August 6, 2024 • 25 mins
The Blonde who Bakes, Whitney Berge, is my Influencer of the Week.
She's a wife and mom of 3, and a self- taught baker.
Being in the kitchen baking is something that has always been special to her, and she knew that she could use her business knowledge as well as baking experience to bless others with some delicious desserts, but also teach them that they can do it as well. @TheBlondeWhoBakes
Also pop culture update with Denise's Dirt. Enjoy!
She's a wife and mom of 3, and a self- taught baker.
Being in the kitchen baking is something that has always been special to her, and she knew that she could use her business knowledge as well as baking experience to bless others with some delicious desserts, but also teach them that they can do it as well. @TheBlondeWhoBakes
Also pop culture update with Denise's Dirt. Enjoy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do Do Do Do Do Do Do.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey, y'all, it's Denise's podcast. Well, Happy Tuesday. I'm Denise
Plant and welcome to another podcast. Today we're going to
feature an influencer who I just find to be so
down to earth and so sweet. She is the Blonde
who Bakes, and manned does she bake these amazing cakes.
(00:24):
It's just so kind of relaxing and fun to watch
what she does. She's from Utah and she learned how
to bake from her mom. We'll get into that during
the interview, but you can follow her on Instagram or TikTok.
The Blonde who Bakes and her name is Whitney Burge.
Before we get to the interview, of course, Denise's dirt
and along with fame comes cuckoo crazy. What are you doing?
(00:47):
Kim Kardashian I had a scary connection with Emma Roberts.
They both were victim of the same alleged stalker. So
Kim filed legal doc to grant a restraining order against
a guy by the name of Melvin Jeffrey Conley. Now,
he broke into Emma roberts home back in May and
she got a phone call on her cell phone from
(01:09):
her landline at home, so she thought, yeah, she isn't
my family. She called it back and know it was
Melvin who answered the phone. Wouldn't that just freak you out? Oh,
it's like every scary movie I've ever seen. He told
her on the phone that he needed to meet Kim
and her kids, not just Kim Kardashian, but he also
(01:31):
had to meet her kids.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Cucko.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So of course Emma called the cops right away, and
when they showed up, he told the cops what Emma said.
It was cool if I'm here. She said it was okay,
So they immediately contacted Kim Kardashian and she was able
to get that restraining order before he did anything else.
Am like, is this a job?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I think if you can have a Pina Colada on
air while you're working, like, that's not technically working.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, he's gonna get teased a little bit next month
when Saturday Night Live kicked off Colin Jost he got
off the hook from his Olympics coverage. His duties were
in Tahiti and man, he was just getting into accident
after accident. He hurt his foot on some coral and
that turned into something really bad. I guess, I guess
(02:17):
it turned into an alleged staff infection and allentually he
said there are bugs crawling all over it. So he
was spending more time in the medic tent than the
actual competitors, so he had to be replaced. Dustin Lynch,
this is cool. He's adding a headlining date at the
iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater. Dustin's gonna play Morrison, Colorado and
(02:39):
it's gonna be November six. A portion of the ticket
sales will go to the wild Land Firefighter Foundation, which
is cool because you know, we've had so many fires
in our state here in Colorado, and personally, I've had
some friends that lost their cabins and they've had so
many wonderful times they spent there with the family. It's
just heartbreaking to see a lot of families that live
(03:00):
there lost their homes and of course and of course
firefighters fighting the fires and putting their lives at risk,
so God bless them all. Scott E. McCurry just released
some great news. I've never felt this before in my career.
It feels like we've got something cool and hopefully we
can continue to let it Snowball, Andy Ham momentum is
a huge thing and it's fun. He is touring in
(03:22):
the fall. He announced his Fall of Summer tour. He said, listen,
We're going to go criss crossing from the US to Canada.
The track kicks off September second in Ohio and there's
twenty one dates that carry him to the final show
in Oklahoma December seventh. Tickets can be found on his website,
so just go to Scotty's website. Post Malone. I told
(03:44):
you last week that Brad Paisley invited him to sing,
formally invited him to perform first ever at the Grand
Old Opry Show. Well guess what. A few of his
new country friends will be on hand. Vince Gill, Laney Wilson,
John Michael Montgomery, War and Treaty, plus Brad Paisley will
be there. I hear Blake Shelton, Lutcombs may show up.
(04:06):
It's gonna be kind of cool. I cannot wait for
it now. Just because you buy a ticket to Carly
Pearce's show doesn't mean you get a stick around. Carly
Pearce was on stage and she said, I want to
tell you a little bit about myself. Some guy shouted,
no one cares well. She didn't take that very well
and he was kicked out. Somebody kick him out of here.
(04:28):
I do not want him at my show. Get out
of my show, john Wick.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They thought I was dead, but I'm back.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I'm so excited. A TV series is currently in development.
