Meet One of Our Bakers, Bonnie Paterniti!

    I am from Charleston and I am an amateur baker.  I grew up watching my stay-at-home mom bake cakes from scratch.  She’d cream the butter and sugar together by hand – the way her mom taught her.  Then she would add the ingredients just like the recipe books tell you to.  I still have her original flour sifter that I use when I bake from scratch.  It is old and beat up, but represents years of fond memories of my mom.  When I was 16, our church had Vacation Bible School for the teens in the evening where one of the ladies, who was a professional wedding cake decorator, taught us how to decorate cakes.  I fell in love with cake decorating.

     I was a stay-at-home mom for many years, but had put away my tips and frosting when I entered the working world.  However, Cupcake Camp was a source of revival for my cake decorating.  This will be my third time in a row.  Due to time constraints with a new job, I will be making semi-homemade cupcakes this year.  I tried the recipe out recently on fellow church goers and co-workers, and they were a hit. So I will be making Dark Chocolate Mochaccinno Cupcakes this time around.

1. What are your favorite ingredients to use?  Chocolate
2. Celebrity chef you'd like to work with:  Sandra Lee
3. Cupcake you are best known for:  No one in particular.  I try to make a different kind every time.
4. What was the first thing you've ever baked?  Yellow cake from scratch with chocolate frosting.5. What do you look forward to at Cupcake Camp Charleston this year?  Love to eat cupcakes, so that is a big draw.  Love to see all the wonderful and different ideas that people come up with.  Love the excitement also.  This year, we are taking cupcakes we collect to a homeless recovery house that we have recently been involved with so that the ladies that live there – ladies who have nothing more than the clothes on their backs and a bed to sleep in - can have a gourmet treat.  We take so much for granted.