While many 12-year-olds ask for clothes or bracelets for their birthdays, Noelle Jackson asked for a KitchenAid stand mixer.
Now 14, the Westerville resident and eighth-grader at the Metro School picked up baking as a hobby at the age of 10 and has no plans to stop anytime soon.
“I want to have my own cupcake bakery someday,” Noelle says. “I had to make a business model for an economics class at school and people could build their own cupcakes. This is something I want to do.”
Her hobby, and possible future career, started when she found a bread maker in her family’s pantry.
“She wanted to make bread, so we thought it would keep her busy for a minute,” says her father, Todd. “We weren’t exactly sure it was going to turn into this. It’s been fantastic.”
Since then, Noelle has taken a few cooking courses at Williams-Sonoma and made 25
0 raspberry cake pops for the 2013 Westerville Area Resource Ministry prayer breakfast.
The opportunity arose when Cheryl Wooten, manager of development and communications at W.A.R.M., was looking for philanthropic Westerville-area students to feature at the breakfast.
“We wanted to highlight Noelle and her dreams of being a baker,” Wooten says. “We wanted to help her with her passions. At 13, she seemed very focused on what she wanted to do, and getting connections early is important.”
Noelle demonstrated her culinary creativity when she matched the colors of her cake pops with those of the W.A.R.M. logo.
“We’re branding geeks, so she found a baked good that fit our color scheme of burgundy and yellow,” Wooten says.
Her donation of desserts wasn’t Noelle’s first venture into volunteering.
“In the two years I went to Blendon (Middle School), I volunteered in the class for multiple handicap kids,” she says. “I would go in to the class during study halls and help out. Most of the time, it was playing with them or reading and teaching them.”
With the help of Wooten, Noelle shadowed Elisabeth Allwein, product development director at Cheryl & Co., and learned what it will take for her to reach her full potential.
Allwein gave Noelle a tour of the test kitchen, a crash course in the rigorous health and safety precautions, and two dozen carrot-shaped cookies to design and ice. She also gave advice to the young, not-so-starving pastry artist.
“First step is to always bake at home,” she says. “Research recipes that your family loves and, as soon as you’re able, get a job in a bakery to get a sense of what it’s like in the kitchen.”
Noelle has knocked out the first objective by testing her newest creations on her family.
“We’re the guinea pigs,” Todd says. “She makes sure we keep our exercise regimen up. It gives us incentive to keep active. What’s interesting is that she hasn’t made anything that wasn’t good, from her first batch of bread until now.”
Her dad’s personal favorite? The lemon compote cupcake.
Noelle’s family members have embraced her passion and they harbor a home environment that allows her to explore baking. In return, she provides delectable desserts and exquisite scents.
“She makes the house smell nice,” Todd says. “She even made us cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast.”
Noelle’s friends have taken a liking to her baking and have even requested she make batches of their favorites. A popular choice is vanilla cupcakes with peach compote.
But when it comes to eating her own desserts, the young baker doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth.
“People ask me how I don’t eat it all,” Noelle says, with a laugh. “I don’t usually eat the stuff that I bake. I don’t really know why.”
When she is of legal working age, Cheryl & Co. may recruit her to work seasonally – not only for Noelle’s benefit, but to have the young talent aboard.
“It would be nice to have her here in the summertime when she’s old enough and work, even if it’s just a couple hours a week,” says Mary Eckenrode, head of internal communications. “The early experience would be great.”
Noelle’s early professional connections, knack for creativity and firm handle in the kitchen are all parts of the recipe that yield an effective baker. If she proceeds to further her education in culinary arts, Noelle should have a bright future, Allwein says.
“There’s a complicated equation to being successful,” she says. “There is great satisfaction in serving your customers, sure, but there’s nothing like getting formalized education in baking, management and pastry arts. (Noelle) can make great things happen.”
Stephan Reed is an editorial associate. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
W.A.R.M.’s Kids Lunch Club, providing free meals to children in need over the summer, kicks off May 27. Visit www.warmwesterville.org for information on volunteering.
