Hi – Luke here! You may know me by my viral hyper-realistic cakes. I grew up in Lacey Township, New Jersey. A small town on the Jersey Shore filled with mostly banks and pizzerias. I was always fascinated with baking - I would help my dad bake Christmas cookies and other desserts, which grew to teaching myself how to decorate cakes by watching TV shows like Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. When I was in my early teens, my mom asked me to make some cupcakes for a weekly dinner event, which turned into buttercream cakes and grew into fondant cakes. I remember 12-year-old-me excitedly offering birthday cakes to friends and classmates, wandering the halls of middle school to deliver them their cake. I could only hope at the time, that my career would blossom into what it is today.

 

Owning a bakery has always been extremely daunting to me. Seeing my parents own businesses (and experiencing the “hard times”), noticing bakeries in Lacey come and go – it’s like I grew up with a sense that a bakery was a non-negotiable; as if there was nothing I could do to succeed in this hobby-turned-profession. My first professional job in a kitchen was as a pastry cook at NYC’s Hunt & Fish Club. I made a cake for the closing of Hand to God on Broadway, whose closing party was at HFC. The general manager was blown away by the cake and basically hired me on the spot. After a short lived two months there, I decided to apply to Carlo’s Bakery, home of the Cake Boss. After a few rounds of interviews and a trail (an audition to prove I had the required set of skills for the job), I was on cloud nine to find out that I got the job. How could I not be? Working alongside my childhood hero and being one of eight decorators to make cakes for this world famous bakery. My two and a half years at Carlo’s taught me discipline and really refined my cake decorating skills; being forced to learn techniques that I was priorly even too scared to try. And I was paid for it! After achieving many personal goals there, I decided it was time to venture into my own brand. This is when I started the realistic cake series online.

 

I packed my car and spent some time in Seattle – dipping into my savings for film equipment and cake tools. My first cake there was the Doritos bag. In between making these cakes, I was delivering for UberEats and working at my aunt’s company: Downtown Dog Lounge. I ended up moving back home to Jersey and funny enough - during the drive - my White Claw cake started picking up attention on Instagram. Soon after, I became a brand ambassador for Satin Ice Fine Foods, started getting some brand sponsorships, and the rest is history!

 

I consider myself extremely lucky to have gained such a huge following in such a short time. I owe a lot to realistic cakes but my favorites will always be traditional tiered cakes. I hope I can inspire young or new at-home bakers to get in touch with their artsy-side and create masterpieces with minimal caking tools. Just like I did.