Dream Cakes by Ileen

The kitchen has been my playground since the age of three.  Growing up, on weekends while in high school, I made red candy apples and caramel popcorn balls and sold them to the corner store fifty at a time and could barely keep up with the orders. When I finally made the decision to attend culinary school, my focus was on dessert. After graduation I had the opportunity to attend Chef Toba Garrett's wedding cake intensive workshop in Manhattan, it was life changing.  Chef Toba designed the curriculum for the  Institute of Culinary Education "The Art of Cake Decorating", has written several books and was named one of the top Ten Best Cake Artist in the U.S. by "Dessert Professional" magazine.  Over the past several years I've learned from the best in the business including Marina Sousa (who made a cake for Oprah), Karen Portaleo, (Prize winning Cake Artist), Browen Weber (multi cake challenge winner of Food Network), Ashley Holt (from "The Cake Boss") and Joshua John Russell to name a few.  During an interview with a local TV station, I was asked why I wasn't in NY or Los Angeles and my answer was simple, "because Dayton needs me".