Kahren Hayward in her confectionery studio in Waldoboro. (Suzi Thayer photo)
There’s a woman in Waldoboro who’s making some very creative, unusual cakes and candies.
Kahren Hayward makes confections that are as pleasing to the eye as to the palate.
Her studio is full of delightful, colorful, buttercream flowers and other artful handmade sweets that she uses to embellish the cakes, cupcakes, and cookies she makes for special occasions.
On Feb. 28, a large table in her studio was covered with colorful, sugary delights, as Hayward geared up for Easter. There were chocolate bunnies and yellow sugar chicks, and an assortment of tiny flowers and creatures that she makes to adorn chocolate Easter baskets.
Sparkly sugar eggs, made with molded granulated superfine sugar, have a window into the interior that’s filled with tiny treats in the shape of creatures and flowers, and other little delights, all handmade by Hayward. Each egg is unique, with its own mini-world inside.
Hayward said she loved sugar eggs when she was a kid, so she decided to start making her own.
Many of the flowers, creatures, and other items Hayward uses to decorate and embellish her confections are made with royal icing, a concoction of confectioner sugar and egg white meringue. The icing hardens as it dries, and it’s entirely edible.
The workspace is an artist’s studio, full to the brim with decorative cake pans, edible paints and sugars in a palette of colors, and paint brushes of all sizes. A rack of shelves in a back room is piled high with Bundt pans and other pans, a collection that would make any cake maker swoon.
There are icing bags with different shapes of tips for piping, filled with royal icing in an assortment of colors.
The studio and workshop are at 75 Poverty Lane, 4 miles up Washington Road from Moody’s Diner. Hayward started her business there around three years ago. It began with pies and Bundt cakes that she made to sell at farmers markets. Soon she was making gingerbread houses for Christmas fairs, and eventually Halloween, Valentine’s Day and Easter-themed confections.
Hayward’s custom cakes, all made from scratch, are frosted with buttercream, sometimes covered with fondant, and embellished with flowers and other decorations made with royal icing and Swiss meringue buttercream, a mixture of sugar, butter, and egg whites.
“My cakes do well,” she said. “Everybody wants cakes. And people love the Swiss meringue buttercream flowers. They’re delicious – creamy and buttery.”
She said her cakes aren’t for dieters. In fact, they border on decadent. A typical frosted cake will contain around 15 eggs and 3 or 4 pounds of butter.
Hayward, who grew up in Westminster, Mass. and studied art and biology in college, said that though she’s only had her business for three years, she’s been making cakes and other sugary confections since she was a child.
“I’m basically just a creative person,” she said. “I love flowers and I love gardening, and I’ve always liked my food to look pretty. When my mother made cakes, she’d let me decorate them. She bought me my first Wilton cake-decorating kit.”
She started making three-dimensional cakes for her kids, then started getting requests for cakes from friends.
Before she became a full-time cake and confection maker, Hayward worked at several different occupations. “I’ve had so many jobs in my life I’ve lost count,” she said. “I’ve been a respiratory therapist, I’ve been a picture framer.”
In fact, she made a custom painted frame for Andrew Wyeth’s last painting, “Goodbye, My Love.” “He wanted the frame color to match the sails in the painting,” Hayward said.
To place a custom order for a cake or other confections, call 380-3020 or email kahrenskitchen@gmail.com. Hayward’s goodies can also be found at the Nobleboro Antique Exchange or at her studio in Waldoboro. Kahren’s Kitchen is on Facebook and Instagram, and Hayward’s sugar eggs are available on Etsy.
