Kaitlyn VanMaanen, The Next Great Baker

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The student accomplishments at CHS vary from being back-to-back state softball champions to having a state-ranked FFA. The individual talents of our students vary as well. We have talented artists, athletes, and musicians. Overall, we have creative students. Kaitlyn VanMaanen, a 17-year old senior at CHS, is one of those students. She has been baking and decorating cakes since seventh grade. She got interested in making this a hobby when she watched the TV show Ace of Cakes. When asked what she enjoys about baking, she responded, "Each cake or cupcake is different. I can change the color of icing to decorate."

Kaitlyn has baked and decorated many cakes and cupcakes. "My biggest accomplishment was making my sister Erin's wedding cake. The cake was a square, four-tier cake.” It was white with orange and blue ribbon. It was decorated with blue, white, and orange daisies too. Erin's cake was also Kaitlyn's favorite cake that she has baked and decorated. One of her upcoming projects is her 18th birthday cake.

Decorating a cake isn't easy according to Kaitlyn. It takes a steady hand to create some of the decorations. "The hardest thing about decorating is being able to use different tips when you ice the cake to create writing or flowers and other things like that." Baking and decorating also takes some time. On average, Kaitlyn can get a cake done in three to four hours.

Kaitlyn would like for this activity to always be a hobby. She says, "Perseverance is needed to do this hobby. When I started decorating, the cakes looked bad, but as I kept on making them, my skills improved."