Day-in-the-Life of Batter Up Cakes

Jerri Jantz is piping a design for a baby shower cake in the decorating room at Batter Up Cakes.

Walking down Ninth Street, it’s easy to miss a bakery nestled under the Greeley Downtown Development Association. A spiral staircase transports customers to a European style bakery. The café’s eccentric yet cozy atmosphere welcomes any guest from the winter weather. Local art hangs on the brick walls around the seating area and fireplace. Brown and cream swirls lay on the floor by the checkout counter. Neon green and pink paint cover the walls surrounding the pastry display cases and menu. Looking at the display cases full of fruity, chocolaty, nutty and flakey baked goods, it’s not easy to tell that this bakery does not have a functioning oven. Waiting for an oven hood, owners Jerri Jantz and Dan Mandt temporarily bake at an offsite kitchen.

Mandt’s day starts at 7 p.m. the night before at the VFW; after baking into the wee hours of the morning, Mandt opens the bakery at 7 a.m. Assistants join Mandt and they fill Greeley residents’ stomachs with homemade assorted scones, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cake truffles, cupcakes and specialized cakes. When Jantz isn’t working her job at a dentist office, she is the one in charge. 

10:00 a.m.

A chime from the doorbell indicates customers entering Batter Up Cakes, which pulls Jantz away from making cake truffles. Jerri greets two sisters who want a cake for their 85-year-old mother’s birthday. Jantz starts filling out an order form as the sisters describe their mother to Jantz. The sisters say their mom is an old farm gal who is also a valentine baby.

Jantz suggests a heart-shaped cake as she sketches an outline. Despite Jantz’s lack of confidence in her drawing skills, the sisters love the idea. Jantz recommends adding flowers made out of royal icing to incorporate a farm theme. The older sister asks the cost of the cake.

“Only a million dollars,” Jantz replies.

Playing along, the sisters insist that their mother is worth it. After completing their order, the sisters exit chatting excitedly about the cake.

11:15 a.m.

Returning to the decorating room, Jantz starts working on her friend’s baby shower cake. The smell of buttercream frosting fills the room as she frosts a prebaked cake to give it a “crumb coating,” which is a first layer of frosting. Jantz sets the cake in the fridge to dry as the doorbell chimes again.

12:10 p.m.

Three women hungry for lunch enter the bakery for the first time. Walking to the front room, Jantz mentions to the women that they will have lunch choices when they get their hood installed and running in a few weeks, but for now, she informs them of their 22 cake truffle flavors. As two of the ladies nibble on carrot cake truffles, the other, Kim Jerome, talks to Jantz about the gluten-free options. A wave of excitement crosses Jerome’s face as she picks a homemade gluten-free brownie. Jerome has celiac disease, which means she can’t have gluten, and says it’s almost impossible to find gluten-free food in Greeley.

 “This is going to be my new favorite place in Greeley,” Jerome says.

1:30 p.m.

After talking a bit more, the customers leave and Jantz retrieves the cake from the fridge. In the decorating room, she sits on the revolving black bar stool and adds the final layer of frosting to the cake for a smooth outer layer, explaining that they don’t decorate a lot with fondant.

Working from a picture of a cartoon jungle that her friend brought in, Jantz pipes animal markings on the cake.

“People frequently bring in pictures of the cake they want. This is helpful, but I always make it personalized,” Jantz says.

Jantz hands off the cake to her assistant, Shannon Collinge. While Jantz starts to add colorful features on a chocolate animal, Collinge puts details on the cake. After alternating between squeezing and twisting the end of pastry bags filled with lush green and rich brown frosting, edible jungle trees seem to grow up the side of the cake.

The doorbell chimes again just moments after Collinge finishes piping. Jantz gives Collinge a baker’s high-five with the back of her fist, and leaves the room to cheerfully greet another customer.

Info Box:

·         Buttercream A smooth, creamy icing that is made of butter and stays soft. It can be colored and/or flavored. It’s also used to create piping, swags and other borders.

·         Fondant: A sweet, elastic icing made of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin that's rolled out with a rolling pin and draped over a cake. It's a smooth, firm base for gum paste flowers, decorative details, and architectural designs, and has a porcelain finish.

·         Piping: Decorative technique created using a pastry bag and various metal tips. Piping details include leaves, borders, basket-weave patterns and flowers.

