Way back in 2011, Joy the Baker and Tracy Shutterbean hosted a retreat in Palm Springs called Homefries U. It was named after their podcast that I listened to every week. This was before I had an iPhone, so when I say I listened to it, I mean I would drag my laptop to my kitchen counter and play it off their website. Homefries U was all about recipe demos, cocktails, nail art, friendship bracelets and lounging by the pool. I felt such a sense of regret that I missed out, but figured I would just get to the next one.

Turns out there were never any other Homefries U events, but a few years later, Joy moved to New Orleans and opened her own workshop space called The Bakehouse. She announced that she’d be hosting classes there and I immediately thought of Homefries U and missing out on that weekend. I half-heartedly looked into it last year, but then in January I decided that I would make this happen in 2018. NOLA or bust!

My friend Danielle was on board, since she’s also been following Joy since 2008, and we booked tickets to the Drake on Cake workshop in May. If you don’t know, Drake on Cake is Joy’s amazing side project where she decorates cakes with Drake lyrics and then styles the photos in this maximalist (opposite of minimalist?) way. This speaks to so many of my heart’s true loves: cake, Drake, icing, Toronto and Joy, of course. I was so, so, so excited to meet Joy and get the behind the scenes sneak peek into how these photos come to life.

Here’s the scoop on our workshop:

The Bakehouse – I’ve seen so many pictures and virtual tours of The Bakehouse online, but it was so much fun to actually be there in real life! The space is totally gorgeous and there are cute little accents and touches throughout. It definitely made me want to paint my place white and start all over. My favourite parts were the epic gallery wall, with a portrait of Joy & Tron (her cat) and a cartoon of Joy and Shutterbean, plus the little bar area at the back. You can check out a full house tour on Apartment Therapy.

The Cakes – the main event! After we all mingled a bit and introduced ourselves,  Joy revealed the biggest secret of Drake on Cake: she doesn’t bake the cake! She picks up single layer, undecorated cakes from a bakery in her neighbourhood and it just makes so much sense. It allows her to focus on decorating the cake and styling the photo. So smart.

 

After her photo was done, we all took a turn styling our cakes. About half of the group was from New Orleans and some of them brought their own props, but Joy also gave us free reign to use anything we wanted in The Bakehouse. She had so many tips and ideas to share, and I loved watching her work and seeing the shots come to life. A couple of people definitely had a vision for the way they wanted their picture to work, but most wanted to work with Joy and have her input. Danielle and I went last because we didn’t have anything else on our agenda that day, which was perfect because I didn’t feel rushed and we just took our time. Dani went first, and here’s her money shot!

Then it was my turn! Joy’s best advice was to make it messier and crowd the shot with more stuff.  I also noticed after watching her all afternoon that she also draws inspiration from the lyrics for the surrounding props.  For my cake, she pulled out her deck of tarot cards to go with my voodoo vibe, and I added the owl card in tribute to OVO!

Joy! – I really tried my best, but I couldn’t help but fangirl out a bit/a lot after we were done with our photos and cleaned everything up. We took a picture with Joy and she signed our cookbooks (the ones we baked everything out of in 2012!), and we chatted about blogging and New Orleans and Instagram and we gave her some Canadian chocolate bars as a treat. She was so gracious, funny and just cool. No better word to describe her!