During the COVID-19 pandemic, some people picked up new hobbies, others became obsessed with making whipped coffee. For Aimee France, being sent home from college to quarantine in her parents’ New Hampshire home was only the beginning.
With more time on her hands, France began to teach herself how to bake, and with a little help from the internet, knew she could be successful. Over time, France gained both the skill and loyal following to become a professional cake decorator, and launched her own business after graduating from college in 2021. Since then, she has become known for her unique cake creations that often incorporate seasonal ingredients, along with meal and lifestyle content that feels both comforting and authentic.
Today, France herself finds it hard to believe how far she’s come from the experimental baking days in her parents’ New Hampshire kitchen. She’s created wedding cakes for celebrities and was recently featured on the cover of Cherry Bombe magazine’s December Cake Issue.
We sat down with France to talk about what it’s been like building an unexpected audience online and where she sees herself, as a baker and creator, in the food media space now.
Spoon University: What is the most surprising part of building a following online that you’ve experienced so far?
Aimee France: Maybe that people actually, like, care? It’s inspiring to people. I think it’s so cool when someone comes up to me on the street really randomly and they’ll be like, “Oh my God, I’ve followed you online for so long.” But I feel like when I’m making something online, I’m just kind of showing what I would eat. And I don’t really think about how other people wouldn’t think to put that combination together. And then someone’s like, “Oh my God, like I eat this all the time because you posted it and I would have never thought of that.” I think it’s just cool to be a resource in that way, that someone can like find new ideas and maybe discover new foods that they wouldn’t have normally wanted to try. And I feel this way too when I watch people, like you have people that make you feel very calm and comfortable, and a lot of people tell me that I have a very calm presence online and it makes them just feel like…zen. So I’m glad I can, you know, give some anxiety relief to some people.
SU: I saw that you talked a bit in a previous interview about dining hall hacks when you were at Pace University. Are there any hacks or meals that came to mind from that time?
AF: Okay: when I was in college, breakfast was always in my dorm unless I would go to the cafeteria for like the occasional bagel. But I had a specific drawer in the chest drawers in the dorm, I had like oatmeal ingredients down in there. And I would make oatmeal in my dorm every morning with, I think I used to have a Keurig in there, like when people would still use Keurig. That was breakfast.
In the cafeteria, when I would go, I had a really specific thing. Me and the salad guy, his name was Mazar. Literally God bless him, I hope he’s still working there. He saw me and was like, “Yup, I know exactly what you want.” But if you’d get a salad, they’d fill that sh*t up with chopped salad. And I’d be like, “No, I don’t want the whole salad. I want you to give me half of the salad ingredients and make me a chopped salad so I have a base.” I technically don’t think it was allowed because I would get in trouble all the time from the people at check-out who said I couldn’t do that. But I was like, “It’s my dining money!” I didn’t care, you know what I mean?
Then I would go over to the vegan section because I was vegan at the time, but there was also a hot bar. I think I was inspired by Dig Inn before it was DIG, and I liked how you’d get like the sweet potato and the tofu, so I tried to create that in the dining hall.
SU: What are three to five kitchen/cooking products you love?
AF: Oh my goodness. A cast iron pan, like a little one. I feel like I’m always using one of those. Or little tongs, but I do want to advance to getting the kitchen tweezers. I don’t own those and I really want them; I don’t know why I haven’t bought them yet. I think mini whisks. I’m always using a mini whisk to make a dressing or a sauce, or something. I guess like a good chef’s knife, too, but I find like — I think this is an important thing that not a lot of people think about — I prefer a 6-inch versus an 8 because, especially if you have smaller hands, it can be kind of difficult and painful to cut with the 8-inch knife. So I personally just prefer the 6-inch chef’s knife. I think it’s much more comfortable to chop with.
SU: Do you have a particular brand of knife that you like?
AF: I have a lot of Japanese ones that I really don’t know the brand of, I just kind of was like, “Oh, this is a sick Japanese knife.” But I do have a knife that I use all the time. Okay, wait. Story time with this, but also shows it’s a really good knife. Hedley and Bennett, I think, is the brand. They make, like, aprons but also they make these paring knives that are really awesome, and they’re so sharp. Like sharp enough that one time I was using it and it was the only time I’ve ever had a serious incident with a knife. I cut my finger so bad that I had to go to the hospital and had like eight stitches. It was a serious textbook laceration. But it just shows it’s a really good, sharp knife.
SU: Is there anything you’re working on right now that you’re excited about?
AF: The one thing I’m working on — I don’t know if I can talk about it yet — but I can say that it’s a really big thing for me. I kind of can’t believe that this brand would ever want to do something with me, and it’s definitely like a really big pinch-me moment. It’s happening in February. One of the things is something I’m just involved in, but another has to do with cakes. And it’s going to be cool if everything works out the way I want it to. Well, it’s going to be cool either way! But that’s what I can say about that right now.