  ·      Royal icing: Made of egg whites and confectionary sugar, this icing is a soft paste piped from a pastry bag to create latticework, beading, bows, and flowers. It hardens as it dries. 

Source: Wedding Cakes: A Glossary of Wedding Cake Terms - TheKnot.com http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-reception-planning/articles/a-glossary-of-wedding-cake-terms.aspx#ixzz1mmRmJ0CB

A step toward creating a lively downtown

A combination of a few random shops, vacant buildings with the remains of past businesses and restaurants scattered throughout the streets was what Greeley looked like six months ago. Not only can the same be seen walking downtown today, but there have been some improvements in the form of new businesses.

 “Any investment in downtown Greeley is a good thing. The more businesses added, the more pleasant of a walk it is downtown,” said Annie Epperson, head of reference services at the Michener Library.

To have a thriving downtown, Greeley may have to do more than just adding a few random businesses. The simple answer is opening businesses that will be popular with Greeley residents. In the past six months, a French creperie, coffee shop, sewing shop, bakery and a few boutiques have opened up in Greeley. 

 Greeley resident Terri Ball said that she loves the new shops downtown. Ball said her experience taking a sewing class from Sew Downtown has been fun and unique.

               Funding issues are part of the reason Greeley doesn’t have a successful downtown. The resolution passed by Greeley City Council on Jan. 17 may help this funding problem. By combining the district containing UNC with the surrounding district, the Creative District was born; this merged district will qualify to possibly receive funds as part of the legislation passed last year by the Colorado General Assembly to make Colorado a center for culture.

“I’ve noticed that downtown is beginning to gear towards college students. It is becoming more accessible and enjoyable for my friends and me,” said Nick Denenberg, a UNC student.   

At the end of February, the state review panel will select districts in Colorado to each receive $15,000 to fund art and culture initiatives. Even if Greeley doesn’t get the money, combining the districts is still a step towards improving the city.

“By combining districts, Greeley is recognizing that UNC is part of Greeley and that students make a greater impact on the town than people think,” Epperson said.

The resolution itself will unite Greeley and is expected to encourage more financial activity. Together, the resolution and adding new businesses that are not chains, shows that Greeley is becoming the bustling city residents hope it to be.

Reflections on the semester

Newswriting has stretched me outside my comfort zone and has helped me gain experience covering city government.

By reporting at city council, I learned how to find newsworthy stories and conduct successful interviews. This blog has been different than other journalism assignments because it was writing on a deadline and incorporated hands-on experience by attending city council meetings.

I enjoyed blogging because it incorporated going and doing instead of just writing practice stories. At the same time, the most difficult part of the class was the deadline for blog posts. It was practically impossible to get interviews with people other than councilmembers because the meetings ended so late at night.

Learning to write about different topics in government is something I wish I would have learned more about. It was good experience going to council meetings, but I think this class should have also encompassed other topics besides council meetings.

For students taking this class in the future, my only advice is to be prepared and have confidence. A story can be written well from a good interview; this involves writing questions before talking to councilmembers. It’s also important not to be afraid of councilmembers; they are people too.

Besides the blog, this class has taught me that stories are everywhere; as a journalist, I just have to be alert to my surroundings to notice one.

Youth in poverty need equal opportunities to play

Financial assistance to enable youth in poverty to participate in sports programs was brought up during the City Council meeting Tuesday night by councilmember Robb Casseday.

             The Mayor agreed to discuss this issue in the future to see if any funding can be given to youth in poverty to cover Greeley Recreation Center’s sports program costs.

“There has always been a need for this issue to be addressed. We have wanted to offer more aid, but it comes down to a budgeting issue,” said Andy McRoberts, Leisure Services Director.

McRoberts said that it is a challenge to find additional funds to offset program costs.

Some solutions briefly suggested by Casseday and McRoberts were grants by the police department and fundraising. Casseday said he thinks they can get the Greeley Police Department to fund youth more because being in sports keeps kids off the streets and out of trouble.

Casseday said that currently there is a youth assistance fund that is supporting qualified students, but is not funded enough to give all poverty students a chance to play.

“All youth benefit from being in extracurricular activities because they learn how to work as a team, communicate and be an effective leader,” McRoberts said.

In addition to sports, McRoberts said that they should also look at funding other programs to incorporate those who don’t like playing sports.

Robb Casseday wins despite citizens’ disinterest for city government

Councilmember Robb Casseday has represented the at-large council seat for the City of Greeley Council since February. In the most current election concluding Nov. 1, Casseday ran against Scott A. Royer and Neil K. Chikazawa for the seat, and won.

