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The sweet life

Mary Witko | Catholic Herald

Mary and Sydney Mandrgoc work together to mold fondant onto the cake’s top layer.

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Sydney Mandrgoc, 14, in her Fairfax home, puts the finishing touches on a “Doc McStuffins” cake for a 5-year-old.

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In their home kitchen, Mary (left) and Sydney Mandrgoc display a “Doc McStuffins” cake they created for a 5-year-old lung transplant patient.

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Baker’s flour covers every inch of the center island in
Sydney Mandrgoc’s kitchen. Taped to the microwave is a
freehand drawing of an ornate, two-tiered cake. Along the
side counters, candy decorations sit drying. And in the
center of it all sits the almost finished product: a pink and
lavender masterpiece covered in fondant smooth as a frozen
lake. Mandrgoc grimaces as she notices a wrinkle on the side
of the cake.

“I’ll have to fix that later,” she says.

Mandrgoc, 14, a freshman at Paul VI Catholic High School in
Fairfax, is in many ways a typical teenager with an
overbooked schedule. Along with her nightly load of homework,
she has swim team every day after school. Several evenings a
week, she assists her dad coaching an eighth-grade boys
basketball team from St. Mark School in Vienna. The
orthopaedic boot she wears on her right foot is evidence of
her competitiveness during a recent practice – the result of
her “giving it her all,” according to her dad.

But above her other commitments, Mandrgoc’s true passion is
baking. “This is my outlet,” she said, pointing to the cake
she’s decorating. “Weekends for me are pretty much baking,
homework, church and sleep.”

Mandrgoc’s grandmother used to bake wedding and other ornate
cakes, which fascinated Mandrgoc from an early age. When she
was 10, Mandrgoc enlisted her family’s help in baking an
“Under the Sea” cake for her cousin’s baby shower.

“It started as a family affair,” she said. “My dad made the
crab and seahorse; my brother made a mommy turtle and little
blue turtle; my mom made a fish; and I made an octopus and a
little green turtle.”

From that point, Mandrgoc was hooked on her new hobby. She
attended cooking classes and camps to learn techniques and
pored over websites for design ideas. Her grandmother gave
her all her baking pans, as well as a handmade rolling pin
that had belonged to her great-grandmother. Mandrgoc couldn’t
get enough.

“I was happy when Santa brought me baking supplies for
Christmas,” she said.

She started baking for relatives, friends and neighbors. From
there, she decided to market her creations, launching
“Sydney’s Sweet Shoppe” from her home. Although her home
kitchen is not yet licensed, business is growing.

“I’ve filled 42 orders since 2010, and so far just this year,
I’ve filled six,” she said.

Mandrgoc squeezes in time for baking at night and on
weekends. It can take anywhere from two hours to five days to
fill an order, depending on its size and difficulty. She
partners with her mother, Mary, to fill the more detailed
orders. Mandrgoc recalled a recent request for an “Elsa
‘Frozen'” cake.

“My mom and I baked from 4 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. because we had
another order at the same time,” she said. “By the time I got
my second wind, I just felt, ‘Let’s get this night over
with.’ But my mom was there the whole time.”

Mary Mandrgoc sees baking as a special bond they share. “We
do bicker, but this is our time together,” she said.
“Sometimes we just have to step back, say a prayer and hug it
out.”

Watch
a video about the Mandrgoc’s bake shop

Recently, Mandrgoc became a volunteer baker with Icing
Smiles, a nonprofit based in Ellicott City, Md., that
provides custom cakes to families affected by the critical
illness of a child. She received her first “call to action”
in February to bake a “Doc McStuffins” cake for 5-year-old
Esther who had received a lung transplant.

“The cake had to be nut-free, so we sanitized everything,”
said Mandrgoc. “We couldn’t use the regular food coloring
because it had nuts, and we needed brown to make decorative
Band-Aids. So we melted caramel.”

Mandrgoc will follow specific requests from customers but
also enjoys the freedom to be creative. When asked to create
a first Communion cake for a young football fan, she used a
cross for the cake’s base and decorated the cross as a
football field. The “Touchdown Jesus” cake featured a figure
of Jesus in the end zone with football players running toward
Him.

“We wrote, ‘Score with the Lord’ on the cake,” she said. “It
was a huge hit.”

A future in culinary arts is Mandrgoc’s hope, but for now she
is concentrating on just getting everything done. “I used to
have awful time management skills and no patience,” she said.
“Not anymore.”

Mandrgoc credits her family and her faith with helping her
achieve success to this point. “When I bake, I always say a
prayer before I start and when I am stressed, because it
always calms me down,” she said. “Baking also allows me to
use some of the talents that God gave me to make people
happy. The most rewarding part of baking is seeing the smiles
on the faces of my customers when I show them the finished
product.”

Witko can be reached at [email protected].

Find out more

Go to Sydney’s
website.

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