as directed on the box or recipe and allow it to cool completely. Crumble your cake into a bowl. Add your favorite concentrated flavor (such as a liquid blueberry or hazelnut coffee creamer or pina colada smoothie mix) to the cake crumbles and form the mixture into balls the size of a truffle. Set the balls in the fridge for a couple of hours to let the flavors marry. Reshape the balls and put them back in the fridge. Now, melt the candy coating (white chocolate is a favorite) and thin it with a little Crisco. Dip each ball into the coating until covered. Refrigerate.  



Taresa says, “With all the carving of cakes that I do, I have a lot of cake crumbs left. So, I decided to make good use of them and tried mixing different flavors into the cake and ‘voila’ I had a fancy cake ball. You can make these from any cake recipe that you have. They are delicious and the flavors you can use are endless.”