Expressing her creativity through baking

Audrey made these cupcakes for her cousin’s graduation last summer, totaling 100. Audrey has an Instagram page, titled “audreybakesfood,” featuring photos of just her baked items. (submitted photo)

Young Greenbush baker Audrey Gust holds the Ombre Cake she made. For now, she considers her baking a hobby. (submitted photo)

Local Greenbush baker Audrey Gust works on making raspberry cupcakes. Her mother Mara said that her daughter’s raspberry-filled cupcakes are one her favorite baked items that she makes. (submitted photo)

Audrey Gust made this Tiered Fairy Cake. A 14-year-old Greenbush-Middle River eighth grader, Audrey has been baking for as long as she can remember. (submitted photo)

Young local Greenbush baker Audrey Gust was asked about the most difficult part of baking.

“Having it work in your favor (is the most difficult part),” Audrey said.

An example of it not working out in her favor recently came when she was making cupcake frosting.

“(I) ended up making royal icing instead,”Audrey said.

She didn’t put this royal icing on the cupcakes, what one would put on cookies to dry, but she did still have the cupcakes. Audrey has had baking work out in her favor.

A 14-year-old Greenbush-Middle River eighth grader, Audrey has been baking for as long as she can remember. She talked about how she got her start in baking, some of the items she has baked over time, and what she enjoys about baking. Her mother Mara Gust also chimed in on her daughter’s baking interest.

Audrey doesn’t know when exactly her interest in baking began, but she does remember how it began.

“When my mom used to make stuff, I would love watching her and then I started to do it with her,” Audrey said. “Now I do it by myself and sometimes she helps when it’s a big thing.”

Audrey mentioned how she thought that she now does most of the baking in her home, but she added how her mom usually still makes family birthday cakes, including for Audrey’s dad, Ervin, and her two siblings— her older sister Elizabeth and younger brother Nathan.
Mara noticed her daughter’s interest for baking early on in her life.

“From the time she was pretty little, she had a natural instinct for baking and doing things in the kitchen,” Mara said.

According to her mother, Audrey doesn’t mind the challenges that baking may provide.

“She’s not afraid to try something that has a lot of steps, and she’s also good about cleaning up after herself,” Mara said with a chuckle.

Over the years, Audrey has baked a variety of different dessert items. She listed cakes, cookies, scones and rhubarb desserts, such as crumble bars, having a lot of rhubarb at her home one year. Out of the rhubarb, she has also made strawberry-rhubarb lemonade. She has baked many raspberry desserts too, such as bread, cupcakes, and cake, having many raspberries at her home.

Outside baking, Audrey also stays busy with being a girls’ basketball manager and, starting this year, a volleyball manager. She also plays piano and participates in FCCLA.

As for her baking, she enjoys it for the many opportunities it provides, however many baking experiences may end or may not end in her favor.

“I like to try new things with different recipes,” Audrey said, “and just being creative.”

To see the complete story, read the December 9 issue of The Tribune in print or online.