SUGAR AND SPICE
Ma. Camille M. Gabriel’s sweet path to success didn’t start out the way she planned. Ever since she was a kid, the owner of Sugar Crest Cake Design Studio preferred cooking savory dishes instead of pastries, but it seemed fate had other plans for her.
“After graduating, majority of the opportunities I got was geared towards baking and pastries. I was frustrated at first because I really wanted to be exposed in the hot kitchen, but I said to myself: ‘Oh well, might as well give it a try and seize the opportunity.’ That was the start of my pastry life and business. Everything else followed,” Gabriel recounts.
The culinary arts major started her business as early as
2007, after obtaining her BS degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management from De La Salle-college of Saint Benilde. In 2013, Gabriel officially registered her business under the name Chef Camille’s Customized Cakes and Pastries, then later changed it to Sugar Crest Cake Design Studio in 2018.
Initially, Sugar Crest started out as a modest one-person operation, with Gabriel doing all the work, from buying the ingredients, prepping, baking, and stacking to covering the fondant or icing, designing, cleaning, and even delivery. At times, she obtained kiddie toppers from other cake artists, but not the sugar flowers, which eventually became the bread and butter of Sugar Crest.
Currently, Sugar Crest Cake Design Studio offers customized cakes for weddings, debuts, birthdays, and other celebrations. It likewise offers an array of pastries that can be packaged with the cake, as well as themed set-ups. While Sugar Crest’s forte is making sugar flowers, it also produces all sorts of other decorations.
“I always see to it that development of our skills is continuous and our learning is endless. [We] take workshops or classes regularly to acquire and further polish new knowledge and techniques to be offered to our clients. Currently, I have two staff [members] working with me in Sugar Crest. We don’t accept more than two major cakes per week, mainly because we would like to maintain the quality of our work and the attention to detail. Every cake shipped out or delivered from our commissary is and has been well thought of, cared for, and handled with utmost importance. [Aside] from the design and total look of the cake, taste and quality is what we give priority to,” explains Gabriel.
As a result, Sugar Crest’s clientele continues to expand over the years, along with the business.
“[What makes clients] ‘notable’for me isn’t [based on] what their names are or what their profession is—it is their attitude when it comes to transacting with us. Our repeat clients are the ones more notable for me,” Gabriel shares.
Equipped with essentials like floral wires, royal icing, extra decors, scissors, ribbons, candles, double-sided tape, and pliers, Gabriel and her team are always prepared to add finishing touches to the cake on the day of the event.
“Customized cake makers or artists can’t compete with the price of commercially or industrially made cakes, mainly because of the difference in process, time spent on each cake, ingredients used, quality offered and thought that goes into every cake we make,” points out Gabriel.
Despite operating in a highly competitive market, Sugar Crest is thriving under Gabriel’s consistent management.
“Most of the other businesses focus more on the appearance of the cake since that is what the majority looks for. But for us, it’s the inside that matters. We use the best quality ingredients that cater to both high-end and regular paying guests. We don’t sacrifice quality over budget. We also have standardized recipes which see to it that we can replicate our cakes with the same taste and texture as the first time they were ordered, unless we innovate or tweak our recipes to enhance it,” she said.