Through our #BetterYourBake campaign, you met pastry chef and cake designer Marina Sousa. With a decorated career, she frequently designs cakes for celebrities, has appeared on several television baking shows and runs her own business in a beautiful beach town just outside of Santa Cruz. We sat down with her to learn more about what drives her success and inspiration for baking while learning a few tips from the pro!
Marina Sousa has been baking for more than 20 years, but her path to the pastry world was not exactly traditional. She began working in the visual merchandising and entertainment industry in Los Angeles. While her career path allowed for some creativity, she was looking for a change. Through a series of unexpected events, she ended up taking a job at an upscale cake design studio in Beverly Hills where she was enticed by the extraordinary baked sculptures and creative pastries.
From there she decided to take a leap of faith and enrolled in The Culinary Institute of America for advanced studies, and completed her degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. She graduated at the top of her class and received the Baking Achievement Award.
In the years following graduation, Marina was named one of the top 50 sugar artists in America by Brides Magazine, and Dessert Professional called her one of the top 10 cake designers in the country. She is a Food Network Challenge champion. Today, she is the owner of Just Cake, a pastry shop and baking store in Capitola, California, and designs cakes for celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Raquel Welch and Miley Cyrus.
One experience Marina will never forget is winning the celebrity cake-off baking challenge on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
“My mom was a big Oprah fan,” Marina told Nielsen-Massey in an exclusive interview. “And sometimes, she’d talk about my work by saying, ‘One day, when you’re on Oprah…’”
Marina remarked on how she felt the statement was aspirational. Though her mom had an intuition – almost a year after she passed away, Marina was called to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
“Ever since that moment, it’s been nonstop. I’ve been growing the business and my team. I credit my success to my mom’s belief in me, even when I wasn’t sure it would happen,” she recalls.
When you’re in a creative field, staying inspired is critical. Marina enjoys pulling inspiration from the world around her stating, “I like to see the world through ‘cake goggles.’ I am constantly thinking about how I can turn art or architecture I see during my day into my next beautiful cake.”
Finding inspiration isn’t the only piece to the puzzle, however. Marina added that one of the most challenging parts of baking today is maintaining the highest level of flavor while still creating something unexpected and spectacular.
“Today, there’s more of a focus on the art,” she said. “And less attention paid to the flavor. Cake is another medium for sculpture, but at the end of the day, it still needs to taste good!”
Marina shared some of her top tips ranging from cake decorating to presentation and how she uses our pure vanilla extract.
Marina is an expert cake decorator, but that didn’t happen overnight. Luckily for you, she agreed to share some of her most helpful baking tips to aid any home baker in their pastry adventures. Read the below resources to take your baking to the next level:
“Mise en place” is the French term for “everything in its place.” Marina encourages bakers (and cooks) of all levels to practice this philosophy. When baking or cooking, this methodology will give you more ability to focus on the creative aspects of your work. To try it with your next recipe, follow these steps:
As a pastry chef, Marina has encountered countless brands and products with promises to make her baked goods top-notch. Though, for her, ingredients made with real, natural ingredients break through the clutter and are actually worth the investment. “Top-shelf ingredients like Nielsen-Massey Vanillas can be tough for a home chef to afford, but everything really does circle back to quality and flavor,” said Marina. “If you bake with low-quality ingredients, you’re going to end up with low-quality pastries.”
Marina reminded us that guests eat with their eyes first, so presentation is key. Taking the time to think about presentation, whether it’s a sprig of parsley for a savory dish or a little drizzle of sweet sauce for a dessert, it’s always worth it. Thoughtfulness is all part of the experience when it comes to creating – and enjoying – delicious desserts.
Vanilla is an ingredient that can play a starring role or enhance the other flavors in a dish. Marina’s advice when it comes to vanilla – use it in everything! She always puts vanilla in her cake batter, fillings and frostings, but also in her morning coffee (try our Frozen Cappuccino).
By far, her most used and favorite Nielsen-Massey product is our Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste. Not only does it carry a sweet, creamy flavor profile with velvety after-tones, it saves a ton of time by adding the delightful visual of vanilla bean specks without the need to scrape a bean.
We hope you are inspired by Marina’s story and find her advice helpful as you dive into your next recipe. Share your creations with us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging #NielsenMasseyInspires!
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