HOUSTON – It was in his home kitchen that a then 9-year-old Andrew Nichols began his cake-making hobby. It's in the same kitchen the business of Andrew's Artisan Cakes was baked up.
“My mom always baked as a kid, she was a hobby bake-ist, and she always made my cakes and I just loved it, I watched her bake all the time as a kid,” Andrew said.
Then one summer, Andrew asked, 'Can I do a baking class?' and it kicked off from there.
Soon, he had learned everything he could from his mom.
“I went onto YouTube and stuff and learned classes and I went to Wilton class. A two-week Wilton class where I learned how to sculpt flowers and characters and work with fondant and stuff like that,” Andrew said.
PHOTOS: Andrew's Artisan Cakes gallery
His cakes became more and more complex, ultimately leading to what he considers his first success.
“It was actually for my friend, Nathan Mahn, he wanted a cake. It was a camping cake and I think that was the first cake that I was like 'Huh, I did a pretty good job,'” Andrew said. “Then another friend of mine, they asked, their daughter was turning 16, and they're like, 'Hey, can you? We'll pay you to make our daughter's Sweet 16 cake.' So, it ended up being piano tiles on the side and I made a big bow on top. And then that was the first paid cake. After that I got more orders throughout the spring and I think like that year I got like 10 orders and then after that 20 and then 30.”
Most everything Andrew makes is from scratch.
“Happiness is homemade,” Andrew said.
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The care he puts in truly makes each cake a work of art.
“It's about 10 hours at least I spend a week on a single cake but most people say, 'How do you have the time?' and I'm like, 'Well, how much time do you spend on an Xbox a day?' And they say, 'Maybe two or three hours.' I'm like, 'Well instead of doing that, I make cakes,'” Andrew said.
If you're interested in meeting Andrew, and ordering a cake from him, you should know that summertime is fairly open, but during the school year he's limited to one or two cakes per week. You can find more info on Andrew's Artisan Cakes here.
