Made In Chicago: Battycakes
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- If you're going "batty" seeking someone to bake a one-of-a-kind cake you'll never forget, call Battycakes. WBBM's Bob Roberts reports on Johanna Wyss' uniquely edible art in this week's Made in Chicago.
"People have a vague idea of what they might want, but they are more interested in seeing what you create and come up with for them," Wyss said.
The kitchen has always been one of Wyss' favorite places. She's also a make-up artist. By high school the concept of baked goods as art took hold.
"I'll make grandma her pecan pie, with no qualms about doing that or doing a basic Barbie fairy princess cake, but I rather be sculpting giant dragons or a decapitated head perhaps."
A cake she presented at Millennium Park to rocker Alice Cooper, who's had a fake beheading as part of his act for decades. And the actor who's made a career out of playing Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund, posed with another of Wyss's cakes.
"He was so much fun to cut the cake with, to chat with, he's awesome," Wyss said.
She's sculpted zombies, customers' pets and Edgar Allen Poe.
A life-sized cake baked for a contest depicted an elderly Japanese woman.
"We drove it all the way down to Georgia, carted her all around downtown Atlanta and brought her to the competition. It was a crazy adventure just getting her there. I was so unconfident that I was not even going to enter the competition and I ended up winning first place," she said.
Wyss has been featured on the Food Network and teaches at Joliet Junior College. Orders can be taken at getbatty.com and it's best to give her several weeks lead time. Get Batty at Battycakes, delicious art Made in Chicago.