It's in the early days. They're just talking about it,
but the series john Wick Under the High Table will
reportedly pick up right after john Wick Chapter four, and yes,
it's gonna feature a collection of new characters. Keanna Reeves
will be the executive producer and also the John Wick
(04:56):
director is going to take part in directing the show's pilot.
So excited for that. While Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
were out of town, burglars hit their Los Angeles home.
Thieves smashed through glass to get inside a guest house
on their property a few weeks ago, and it happened
a broad daylight. The alarm was triggered, but didn't stop
them from going inside and taking what they wanted. No
(05:17):
word on exactly what was taken, but this follows like
a rash of burglary of celebrity homes, including Sarah Hyland
and also Marlon Wayans. All right, there you go, Denise's dirt.
Now let's get to our interview with my influencer of
the Week, Whitney Burge, otherwise known as the Blonde Who Bakes. Hello, Hi, Whitney,
how are you?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I'm so good? How are you? Denise?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I just saw your little mention on the story on Instagram.
I'm like, this girl has her stuff together. That is why,
my goodness, the influencer of the week.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Girl. You are amazing. Thank you you are.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I have to share a story first with you before
we get rolling here. Okay, I saw your platform, of course,
on Instagram, on TikTok You're everywhere. It's the Blonde Who Bakes,
and I'm very impressed with what you do. I wanted
to bake my son's very first cake, and my mother
(06:16):
in law is really good at it herself. Well, it
was just like a kind of putting a foot down
for myself. I'm gonna do it. It's gonna be Barney.
This was way back, he's almost twenty five now, and
I tried to do a Barney cake and by the
time I got it to the table, it was all
melted and disgusting and gross. I was like, from now on,
(06:39):
guess what mother in law's doing all the cakes.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I was gonna say, go for the mother in law.
I love it. I love it. Okay, No, I'm not joking.
Barney cakes. They hold a special memory in my heart
because I'm pretty sure that's like the same story happened
to me twenty twenty five years ago because a Barney
So yes, you're not the only one.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Darn purpleizing that I tried to make homemade. It's not
easy to do. It's not it is not.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Nope, that's right.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So let's introduce everybody to you, Whitney birds. That's how
you pronounce your last name, right, that's correct. The blonde
who bakes You're from Utah. You are so fun to
watch on Instagram and TikTok. And how did you really
get started in baking these amazing cakes and desserts that
you do, Because it's not something that just a normal
(07:33):
person or mom can just do.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
To be honest, it does take a lot of patience
and a lot of practice. I will say that much.
I actually learned from my mom growing up, and so
she started a catering and a cake business back in
the early nineties just to kind of help put food
on the table, and that really grew and expanded quite
(08:00):
a lot, and she more so focused on the food
catering side. But I fell in love with it because
I mean, being a daughter of a baker and a chef,
you're in the kitchen with that mom all day, every day.
And I kind of just fell in love with it
from the start of the kitchen and then I tagged
(08:20):
along with her to certain events and I just fell
in love with being able to I don't know, I'm
a service type. I love showing service. That's kind of
my love language. And I just saw that people loved
it and it made such a big impact. If you
had a good centerpiece cake or a delicious something to
(08:43):
eat at your event, people are happier and it just
makes people happy in general. And so that's what I
fell in love with, and so being able to incorporate
that into a business, it was kind of like my
dream come true.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And did you go to schooling or or was it
something that you learned from mom hands on experience?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So I learned all hands on, no professional experience whatsoever.
I it's really funny, but I'm all about the street smarts.
I like to just kind of jump in the deep
end and learn how to swim. I'm not a book
smarts kind of person, and I have learned so much more.
I think being able to just do it and learn
(09:27):
from just the failures in it. I don't count it
as failures. We're a big sports family, and so we're
always kind of putting it in our kids' heads like,
you're not losing, you're learning something, and the only time
you do lose is when you don't learn something from it.
And so being in the kitchen, it's pretty much the
same thing. You have to kind of learn how to
(09:49):
tweak things and make it your own. That's what fun.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's what I told my boys too growing up. When
they would get in trouble or they made a mistake,
I'm like, okay, well would you learn from it? That's
the important part. You know, you know you did wrong,
but what did you learn from it?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
How many kids do you have?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So I have three. I have two older boys that
are ten, well turning ten and turning eleven, and then
a little girl that's five.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Oh my gosh, your hands is your hands are full,
and your kitchens are full. Your kitchen, clean house.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh man, I'm a clean person in general. I think
that cleaning and baking are like my forms of therapy
and being a mom, like you just need that little
outlet that you feel like you and you're able to
just have your space, and the kitchen is my space.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Boy, did your husband and kids luck out? Not only
not a bad like you do, but you can Your
mom was a professional chef, and you've like inherited those
skills too.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I wish I inherited the chefs skills. It's really funny.
A lot of people will ask me, because you can bake,
I know you can cook. I'm like, I can't cook.
I cannot cook a bull of spaghetti, right, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I don't know you. Have you ever entered any competitions
for baking.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So I've done quite a few. Yeah, I've done a
lot of local stuff, which is a lot of fun.
