Cakenweenie #2: Interview with Tracey Rothwell - The Evil Mastermind

Tracey Rothwell – Little Cherry Cake Company

1. Tracey, just how long have you been plotting….I mean planning to rock the world with this amazing creative monster that we now know as Cakenweenie?

Gosh, about 6 months! It took a lot of time planning and even more time procrastinating…LOTS of procrastinating :D

2. We know you’re a MASSIVE Tim Burton fan and this project’s goal was to wish him a Happy 55th Birthday. Do you know if the great man himself has seen Cakenweenie?

We haven’t had concrete confirmation just yet; however the Official Tim Burton page on Facebook thanked all the bakers and shared the website, so who knows!! I hope if he has/will see it, he will somehow acknowledge it. We never really set out to get his attention, I just thought it was a fun way to honour his birthday, but the guys worked so hard I think they deserve a little recognition from the Birthday Boy :)

3. If you ever got to meet Tim Burton, what is the first intelligible thing you would say to him?

Intelligible? You have got to be kidding, that wouldn’t happen for at least the first 10 minutes! Haha! Firstly I would thank him for being so bloody awesome, and secondly ask for Mr Depp’s phone number. Just to prank call him in a Captain Jack Sparrow voice of course ;D

4. What motivated you to choose your piece – Skeleton Boy?

Well my first choice was actually the Maggot from Corpse Bride, but as we handed the characters out fairly through a draw I ended up with Skeleton Boy. I was pretty happy with him though really as it gave me a chance to try out a standing cake. I ended up loving the boney little dude :D

5. How did you manage to find 100 decorators crazy enough to become the Burtonesque Bakers and take on such an incredible project?

I didn’t have to find them; they kind of all just flooded in, in excitement! All the bakers had friends and family who would love to join so we hit our 100 fairly quickly. They were all totally awesome which made my job easy – although 99% of them didn’t actually start their pieces till the very last minute. Procrastinators the lot of them! shakes fists -including me! Haha!

6. And then keep them all on track? The logistics must have been a Nightmare Before Christmas….sorry ;)

It’s a good job I like you Rae, that joke was terrible haha! Luckily, I had 2 admins on hand to help! Lesley, from Royal Bakery and Sheryl, from BunsInTheOven Cupcakery. My computer was full of colour coded lists, who had which character, what film, what part of the world they were from, had they started, had they finished? Yeah was pretty hectic – especially with 100, but luckily we didn’t encounter many problems!

7. What was the most challenging part of the whole process?

Without a doubt it was the website! It took SOO long to put all the information in, and making sure everybody’s information was right and pictures updated. Reveal day rolled round and the site was getting over 400 hits a second and was crashing like crazy!

8. What was the most rewarding part during the process?

Awww, it’s got to be seeing how everyone worked together. They may have all been in different countries with different skill levels but throughout our 6 months together we encountered a lot! They were so supportive and encouraging of each other it was lovely to log in to everyday.

9. Were you ever worried that it wouldn’t come together or worse, the public wouldn’t ‘get’ it?

Hell yes! When you have 100 bakers on a project and 98 of them didn’t actually start for 5 months I was getting more than a bit twitchy haha! My admins kept me sane though, and as soon as we hit August the amount of pictures that came rolling in was amazing! Such an exciting time. They totally delivered the goods :D As for the public I didn’t really think too much about them ‘getting it’, it was a project for Tim, so as long as the Burtonesque Bakers were happy, then I was happy. Luckily the baking community really lifted the entire project up and the support has been amazing!

_10. What kind of stats can you share with us on the reach Cakenweenie has achieved? _

As of right now, the website is at 745,611 hits – no wonder it crashed! Haha! We have been on hundreds of blogs and websites. Most notably MTV Geek, That’s Nerdalicious, When Geeks Wed, Tim Burton Official Page, IMDB and our own section on Sunday Sweets. Some of the other guys have been in their local papers too!

11. How did you feel when you saw your little ‘baby’ spread its wings and fly off to achieve those staggering website stats in its first few days?

It was mental! I mean Tim Burton is loved by many, so we knew it might be popular, but wow it really took off like a rocket! That is down to the general public too though who have shared the website. I can’t thank them enough for being so lovely and supportive.

12. What would you say has surprised you most over the last 6 months creating Cakenweenie?

Hmm that’s a hard one, I’m not surprised that easily ha h! Although the cake world can (as we all know) be a rough place at times with a few bad sprinkles in the jar. But I worked with 99 other people who were the total opposite, and saw MANY more people supporting and sharing. THAT’S what it’s all about. The good, waaaaay outweighs the bad!

13. What would be your fondest memory of this whole experience so far?

This is going to sound cheesy, but all of it! This is one of those things that start out as a little project and it turns into much, much more. I can’t wait till I’m older and I can tell the grandkids what I did! I also always said that any tattoos I get would tell a story or have a reason behind them; maybe I should get a Cakenweenie one? :D haha!

14. What is next for you Tracey? World domination seems totally achievable….

Mwahahaha wrapping the world in Burton-ey spirals! Nah, I’ll still be rocking around my little kitchen, eating pizza, making cakes and watching films, just the way it should be :D
However I do have a few teaching gigs lined up, so I get to share my craziness with the unsuspecting public ;) Should be fun!

Thanks so much for sharing your evil genius with us Tracey xx

You can see all the Burtonesque Bakers pieces here Cakenweenie