Taylor Whitcomb (GHS ’11) agrees wholeheartedly with Julia Childs who said, “A party without cake is just a meeting.” Whitcomb, a trained pastry chef and local entrepreneur, is devoted to creating cakes and a wide assortment of other delicious items for all types of special occasions from her business, Gorham Village Baking Company.
After attending Mount Ida college for a year, studying Interior Design, Whitcomb realized that she was more interested in the area of Pastry Arts, so she transferred to Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) where she earned an Associates degree in Baking and Pastry Arts in 2014 and a Bachelors in Culinary Management in 2015.
Her last semester was spent abroad at Florence University of the Arts in Italy. She learned the art of Italian bread making, studied wine and food pairing, farm to table cuisine, and Italian culture and history. She also traveled to Greece, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Ireland, immersing herself in their culinary and pastry traditions.
During this time, Whitcomb was honored to be selected by a professor and a committee of food and wine professionals to participate in creating and preparing four Italian-themed dinners at the historic James Beard House in New York City’s Greenwich Village. “I was Head Pastry Chef, with about 10 other pastry cooks to help me prepare for the events,” she said, “Cooking at the Beard House is a huge honor in the culinary world.”
It is not always easy for young Mainers who have gone off to earn their degree and who have travelled the world, to come back to Maine and find a job. Whitcomb said, “I’ve always known that I wanted to live and work in Maine forever.” She saw her career in baking as a way to come back home. Her Maine roots also show in her baking. “A lot of my recipes are adapted from my grandmother, Joan Larson’s, recipes. They are true Maine desserts, like my best selling whoopie pies,” she said.
Photo courtesy of Taylor WhitcombWhitcomb made a wedding cake resembling a birch tree for GHS teacher Stacey Anderson, now Stacey Taylor. It was a lemon flavored cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream frosting that looked just like peeling birch bark.
When Whitcomb returned to Maine, she worked in Portland, first as a baker at Aurora Provisions, then she helped to open the Pastry Department at the new Scales restaurant. She said, “After a few years, I missed the bakery atmosphere and decorating cakes. I knew I didn’t want to work under someone else.” She made a leap of faith and quit her job to work for herself by creating Gorham Village Baking Company.
When asked about the challenges of being an entrepreneur, Whitcomb is quite honest: it’s exhausting. She works at Gorham House of Pizza to earn a living as she endeavors to build her business. She said, “Trying to find the time to balance work, my business, and my personal life is a challenge every single day…but good things do not come to those who wait. It’s all about HUSTLE!”
She honestly would not have it any other way. She loves being creative, experimenting with recipes and new techniques, and doing things her way, something she never got to do while working under someone else.
Whitcomb said that many people have supported and encouraged her, including her parents, who taught her to always work hard for what she wanted, and her brother Andrew (GHS ’04), a chef currently working in California, who taught her about the culinary world. Her boyfriend, Walter Brown, helps her by running to the store if she is missing an ingredient. “He also helps me make unique cake stands and helps with transporting delicate cakes to the wedding venue,” she added.
While at GHS, Whitcomb found teachers such as Ms. Dolley and Mr. Paradis who encouraged her creativity. She said, “Ms. Dolley gave me the courage to take art classes at MECA which opened my mind about college after high school and Mr. Paradis’ knowledge of the world is the reason why I pushed to study abroad.”
Whitcomb currently lives in Gorham, with her parents, Jane and Randy Whitcomb, and her dog, Harley, while she saves to buy a first home, hopefully in Gorham. She loves her huge vegetable garden and being outdoors.
You can find her baked goods on sale at Gorham House of Pizza, Carter’s Green Market, and The Fisherman’s Catch in Raymond. She can be contacted for special order baking for all occasions at email: gorhamvillagebakingco@gmail.com, her website: gorhamvillagebakingco.com, or on Facebook.