I've also been offered a few shows on Food Network
to do a lot of their like Spring and Halloween
baking competitions and being in the mom life, like being
in the thick of it. It's just never been the
right time for me to go on one of those
(11:31):
and be away for so long, so one day I'll
be in one of the big competitions. But I like
the local things. I like seeing all the local bakers
around here, and yeah, well it may put sun for me.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You have a huge platform on social media these days.
I mean, you really don't need a television show because
people fall in. How hard was it? Since you're my
influencer of the week, I always like to ask, you know,
the questions for other influencers listening trying to gain that following,
and it may be in a completely different category, but
(12:05):
how did you get those followers? Was there a secret
to it?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I honestly wish there was a secret, because I actually
had a few friends over that are entrepreneurs themselves earlier
this week and they just said, Man, we're four years
into it and we're barely getting a hundred likes or
one hundred views on these pictures or videos that we're posting.
(12:31):
How do you do it? And I have to remind
myself that this isn't how it always was. I have
been on social media now for about let's see, eight years, professionally,
so under the blond two banks, and the first I
would say five years. I was very lucky if I
(12:52):
got one hundred or one hundred and fifty people to
see my stuff. And it wasn't until I was just
super consistent first off, that is one thing I like
to remind myself helped. But it wasn't until I actually
got out of my comfort zone and started a TikTok.
(13:14):
It was actually my husband that told me, He's like,
go and just try it, like TikTok's a new thing.
And I always thought TikTok was just something for the
cute women or girls or people that just like to
do the dances and go along with all the trends
because I've never been one that follows trends, and a
lot of people think, well, maybe it could have helped
(13:35):
you if you follow those trends, but I think that
that actually helped me. Not to like not following the
trends helped me because after I jumped onto TikTok, I
was a little intimidated, because I mean, being in Utah,
there are a lot of those influencer moms around that
have millions of followers that have so many eyes on them,
(13:58):
and I was just like, why would TikTok help me?
So I jumped on one day and I finally was
just like, I'm going to show them how to cut
a cake. Something so simple, but it's something that everyone
wants to know, especially because I make really tall cakes
and everyone thinks that's not It just doesn't work for
(14:20):
an everyday person, and it doesn't work for an everyday
birthday party. Why do you keep doing those tall cakes?
You can't cut those? And so I just wanted to
show you know what, No, this is how I do it.
This is why I do it. And that one video,
my very first video, blew up out of the blue.
It actually kind of scared me, but it was just
(14:42):
kind of like, no, this is what people want to see.
And I have found that people want to see reality
and people want to see things that's actually going to
teach them something rather than just kind of numb them out.
They're actually going to come away with something and feel
better from it. One but also number two, take that
video and use it in their daily life. So cutting
(15:06):
a birthday cake, everyone's gonna have to learn how to
cut a cake one time in their life. And so
that's why I thought, why not start with that, And
it's kind of gone from there.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, watching I can see what makes you stand out,
But what do you think makes you stand out amongst
the other bakers or food influencers out there?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Well, kind of going along with not really caring to
follow the trends. I mean, there are so many trends
out there, and I think that, I mean, there's so
many kinds that you can go on to Instagram and
TikTok and you see the same trend over and over
and over again. You see you hear the same sound,
(15:49):
you see the same damps, whatever it is. You kind
of start to get numb from it, and you kind
of just want to flip through it super fast because
it's like, once you've seen it, you've seen them all.
And so with my whole theory of what I do
and why I do it, I like to stand out
from the grain. I've never fit in from day one,
(16:09):
Like going into school. I have friends in the cool group,
but I was never in like the cool kids group,
and so I just always felt like I stood out
a little bit for some reason or another. And it's
kind of it goes into today. I still don't fit
in with a certain group, but I have found that
I like to make my own lane and it's working
(16:32):
for me right now, and I think that a lot
of people feel a little refreshed seeing that you don't
have to fit in or be one of the cool
kids to be successful. And I mean sometimes that's when
you're even cooler, like you can make your own way,
and it's just it's really cool and it's something cool
to show my kids, especially because I have two boys
(16:55):
that are going to be in the teenage years soon,
and it's like, you don't have to fit in to
be cool, but like you guys can do what you do,
and you guys know that you're cool already. Why not
just go and use your strengths and do something better.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Aim into that. You are such a good mom. And
I told my boys to be friends with everybody. Don't
just get a click. If that's something you want is
to be popular, then just be friends with everybody. And
they never did care about being popular at all. They
just wanted good friends. And I always told them it's
just a blip of your life. It's nothing. It's nothing.
(17:34):
Then you move on in life and find your niche
kind of like what you did. How many cakes do
you do you make a day? Or how many videos?