“I think that Robb is qualified for the position not because of his platform, but more based off his experience. He was appointed by council and now has months of experience,” said Stacey Campbell, Casseday’s campaign manager. 

Councilmember Casseday was originally elected in February when Maria Secrest resigned her at-large council position and accepted a position with Representative Cory Gardner. 

Casseday is a Greeley native. Before being a councilmember, he served Greeley by being on the Planning Commission as well as many other boards and committees in Greeley. He currently holds a chair for the Public Works Committee, is a member for the Finance Committee and is an alternate member for the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. 

Greeley residents hope that his recent win will enable Casseday to make some positive changes partnering with the other city council members and the mayor. 

“I really hope that this next season city government will focus on promoting Greeley. If we can get someone in power to show that they support Greeley, it might help people care about city government more,” said Deanne Helmboldt, a Greeley resident and one of Casseday’s friends. 

Several Greeley residents commented that they have observed a decrease in people caring about city government.

“I think people are voting less today than they were even 10 years ago. People think their votes don’t count or they are cynical of the system and think that people are getting elected from the inside,” real-estate broker Valerie Scheffer said.

Adding to the apathy for city government is the world’s shift to being technology focused. It seems that the younger generation is more interested in spending an hour on Facebook than attending a city council meeting. Incorporating technology may have to be the next step to ignite a passion for politics. 

“In the future, city government needs to use more social media. This will allow them to be proactive in informing citizens about what is going on and allow citizens to give their feedback and thoughts,” Campbell said. 

Campbell noted that he thinks people were not interested in the city council elections in particular because there were not any huge government issues driving people to the poles. 

The assumed disinterest didn’t seem to hurt Casseday’s chance for election. Results show that Casseday won the election with over 50 percent of the votes.

Approved budget benefits police department

Despite the opposition of Councilmember Mike Finn, the 2012 budget for Greeley was passed at the city council meeting on Tuesday. 

During the council meeting, Tim Nash, Director of Finance, presented that the budget included an increase in salaries for the Greeley Police Department and set aside $150,000 to hire two new police officers. 

“It’s important to recognize that this salary increase is a cost savings because we were losing people to other counties,” Mayor Tom Norton said. 

Jerry Garner, Greeley Police Chief, explained that Greeley's police dispatcher salary was lower than the surrounding area. Greeley has been training police officers, but adjacent cities, like Fort Collins, would hire the officers for higher pay. 

“I fully support the pay increase. Our police and fire departments have done an outstanding job,” Councilmember Robb Casseday said. 

The salary increase for the police department wasn’t the reason Finn opposed the budget, but the two new police positions was. Finn said he didn’t think the budget increase for the officer positions was appropriate due to the current economic downturn. 

Garner said that they have needed more police officers, but they were in a hiring freeze. With the funds supporting the two positions, the hiring process will begin almost immediately. 

Finn was the only one to speak out against the budget for the following year. The few people that attended the meeting did not voice any objections to the approved $266.6 million budget.

Agreement allows for opportunities

Councilmember Robb Casseday pulled agenda item number 17 on the consent agenda Tuesday at the Greeley City Council meeting not because he disagreed with the item, but instead to give recognition and clarity.

In the past, Casseday has been asked several times about Greeley’s relationship with Weld County School District 6.

“I think it is important for Greeley citizens to understand the relationship we have with University Schools and recognize how Greeley is supporting the efforts of the school district,” Casseday said.

The resolution introduced at this week's meeting authorizes Greeley to enter into a joint facility use agreement with University Schools, a charter school located by the Family FunPlex. At no cost, both parties are able to use each other’s' facilities for an equal amount of time.

During the spring and fall, the City allows University Schools to use the tennis courts at Centennial Park and the Family FunPlex’s gymnasium.

“The school’s gym is not big enough to hold cheerleading practice, so they are able to have practice in the gym at the FunPlex,” said Andy McRoberts, Leisure Services Director in charge of the agreement.

University Schools is not the only one to benefit from the renewal of this year long agreement.

“Greeley wouldn’t be able to host the Young American Basketball season without the joint agreement,” McRoberts said. 

This intergovernmental agreement shows the city council has made it a priority to support District 6 schools this year.

The agreement will be voted on at the next meeting in two weeks at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the City Council Chambers.