Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Hatch.
Hi Julia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always loved baking, it goes all the way back to getting an Easy-Bake oven for Christmas when I was a kid. I use to bake so many random cakes and cookies in that little oven. I did eventually step up to box cake mixes and a human-sized oven around middle school.
It probably wasn’t until college I started baking from scratch, mostly out of necessity… I almost always had flour, sugar, and eggs on hand but I didn’t necessarily have box cake mixes in the pantry. I use to procrasti-bake (procrastinate with baking) all the time. I’d tell myself, ok read this one chapter and then I can decorate a cupcake…or finish this calculus homework and I can make those cookies.
It became a bit of a stress outlet for me. When I discovered Food Network (I didn’t have cable as a kid), I was hooked on the cooking and baking competitions. Those shows inspired me to slowly try new types of recipes like scones, soufflés, and crème brulees. If I had a crazy day at work, I’d come home, bake and watch YouTube videos on different decorating techniques.
After doing this for fun and baking only for family and friends for years, my husband one day asked if I could make a cake for a coworker’s birthday. After that cake, I tried to make a cake or cupcake for most of the guys in his division. I started experimenting with different cake and cookie flavors and sent those with my husband to take to work to gather feedback on those recipes.
When we moved to South Carolina my husband convinced me to start up a home bakery business. After looking a bit into the cottage food laws in this state, I created Julia’s Just Desserts. My husband is the one responsible for the name, I was having zero luck on my own coming up with one.
I kept saying I wanted a bit of alliteration but nothing really flowed with Julia until he came up with Julia’s Just Desserts. I’ve been open for a little over 2 and a half years now and it’s been a great creative outlet.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There were definitely bumps in the road but what new business doesn’t have that? I started Julia’s Just Desserts at the beginning of February 2020 right before the busy season of Valentine’s Day, so the first challenge I faced was just the popularity of that holiday compared to most.
Time management became a big issue and something I’ve constantly had to work on. I still worked my full-time job during the day and at the time I also had a 1-year-old toddler. I was juggling being a mom, and wife, working full time, and then trying to get orders done for my business on top of all of that. I said yes to every order that came in, I didn’t have cut-off times and it was A LOT of sleepless nights.
Over the years, I’ve slowly learned to be selective, to say no (even when I don’t want to and I feel awful about it) and I’ve learned I do have limits given that I now have a 3-year-old toddler, 9-month old baby and continue to work my full-time job. I still need to work on limiting my preorder options for holidays but I’m getting there.
Then, of course, my next challenge came when the world shut down for the pandemic in March of 2020 so only one month after I started my business I was like oh no… what will this do? Luckily with a home baking business, it wasn’t a huge change. The big change was just switching to contactless porch pickups instead of hand deliveries or meet-ups.
Overall, I will say it’s been pretty smooth, I do still have some sleepless nights but they aren’t as bad as they use to be. I’m constantly finding ways to be more efficient and keep myself organized. I try to make sure my calendar is up to date so I’m not overbooking myself for any given weekend.
I offer preorders for holidays, so I know what to bake and how much to bake. I’m better about balancing my home life, work life, and being an owner of a small business.
We’ve been impressed with Julia’s Just Desserts, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Julia’s Just Desserts is a home bakery operating under the South Carolina Cottage Laws. I specialize in custom buttercream cakes, cupcakes, decorative sugar cookies, drop cookies, and other homemade treats.
What sets me apart from some of the other bakers is I don’t work with fondant. One of my signature looks is using decorative sugar cookies as a cake topper or some sort of chocolate accent.
If a customer brings me an inspiration photo and it’s decorated in fondant, I let them know I’ll achieve a similar look but with just buttercream. It definitely means I’ve been able to get creative with different techniques to decorate my cakes.
I also usually offer presales during the holidays so I make sure my customers know to follow my Facebook or Instagram pages for my preorder announcements or any pop-ups I might do.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
That is a tough one! I have so many random fun memories. How do you pick one?
In terms of a fun baking memory, here’s one of my first big baking fails. I remember one time in middle school I tried to make a Chinese Egg Tart and for the dough, I accidentally used oil instead of butter… it was such a mess but my parents still ate them.
Apparently, they didn’t taste too bad… or maybe they were just humoring me. I remember not even trying one because I was so disappointed in them. At least it was a lesson learned… always read and double-check ingredients and directions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juliasjustdesserts.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/juliasjustdesserts
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juliasjustdesserts
Image Credits
Sean Hatch and Julia Hatch