How often do you post?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So if you asked me this question about a year ago,
I would be saying I was making about ten to
twelve cakes a day woo, And I was in the
kitchen a lot, like a lot, a lot, and I
actually just barely had to come to a realization like
this is not physically possible. I was making a lot
(18:07):
of videos. I was just putting them in my drafts
and having them ready and just kind of doing that
whole influencer thing, like you want to have a lot
of storage that way you have something to post every
day or two or three times a day. But being
in the stage of wife I am right now, I've
found it's just not possible, and it's something that is
(18:29):
not my number one, like being mom is number one
to me. And I found that it was kind of
taking a drag on my kids. I wasn't able to
do all the things I wanted to do with them.
I mean, they're baseball players and so we travel with
them a lot. And so I'm grateful that I have
the job I have and I can work wherever I
(18:49):
can or wherever I am if I need to, But
I mean, doing this physical takes every day. I just
it wasn't working, and so I have toned it down
to only doing like two or three cakes every two
or three days, so maybe like one cake a day
if so. And that's just a content cake, so if
(19:13):
I'm not making it for a video, I'm making it
for me or a friend. But I found that putting
more energy into those few cakes is giving me so
much more gratification. And I feel like I have found
a love for it again, just because when doing so
many things, you're bound to get burnt out. Yes, and
(19:36):
I did. I burned out pretty fast, pretty hard. And
you're going to do that with whatever you do. It
doesn't matter if you do radio, if you do a TV,
if you do I don't know, a baseball coach, you're
going to get burnt out. And you just need to
kind of tone it down for a minute. And I
don't know, take a look back and see, Okay, why
do I love this? Do I still love this? And
(19:59):
is the worth it? And I found that all of
the things that I do are worth it, especially because
I am able to give the life to my kids
that I am and be as present as I am.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
But you sound like just such a great of course
a great mom, but just a great person in general, like,
you're so.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Grounded, very nice.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, you're so grounded and you just know what you
want in life.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
What I do?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, what do you do with all those cakes? By
the way, do you eat them more?
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That's a good question because you're getting.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
A little many a lot. I've seen you on the
video if you're not eating those cakes.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Oh man, I love eating my cakes, but I actually
I love sharing them. And so there's times I'll do
like a giveaway for someone local here. I'll find someone
that just kind of needs a little pick me up.
Usually it's one of my friends. Family members love it.
But my kids, honestly it is all have cake every
(20:59):
day if they could if I let them. But it
just will randomly go to a different person every now
and then. But with the content that I do, it
is nice because they all of my cakes are real.
But the thing that I can do if I wanted
to recycle any cake and just kind of redo a
(21:20):
technique or just try out any other new techniques, is
I just put it in the freezer and then I
can redecorate a cake as many times as I need
to until I find that it's time to throw it
away or eat it. But yeah, I would say eighty
percent of the time it's getting it's getting eaten, but
other times I'm just reusing the cake.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Does your kids like to bake with you? Do they
take time to do that and learn? Also?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Do they love it? They would be in the kitchen
with me every single second if I let them. And
it's really funny because with the older boys, that's surprised me.
With my daughter, she is identical to me like personality wise,
and so if you watch any of my videos, you'll
(22:10):
probably see my little blonde daughter running around the kitchen
or seeing a shadow of her because she is in
the kitchen with me at all times. She loves it.
She loves watching. She loves to get her hands in
there a lot. So if it's a video that I
am pretty, I don't know, relaxed on, I'll let her
do stuff with me. But when I'm not filming, that's
(22:33):
one of my favorite times is when I'm not filming
in the kitchen because that is when I'm able to
allow the kids to just go at it and have
fun with it, and they love to just help and
it's a lot of fun and it's hard on mom
because I am I love keeping my kitchen clean and
kids three kids in a kitchen that don't really know
(22:54):
how to bach is not clean. But you kind of
as a mom, you kind of just have to let
it go and just have fun with it and lets
a mess happen. Yeah, because that's when really fun things
are made. But they just they look up, they look
forward to it a lot. If I'm able to do.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It, and look what it's done for you, like with
your mom growing up and going in that kitchen, it's
created a complete career for you. So yeah, papically right.
Can they order custom cakes from you from the blonde
who bakes? Is that how they get in touch with
you on your social They can?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yes? And so I only do cakes here local to Utah.
I do. I am open to travel if people needed that.
I don't ship them at the moment, but I do will.
I will randomly ship macarons. I'll open up my availability
to ship macarons every now and again, which is fun.
