Way back when I was just a mini baker and destroyer, I was my mama’s official ingredient-dumper-inner and spoon-licker extraordinaire. She taught me the fundamentals of baking- always level your dry ingredients when measuring, and crack your eggs in a separate bowl in case there’s blood in them. (For real, that happened once, it was sick.)

Then a bunch of other stuff happened. I got into metal and punk rock, turned 13, got made fun of in high school, moved away, went to college, started working in an Italian bakery, dropped out, waited tables, had a baby, started this blog, got married and went back to school.

My mom and my bosses at the bakery taught me a lot about the science of baking, but punk rock taught me to make it my own. I am constantly inspired by song titles, bands I love and the people in those bands who I consider my heroes. I hope, if nothing else, people who read Bake and Destroy find a way to make baking, cooking and creating their own as well. The world is your cupcake, dudes! So make it rad.

Find out more about me by checking out my press page and online portfolio.

Email me at Natalie@bakeanddestroy.com

FAQ

Where is your bakery?

I don’t own a bakery, I’m just obsessed with cake.

Can I buy your cupcakes?

Sometimes. I’ve been known to bake small batches of specialty cakes here and there for local friends and customers. Email me if you’re interested.

Can you cater my wedding?

Nope! I’m a home baker with a 9-5 job in marketing, I’m simply not set up to bake for large crowds.

I’m visiting Chicago, what bakeries do you recommend?

Angel Food Bakery, Fritz Pastry, More Cupcakes, Molly’s Cupcakes, Sprinkles and Vanille Patisserie, just to name a few. Looking for something in particular? Email me, I probably know where to find it.

How long have you been vegan?

I’m not vegan, I am vegetarian. I bake a lot of vegan treats because I was vegan for about 5 years and I still prefer those recipes. Plus, a lot of my friends are vegan and I like to make my friends happy.

Do you do product reviews?

Not usually, unless it’s a really awesome product or a really stupid one. If you’re a PR rep you may as well not waste your time emailing me about meat products, diet products, cake mixes or alcohol because I’m not interested. At all.

Who does your tattoos?

I’ve been tattooed by a lot of great artists, but Chris Smith at Deluxe Tattoo and Matt Wes at Family Tattoo are the two men I currently pay to poke me. Yeah, that’s right.

Where do you get all your hair thingies?

The ladies at Lucky Cupcake Hairclips and Original Cenz keep me looking fine all the time.

What’s up with you and Grind for Life?

Grind for Life is an organization that helps families of those suffering the effects of cancer. I first heard abut them from my friend Mat Arluck, who passed away last year after a tough battle with cancer himself. He’s the smiling guy you see on the right side of the site. Mat passed away on Thanksgiving Day 2009, and I spend the next few weeks not feeling like I had much to be thankful for. I know he thought highly of the folks at Grind for Life, so I made it my birthday wish to raise $400 for them from my friends on Facebook. I was stunned and amazing to raise nearly $900 instead. A few weeks later a bake sale set up at Mat’s memorial raised another $400+ and my eBay auctions called Bake and Destroy Cancer have raised about $200. Long story short, I can now say that I am grateful both to have known Mat Arluck and to have such a great non-profit motivating me to do something positive with this tragic experience.

(more coming soon)