"Paula Deen will be eating my cake shortly,” Kensey Boroughs remarked as she checked her watch.
We were at the Faithway Alliance Buyer’s Show in Chattanooga, and I was visiting with the latest group of Tennessee Farmers Cooperative trainees who were helping with the show.
When I asked her to elaborate, Kensey explained that her mother, Paula Condra, works at the JTV Gem Store in Knoxville, where Dean was appearing to highlight a jewelry collection named for the celebrity chef.
“My mom called and asked me to make a cake,” Kensey said, obviously excited about the prospect. “How could I say no?”
Kensey’s cakes are the heart of a side business she developed while being at home during the pandemic with her newborn son, Stetson. She still operates the business in addition to her work at Smoky Mountain Farmers Cooperative in Sevierville.
“Everybody was discovering hobbies then, and I had a new baby,” she said. “I wanted something with minimal hours, so I started working at a grocery store bakery. It just took off from there.”
She learned the basic techniques at her grocery job, supplemented that training with instructional YouTube videos and some online classes, and then proceeded with “lots of trial and error.”
“My family ate a lot of cakes, whether they were good or not,” she said.
Kensey showed me her portfolio of cakes from her phone, including the one she baked for Paula Dean. The designs ranged from small, simple, layer cakes to intricate culinary projects.
The business works well with her role at the Co-op, where she has worked since March 2021; she joined the TFC Training Program in January of this year. She is off work on Mondays, and typically bakes cakes on that day. On Wednesdays, she stirs up the rich buttercream frosting and then lets it set for two days for the flavor to fully develop. She then spends most Friday evenings decorating and finishing her projects so customers can pick up their cakes on Saturday.
Cake prices depend on the size of the dessert and the amount of decoration required. A basic 6-inch cake may start at $65 and go up to $250 for a large cake with intricate design, she said.
Kensey comes by her creativity naturally. Both her grandmothers quilted and sewed, and one did hand embroidery. In homage to them — and in hopes of a bit of inspiration — Kensey took each of their middle names and called her business “Ruthie Jean’s Sweet Shoppe.”
At the Co-op, Kensey puts her talent to work as she merchandises the store’s showroom, creating effective and attractive endcaps and seasonal floor displays. Her husband, Seth, also works at Smoky Mountain Farmers at the Co-op’s bulk fertilizer facility in White Pine.
While Paula Dean didn’t comment on the cake, Kensey said she also didn’t say anything bad, either, which she took as a compliment.
The cake disappeared quickly, so she knows the chef and the rest of the staff enjoyed it.
“People who say they don’t usually like cake or icing have told me that they enjoy mine,” she said. “I take that as a big compliment.”