(23:48):
And macarons are something that are like, I don't know,
there's something that I have loved to do for a
long time, and I think that's what actually got me
known around here. And cakes were just something that I
always did but the Macarons made me stand apart from
everyone else. And so yes, if you do want a cake,
(24:10):
you can just contact me if you're here local to
Utah Macarons. You can also find those on my website
and you can find it there.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Okay, and your website is also The Blonde who Bakes
dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
That's correct, all right, and at.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
The Blonde who Bakes on Instagram also on TikTok, and
you're baking a cake special for us. I'm excited to
see what happened. You're posting it on both of on
TikTok and Instagram or just one.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I'm going to be posting it on both.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Oh, I'm excited to see what it is.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I'm so excited to show you. It's going to be
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, you are just you really are a down to earth,
wonderful lady. And no wonder why you're so successful because
you're doing what you love to do and it shows
you're extremely talented. And thank you for being my influencer
of the week.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You are so kind. Thank you for having me
Do Do Do Do Do Do Do.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey, y'all, it's Denise's podcast. Well, Happy Tuesday. I'm Denise
Plant and welcome to another podcast. Today we're going to
feature an influencer who I just find to be so
down to earth and so sweet. She is the Blonde
who Bakes, and manned does she bake these amazing cakes.
(00:24):
It's just so kind of relaxing and fun to watch
what she does. She's from Utah and she learned how
to bake from her mom. We'll get into that during
the interview, but you can follow her on Instagram or TikTok.
The Blonde who Bakes and her name is Whitney Burge.
Before we get to the interview, of course, Denise's dirt
and along with fame comes cuckoo crazy. What are you doing?
(00:47):
Kim Kardashian I had a scary connection with Emma Roberts.
They both were victim of the same alleged stalker. So
Kim filed legal doc to grant a restraining order against
a guy by the name of Melvin Jeffrey Conley. Now,
he broke into Emma roberts home back in May and
she got a phone call on her cell phone from
(01:09):
her landline at home, so she thought, yeah, she isn't
my family. She called it back and know it was
Melvin who answered the phone. Wouldn't that just freak you out? Oh,
it's like every scary movie I've ever seen. He told
her on the phone that he needed to meet Kim
and her kids, not just Kim Kardashian, but he also
(01:31):
had to meet her kids.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Cucko.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So of course Emma called the cops right away, and
when they showed up, he told the cops what Emma said.
It was cool if I'm here. She said it was okay,
So they immediately contacted Kim Kardashian and she was able
to get that restraining order before he did anything else.
Am like, is this a job?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I think if you can have a Pina Colada on
air while you're working, like, that's not technically working.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, he's gonna get teased a little bit next month
when Saturday Night Live kicked off Colin Jost he got
off the hook from his Olympics coverage. His duties were
in Tahiti and man, he was just getting into accident
after accident. He hurt his foot on some coral and
that turned into something really bad. I guess, I guess
(02:17):
it turned into an alleged staff infection and allentually he
said there are bugs crawling all over it. So he
was spending more time in the medic tent than the
actual competitors, so he had to be replaced. Dustin Lynch,
this is cool. He's adding a headlining date at the
iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater. Dustin's gonna play Morrison, Colorado and
(02:39):
it's gonna be November six. A portion of the ticket
sales will go to the wild Land Firefighter Foundation, which
is cool because you know, we've had so many fires
in our state here in Colorado, and personally, I've had
some friends that lost their cabins and they've had so
many wonderful times they spent there with the family. It's
just heartbreaking to see a lot of families that live
(03:00):
there lost their homes and of course and of course
firefighters fighting the fires and putting their lives at risk,
so God bless them all. Scott E. McCurry just released
some great news. I've never felt this before in my career.
It feels like we've got something cool and hopefully we
can continue to let it Snowball, Andy Ham momentum is
a huge thing and it's fun. He is touring in
(03:22):
the fall. He announced his Fall of Summer tour. He said, listen,
We're going to go criss crossing from the US to Canada.
The track kicks off September second in Ohio and there's
twenty one dates that carry him to the final show
in Oklahoma December seventh. Tickets can be found on his website,
so just go to Scotty's website. Post Malone. I told
(03:44):
you last week that Brad Paisley invited him to sing,
formally invited him to perform first ever at the Grand
Old Opry Show. Well guess what. A few of his
new country friends will be on hand. Vince Gill, Laney Wilson,
John Michael Montgomery, War and Treaty, plus Brad Paisley will
be there. I hear Blake Shelton, Lutcombs may show up.
(04:06):
It's gonna be kind of cool. I cannot wait for
it now. Just because you buy a ticket to Carly
Pearce's show doesn't mean you get a stick around. Carly
Pearce was on stage and she said, I want to
tell you a little bit about myself. Some guy shouted,
no one cares well. She didn't take that very well
and he was kicked out. Somebody kick him out of here.
(04:28):
I do not want him at my show. Get out
of my show, john Wick.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They thought I was dead, but I'm back.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I'm so excited. A TV series is currently in development.
It's in the early days. They're just talking about it,
but the series john Wick Under the High Table will
reportedly pick up right after john Wick Chapter four, and yes,
it's gonna feature a collection of new characters. Keanna Reeves
will be the executive producer and also the John Wick
(04:56):
director is going to take part in directing the show's pilot.
So excited for that. While Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
were out of town, burglars hit their Los Angeles home.
