Meet Kara-Jo Crisp | Pastry Chef & Bakery Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kara-Jo Crisp and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kara-Jo, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
When it comes to custom order bakers, I don’t think that most people really understand the hours of work that can go into a single cake. When you go to the store and their baked goods prices are super affordable, it’s because they are cutting so many corners that you are unaware of. The cakes get mass produced in a factory with countless preservatives and fake ingredients. They are then frozen and shipped to the store to (at most) assemble on site. When you shop with a local small business bakery, and specifically a custom order bakery, you are getting quality beyond what could ever be matched form a box store or even a smaller franchise. I never use imitation or lab produced ingredients. I import specifically selected vanilla beans grown in specific regions of the world to use to make my own extract with. I generally have my own chickens, eating a very healthy diet, who’s eggs I use in my baking, I never freeze a cake, and I refuse to deliver a product that will be more than 48 hours from the mixer by the time its eaten. All of these things make a huge difference on flavor and texture of the cake, and it’s one of those things that you just don’t know you don’t know until you have tasted different. Producing a fresh product form scratch takes the kind of time that would put box stores out of business, because they would never be able to charge enough for it. That’s why custom order cakes are so costly comparatively, but I’ve never had a client that didn’t think it was worth it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Currently, our newest developement here at Peaches and Crème, is that we have officially succeeded at creating gluten free and vegan options for our cakes. This was a long battle, one inspired by my sons food allergies to dairy, wheat, and eggs, as well as my own gluten intolerance; but fueled by knowing that I was going to be able to provide cake to a whole family of people who normally can never eat cake. It can be vary isolating to have one food allergy, let alone several, and I applaud those who eat vegan by choice. I knew my efforts in development were going to bring countless smiles to these groups of people and it’s so exciting to be coming out of the other side of that two year long journey. Per my usual, I wasn’t happy with “good enough” or “better than nothing”. It had to be soft, moist, not grainy or crumbly, not too sweet to cover up undesirable flavors, and most importantly, have a great flavor profile. It definitely took many aspects of my scientific knowledge in the world of food and baking to achieve victory here; especially where replacing eggs and butter were involved. I ended up creating my own replacements instead of using store bought options because the flavors form the store bought replacements were too harsh and chemical-ie. The best part about these cakes is that I have served them to friends who do not eat gluten free or vegan and they couldn’t tell! Now that is a feeling of victory.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first thing that I always suggest to my out of town friends is that they go see the Atlanta Aquarium. Its the largest in the world and so very worth the trip. For some nature time, Sweetwater State Park is my top go-to. I love the trails to hike there and getting into the river for a swim. Food, mmm, there’s so much good food in the Atlanta area. My favorite places are always the smaller businesses, there is so much creativity in culinary pairings to be found at the ones and twos type of places that we are swimming in here. And for night life, I’ve got a big soft spot for Battle and Brew gaming bar in Sandy Springs as well as Metalsome Karaoke (a live band karaoke) that happens in the basement of Dark Horse Tavern in VA Highlands.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The immense support of my friends and family has been indispensable to my success. Form friends who let me make their wedding cake when I barely knew what I was doing, to the father of my son who gladly set aside our joint time and resources to help grow my budding business, I would have never made it this far without them. I also owe a lot to my pastry teacher, Chef Paul Bodrogi, for inspiring me in the field of sugar work and pastries at my time at The Art Institute of Atlanta.

Website: http://www.peachesandcremebakery.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peaches_and_creme_bakery/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeachesandCremeBakery

Image Credits
Alyssa Rose Photography Erica Brooke Photography