Twins take cake
Teen sisters celebrate award-winning baking business
As the saying goes, sisters make the best of friends.
They make the best of business partners, too, according to 12-year-old twins Cora and Devyn Hogg. It’s a good thing they do, since they spend so much time together, especially baking and decorating.
Even though they are only going into Grade 8, the Grand Falls-windsor youths own and operate an award-winning business, Cakes by Two Peas in a Pod.
They have been baking since they were seven or eight years old.
“When we were seven or eight (adults) obviously watched us so we wouldn’t burn the house down, but when we were 10 we started doing it on our own,” Cora said.
“We have lots of grandparents and aunts who love to bake,” Devyn said.
The girls love to be busy, and love baking.
“We are always go, go, go,” Devyn said. “When we have time to relax we can’t because we always want to be doing something.”
Even on vacation they want to be busy — and baking.
“When we were camping there was one day when it was raining, there was nothing to do, and I said, ‘I wish I was making a cake right now,’” Cora said. “It’s just something we always liked to do.”
The twins sold their first cake in January — a friend’s birthday cake — and it caught the attention of another friend, Emma Power of Conception Bay South, who at the age of 13 also had her own cake business, Creative Sweets. She is now 21 and her cake pans and decorating tools were collecting dust in the basement, the girls said.
“In January she gave us all of her pans and decorating tools that she had,” Cora said.
The sisters have always wanted to start a business, and Emma’s donation of her tools helped them get started and saved them a huge expense.
In February they sold cakes to some of their dad’s friends, and in March got their first order from someone they didn’t know.
Emma Power and the TV show “Cake Boss” are their inspirations.
“Our dream one day is to get to Carlos’ Bakery,” Cora said.
Like their baking heroes, they bake from scratch, making cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies and pies. They also make cupcake bouquets, which they sold a number of for Mother’s Day.
“People are paying a lot of money for flowers, so how about they pay money for edible flowers? They still look nice, but you can eat them, too.”
They invented cake truffles after realizing they were throwing away so much product in scraps from leveling cakes.
With limited hours in a day, baseball practice and tournaments in the summer, school band and jazz band during the school year, volleyball and hockey practice, and many weekends taken up with tournaments, the twins have to limit their orders.
“We are very busy,” Cora said. They take two orders a week during the school year, and in summer they can take three or four a week.
“We make sure our school comes first,” Devyn said.
The girls love that they are able to take on this venture together.
“It’s awesome because cake baking and decorating takes a lot of time, so it’s good to have two sets of hands,” Devyn said.
They also play on each other’s strengths.
“I’m not as strong in the fondant area as Devyn is,” Cora said. “I can’t cover a cake in fondant. I can do buttercream flowers and she can’t.”
Their creations are tasty and beautiful, but it was their interaction with customers that earned them their first award.
The sisters got involved with Youth Ventures in May, which they said was beneficial in helping them with business advice, and getting them involved in events to get their products and names out to the public.
The local Youth Ventures coordinator nominated them for the Youth Ventures Excellence in Customer Service Award, a provincial award they received Aug. 10 in Conception Bay South. They said they felt very special when they received the award.
“It was nice to know our business had gone so far, because some kids try to start up a business, but they are not successful in growing it,” Cora said. “But it’s nice to know that we’ve got so far and we won the award, so we know we can go ahead and grow our business.”
With school starting again, there will probably be fewer orders, they said. However, they will try their best, and added they are very good at managing their time.
Visit Cakes by Two Peas in a Pod on Facebook or Instagram for more information or to inquire about placing an order.