Thieves smashed through glass to get inside a guest house
on their property a few weeks ago, and it happened
a broad daylight. The alarm was triggered, but didn't stop
them from going inside and taking what they wanted. No
(05:17):
word on exactly what was taken, but this follows like
a rash of burglary of celebrity homes, including Sarah Hyland
and also Marlon Wayans. All right, there you go, Denise's dirt.
Now let's get to our interview with my influencer of
the Week, Whitney Burge, otherwise known as the Blonde Who Bakes. Hello, Hi, Whitney,
how are you?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I'm so good? How are you? Denise?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I just saw your little mention on the story on Instagram.
I'm like, this girl has her stuff together. That is why,
my goodness, the influencer of the week.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Girl. You are amazing. Thank you you are.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I have to share a story first with you before
we get rolling here. Okay, I saw your platform, of course,
on Instagram, on TikTok You're everywhere. It's the Blonde Who Bakes,
and I'm very impressed with what you do. I wanted
to bake my son's very first cake, and my mother
(06:16):
in law is really good at it herself. Well, it
was just like a kind of putting a foot down
for myself. I'm gonna do it. It's gonna be Barney.
This was way back, he's almost twenty five now, and
I tried to do a Barney cake and by the
time I got it to the table, it was all
melted and disgusting and gross. I was like, from now on,
(06:39):
guess what mother in law's doing all the cakes.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I was gonna say, go for the mother in law.
I love it. I love it. Okay, No, I'm not joking.
Barney cakes. They hold a special memory in my heart
because I'm pretty sure that's like the same story happened
to me twenty twenty five years ago because a Barney
So yes, you're not the only one.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Darn purpleizing that I tried to make homemade. It's not
easy to do. It's not it is not.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Nope, that's right.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So let's introduce everybody to you, Whitney birds. That's how
you pronounce your last name, right, that's correct. The blonde
who bakes You're from Utah. You are so fun to
watch on Instagram and TikTok. And how did you really
get started in baking these amazing cakes and desserts that
you do, Because it's not something that just a normal
(07:33):
person or mom can just do.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
To be honest, it does take a lot of patience
and a lot of practice. I will say that much.
I actually learned from my mom growing up, and so
she started a catering and a cake business back in
the early nineties just to kind of help put food
on the table, and that really grew and expanded quite
(08:00):
a lot, and she more so focused on the food
catering side. But I fell in love with it because
I mean, being a daughter of a baker and a chef,
you're in the kitchen with that mom all day, every day.
And I kind of just fell in love with it
from the start of the kitchen and then I tagged
(08:20):
along with her to certain events and I just fell
in love with being able to I don't know, I'm
a service type. I love showing service. That's kind of
my love language. And I just saw that people loved
it and it made such a big impact. If you
had a good centerpiece cake or a delicious something to
(08:43):
eat at your event, people are happier and it just
makes people happy in general. And so that's what I
fell in love with, and so being able to incorporate
that into a business, it was kind of like my
dream come true.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And did you go to schooling or or was it
something that you learned from mom hands on experience?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So I learned all hands on, no professional experience whatsoever.
I it's really funny, but I'm all about the street smarts.
I like to just kind of jump in the deep
end and learn how to swim. I'm not a book
smarts kind of person, and I have learned so much more.
I think being able to just do it and learn
(09:27):
from just the failures in it. I don't count it
as failures. We're a big sports family, and so we're
always kind of putting it in our kids' heads like,
you're not losing, you're learning something, and the only time
you do lose is when you don't learn something from it.
And so being in the kitchen, it's pretty much the
same thing. You have to kind of learn how to
(09:49):
tweak things and make it your own. That's what fun.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's what I told my boys too growing up. When
they would get in trouble or they made a mistake,
I'm like, okay, well would you learn from it? That's
the important part. You know, you know you did wrong,
but what did you learn from it?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
How many kids do you have?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So I have three. I have two older boys that
are ten, well turning ten and turning eleven, and then
a little girl that's five.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Oh my gosh, your hands is your hands are full,
and your kitchens are full. Your kitchen, clean house.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh man, I'm a clean person in general. I think
that cleaning and baking are like my forms of therapy
and being a mom, like you just need that little
outlet that you feel like you and you're able to
just have your space, and the kitchen is my space.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Boy, did your husband and kids luck out? Not only
not a bad like you do, but you can Your
mom was a professional chef, and you've like inherited those
skills too.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I wish I inherited the chefs skills. It's really funny.
A lot of people will ask me, because you can bake,
I know you can cook. I'm like, I can't cook.
I cannot cook a bull of spaghetti, right, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I don't know you. Have you ever entered any competitions
for baking.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So I've done quite a few. Yeah, I've done a
lot of local stuff, which is a lot of fun.
I've also been offered a few shows on Food Network
to do a lot of their like Spring and Halloween
baking competitions and being in the mom life, like being
in the thick of it. It's just never been the
right time for me to go on one of those
(11:31):
and be away for so long, so one day I'll
be in one of the big competitions. But I like
the local things. I like seeing all the local bakers
around here, and yeah, well it may put sun for me.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You have a huge platform on social media these days.
