This Baker Says If You Don’t Let Your Layers Cool, You Will Crack
Madeline Bach, the one-woman-show behind Frosted Hag, makes cakes for friends, acquaintances, and Harry Styles. Here's how it all started.
By Shanna McGuire
Photos by Leia Jospe
Published
My Secret Job is a column that features individuals who skillfully clock into their day-to-day jobs while juggling their secret or not-so-secret endeavors.
We’re catching up with individuals this month who managed to “hack” and disrupt what conventional work looks like by creating a path guided by passion.
When Madeline Bach, a South Jerseyan artist, isn't at her post as Director at a Chinatown gallery, she's running her cake business, Frosted Hag. Madeline whips up colorfully delectable cakes evoking play — the toppers meticulously placed on her homemade buttercream frosting vary from kumquats and thistle to even rock candies quite literally looking as if they plopped straight out of a Dr. Suess children's book.
After needing some cash flow post-grad, Bach meandered into a Lower East Side bakery and secured a position until the 2020 lockdown. During that uncertain time, the self-taught baking commenced from the small confines of her kitchen, where Frosted Hag was born. Creating cakes for birthdays or brightening someone's finalization of a divorce, Bach recently expanded her clientele to include Harry Styles, for whom she crafted a custom cake for his summer residency at The Garden.
Today, imperfect beauty continues to be alluring and marketable, even in baked goods. People crave the unusual, seeking products that weave fantasy into their taste buds. Frosted Hag, a one-woman-owned, at-home baking factory, embodies this. Madeline shares insights on Frosted Hag’s genesis story and how she makes it possible.
Shanna: Can you give us a run-down on how Frosted Hag came about?
Madeline: I took a semester off [from college], was really confused, and went into a bakery one day and was working like kitchen shifts, so I was doing dishes, I wasn't baking physically. There was always someone on frosting duty for the cake orders, and when I eventually got to try frosting cupcakes, they were so bad. But I just got into my own rhythm and started doing it more and more. I worked [at the bakery] for about three years, and figured out how to work in a really small space. Covid happened, I stopped working there, and I didn't really start baking on my own until August of 2020. I just started making birthday cakes for friends, and then people I didn't know that well would reach out, and I was like, 'shit, should I charge them?'. It took a while to get to a place where I felt—a. Confident with my pricing, and b. Putting that all out there.
Shanna: What’s a recent custom order you had fun with?
Madeline: One from a few weeks ago for this woman’s birthday – I am obsessed with people buying their own birthday cakes. In a rare turn of events, I managed my time correctly, could focus on form and color, and went a little brighter and poppier than usual. I really love meeting so many people and witnessing their excitement. I’m very lucky that enough people trust me to make cakes for them.