Episode 85: Jessica Grossman, Patrick Properties Hospitality Group (Charleston, SC)

The Southern Fork

You know, it was simple: I missed cake. When I was little it was always somebody’s birthday at school and some mom was always bringing in cake. Then in my 20s I started going to a lot of weddings, and well, I was all about the cake. But these days, not many restaurants serve cake, although I love restaurant fruit trifles and granitas and of course creme brulee (though, heads up chefs, none of that needs to be in those tiny mason jars). So I gave myself a cake intervention and called up my friend Jessica Grossman to chat perfect sponges and buttercream frosting and lemon curd fillings. Charleston, SC is the third most popular wedding destination in the country, and Jessica makes hundreds of wedding cakes a year for Patrick Properties here in Charleston. She started her career as the baker at Jestine’s Kitchen for a decade, and has upped her game by literally stacking the deck, or in this case, layers of perfectly baked cake. Her confections are as delicious as they are beautiful, especially with a backdrop of the company’s signature properties, the Lowdnes Grove Plantation and William Aiken House, and because the latter is located right on King Street, sometimes when I’m out for the evening on a weekend, I’ll get a glimpse of one of Jessica’s cakes through the gates, sitting like a queen in the courtyard as beautifully attired guests party under string lights around it. It’s magic. Let’s all take a cake break and learn how to achieve a little of that magic.