I mean, you really don't need a television show because
people fall in. How hard was it? Since you're my
influencer of the week, I always like to ask, you know,
the questions for other influencers listening trying to gain that following,
and it may be in a completely different category, but
(12:05):
how did you get those followers? Was there a secret
to it?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I honestly wish there was a secret, because I actually
had a few friends over that are entrepreneurs themselves earlier
this week and they just said, Man, we're four years
into it and we're barely getting a hundred likes or
one hundred views on these pictures or videos that we're posting.
(12:31):
How do you do it? And I have to remind
myself that this isn't how it always was. I have
been on social media now for about let's see, eight years, professionally,
so under the blond two banks, and the first I
would say five years. I was very lucky if I
(12:52):
got one hundred or one hundred and fifty people to
see my stuff. And it wasn't until I was just
super consistent first off, that is one thing I like
to remind myself helped. But it wasn't until I actually
got out of my comfort zone and started a TikTok.
(13:14):
It was actually my husband that told me, He's like,
go and just try it, like TikTok's a new thing.
And I always thought TikTok was just something for the
cute women or girls or people that just like to
do the dances and go along with all the trends
because I've never been one that follows trends, and a
lot of people think, well, maybe it could have helped
(13:35):
you if you follow those trends, but I think that
that actually helped me. Not to like not following the
trends helped me because after I jumped onto TikTok, I
was a little intimidated, because I mean, being in Utah,
there are a lot of those influencer moms around that
have millions of followers that have so many eyes on them,
(13:58):
and I was just like, why would TikTok help me?
So I jumped on one day and I finally was
just like, I'm going to show them how to cut
a cake. Something so simple, but it's something that everyone
wants to know, especially because I make really tall cakes
and everyone thinks that's not It just doesn't work for
(14:20):
an everyday person, and it doesn't work for an everyday
birthday party. Why do you keep doing those tall cakes?
You can't cut those? And so I just wanted to
show you know what, No, this is how I do it.
This is why I do it. And that one video,
my very first video, blew up out of the blue.
It actually kind of scared me, but it was just
(14:42):
kind of like, no, this is what people want to see.
And I have found that people want to see reality
and people want to see things that's actually going to
teach them something rather than just kind of numb them out.
They're actually going to come away with something and feel
better from it. One but also number two, take that
video and use it in their daily life. So cutting
(15:06):
a birthday cake, everyone's gonna have to learn how to
cut a cake one time in their life. And so
that's why I thought, why not start with that, And
it's kind of gone from there.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Well, watching I can see what makes you stand out,
But what do you think makes you stand out amongst
the other bakers or food influencers out there?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Well, kind of going along with not really caring to
follow the trends. I mean, there are so many trends
out there, and I think that, I mean, there's so
many kinds that you can go on to Instagram and
TikTok and you see the same trend over and over
and over again. You see you hear the same sound,
(15:49):
you see the same damps, whatever it is. You kind
of start to get numb from it, and you kind
of just want to flip through it super fast because
it's like, once you've seen it, you've seen them all.
And so with my whole theory of what I do
and why I do it, I like to stand out
from the grain. I've never fit in from day one,
(16:09):
Like going into school. I have friends in the cool group,
but I was never in like the cool kids group,
and so I just always felt like I stood out
a little bit for some reason or another. And it's
kind of it goes into today. I still don't fit
in with a certain group, but I have found that
I like to make my own lane and it's working
(16:32):
for me right now, and I think that a lot
of people feel a little refreshed seeing that you don't
have to fit in or be one of the cool
kids to be successful. And I mean sometimes that's when
you're even cooler, like you can make your own way,
and it's just it's really cool and it's something cool
to show my kids, especially because I have two boys
(16:55):
that are going to be in the teenage years soon,
and it's like, you don't have to fit in to
be cool, but like you guys can do what you do,
and you guys know that you're cool already. Why not
just go and use your strengths and do something better.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Aim into that. You are such a good mom. And
I told my boys to be friends with everybody. Don't
just get a click. If that's something you want is
to be popular, then just be friends with everybody. And
they never did care about being popular at all. They
just wanted good friends. And I always told them it's
just a blip of your life. It's nothing. It's nothing.
(17:34):
Then you move on in life and find your niche
kind of like what you did. How many cakes do
you do you make a day? Or how many videos?
How often do you post?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So if you asked me this question about a year ago,
I would be saying I was making about ten to
twelve cakes a day woo, And I was in the
kitchen a lot, like a lot, a lot, and I
actually just barely had to come to a realization like
this is not physically possible. I was making a lot
(18:07):
of videos. I was just putting them in my drafts
and having them ready and just kind of doing that
whole influencer thing, like you want to have a lot
of storage that way you have something to post every
day or two or three times a day. But being
in the stage of wife I am right now, I've
found it's just not possible, and it's something that is
(18:29):
not my number one, like being mom is number one
to me. And I found that it was kind of
taking a drag on my kids. I wasn't able to
do all the things I wanted to do with them.
I mean, they're baseball players and so we travel with
them a lot. And so I'm grateful that I have
the job I have and I can work wherever I
(18:49):
can or wherever I am if I need to, But
I mean, doing this physical takes every day. I just
it wasn't working, and so I have toned it down
to only doing like two or three cakes every two
or three days, so maybe like one cake a day
if so. And that's just a content cake, so if
(19:13):
I'm not making it for a video, I'm making it
for me or a friend. But I found that putting
more energy into those few cakes is giving me so
much more gratification. And I feel like I have found
a love for it again, just because when doing so
many things, you're bound to get burnt out. Yes, and
(19:36):
I did. I burned out pretty fast, pretty hard. And
you're going to do that with whatever you do. It
doesn't matter if you do radio, if you do a TV,
if you do I don't know, a baseball coach, you're
going to get burnt out. And you just need to
kind of tone it down for a minute. And I
don't know, take a look back and see, Okay, why
do I love this? Do I still love this? And
(19:59):
is the worth it? And I found that all of
the things that I do are worth it, especially because
I am able to give the life to my kids
that I am and be as present as I am.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
But you sound like just such a great of course
a great mom, but just a great person in general, like,
you're so.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Grounded, very nice.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, you're so grounded and you just know what you
want in life.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
What I do?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, what do you do with all those cakes? By
the way, do you eat them more?
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That's a good question because you're getting.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
A little many a lot. I've seen you on the
video if you're not eating those cakes.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Oh man, I love eating my cakes, but I actually
I love sharing them. And so there's times I'll do
like a giveaway for someone local here. I'll find someone
that just kind of needs a little pick me up.
Usually it's one of my friends. Family members love it.
But my kids, honestly it is all have cake every
(20:59):
day if they could if I let them. But it
just will randomly go to a different person every now
and then. But with the content that I do, it
is nice because they all of my cakes are real.
But the thing that I can do if I wanted
to recycle any cake and just kind of redo a
(21:20):
technique or just try out any other new techniques, is
I just put it in the freezer and then I
can redecorate a cake as many times as I need
to until I find that it's time to throw it
away or eat it. But yeah, I would say eighty
percent of the time it's getting it's getting eaten, but
other times I'm just reusing the cake.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Does your kids like to bake with you? Do they
take time to do that and learn? Also?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Do they love it? They would be in the kitchen
with me every single second if I let them. And
it's really funny because with the older boys, that's surprised me.
With my daughter, she is identical to me like personality wise,
and so if you watch any of my videos, you'll
(22:10):
probably see my little blonde daughter running around the kitchen
or seeing a shadow of her because she is in
the kitchen with me at all times. She loves it.
She loves watching. She loves to get her hands in
there a lot. So if it's a video that I
am pretty, I don't know, relaxed on, I'll let her
do stuff with me. But when I'm not filming, that's
(22:33):
one of my favorite times is when I'm not filming
in the kitchen because that is when I'm able to
allow the kids to just go at it and have
fun with it, and they love to just help and
it's a lot of fun and it's hard on mom
because I am I love keeping my kitchen clean and
kids three kids in a kitchen that don't really know
(22:54):
how to bach is not clean. But you kind of
as a mom, you kind of just have to let
it go and just have fun with it and lets
a mess happen. Yeah, because that's when really fun things
are made. But they just they look up, they look
forward to it a lot. If I'm able to do.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It, and look what it's done for you, like with
your mom growing up and going in that kitchen, it's
created a complete career for you. So yeah, papically right.
Can they order custom cakes from you from the blonde
who bakes? Is that how they get in touch with
you on your social They can?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yes? And so I only do cakes here local to Utah.
I do. I am open to travel if people needed that.
I don't ship them at the moment, but I do will.
I will randomly ship macarons. I'll open up my availability
to ship macarons every now and again, which is fun.
(23:48):
And macarons are something that are like, I don't know,
there's something that I have loved to do for a
long time, and I think that's what actually got me
known around here. And cakes were just something that I
always did but the Macarons made me stand apart from
everyone else. And so yes, if you do want a cake,
(24:10):
you can just contact me if you're here local to
Utah Macarons. You can also find those on my website
and you can find it there.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Okay, and your website is also The Blonde who Bakes
dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
That's correct, all right, and at.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
The Blonde who Bakes on Instagram also on TikTok, and
you're baking a cake special for us. I'm excited to
see what happened. You're posting it on both of on
TikTok and Instagram or just one.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I'm going to be posting it on both.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Oh, I'm excited to see what it is.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I'm so excited to show you. It's going to be
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, you are just you really are a down to earth,
wonderful lady. And no wonder why you're so successful because
you're doing what you love to do and it shows
you're extremely talented. And thank you for being my influencer
of the week.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You are so kind. Thank you for having me
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