Delve into 12: Lyndsy McDonald

LAKEWOOD RANCH — With the final red strip neatly in place, pastry chef Lyndsy McDonald takes a step back and examines her latest masterpiece.

At first glance, the custom-made birthday cake appears perfect in every way, but it doesn’t take long for the Pastries by Design owner to notice something just isn’t right.

She carefully plucks the red and white polka-dot bow off the center of the cake and tosses it aside. She grabs another piece of fondant and carefully constructs a new one.

“We care about the quality,” McDonald said. “We want it to be good. We make it right. Some may look at it with the mentality that we’re inconsistent or weak, but I don’t care.

“We really do care,” McDonald said. “We want it to be the best tasting and the best looking. We want it to be the best.”

FOLLOWING A DREAM
McDonald always dreamed of becoming a pastry chef. Growing up in Florida, McDonald spent countless hours in the kitchen baking with her mother.

“Christmas cookies every year were a production,” McDonald said.

In high school, McDonald debated between pastry school or law school. In the end, McDonald chose to pursue her lifelong passion and earned her associate’s degree from Johnson and Wales in Charleston, S.C.

“I just thought pastry school sounds like more fun,” McDonald said. “Law school was my back-up plan in case I needed a real career. This is way better. I figured I could sleep better at night doing this.”

While attending Johnson and Wales, McDonald worked as a pastry chef at the Peninsula Grill — a high-end restaurant in the heart of Charleston.

“That was the place where I made all of my rookie mistakes,” McDonald said. “Looking back, those had to have been the most tolerant people.”

After learning the University of Denver was building a new pastry program and in need of a teaching assistant, a then-19-year-old McDonald sold all her furniture, loaded her car and headed west. McDonald graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree.

Upon graduation, McDonald worked as a pastry chef for catering company. While living and working in Denver, McDonald met her husband, Chad. Shortly after the couple got engaged, Denver’s economy started to decline.

Looking to plan a wedding and settle down, the couple debated whether to return to Florida or Indiana. The McDonalds ultimately chose the Sunshine State.

McDonald spent a year working as a pastry chef at the Lido Beach Resort before moving on to the Ringling Museum, where spent three years working as an event planner.

“I threw my hands up in the air and said, ‘I’m getting a normal job with normal benefits. I’m getting out of the kitchen,’” McDonald said.

But she couldn’t stay away for long. She continued baking cakes on the side, and before long, her side business had grown to be too much to handle as a hobby.

McDonald chose to follow her passion, and in August 2008, she opened Pastries by Design in Lakewood Ranch.

“It started growing, and it got to a point where I had to choose,” McDonald said. “This is my passion, and we figured we might as well do it while we were young and poor. There could not have been a better time.

“It’s kind of like jumping off a bridge,” she said. “It was a huge risk, and we knew it. But, if you don’t take chances, you don’t get anywhere.”

BOOMING BUSINESS
During a time when many new businesses succumbed to the soft economy, McDonald’s boomed. Pastries By Design quickly outgrew its first bakery off State Road 70, and on Sept. 1, 2011, McDonald moved to her new storefront on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch.

“I feel so fortunate to own my own business in this economy and to have it do well,” McDonald said. “We’re creating jobs. I’m not saying those jobs are glamorous, but we now have 10 people on staff. We’ve been able to add six new hires, and they’re all quality people who deserve to work.”

Today, McDonald has four to six people working in the bakery and another three to four working in the storefront throughout the week. However, McDonald admits the process of becoming an experienced cake decorator doesn’t happen over night. In fact, it takes about a year from the time McDonald hires someone to work in the bakery until he or she can decorate a cake on his or her own.

Likewise, the employees in the storefront need to know everything there is to know about cakes and cupcakes, so they not only can sell the bakery’s products but also answer any questions that may arise.
On most days, McDonald can be found in the bakery designing and decorating countless cakes and cupcakes.

“I just love to make cakes and decorate,” McDonald said. “I just love making giant vats of things.”

The first two weeks of June — because of graduation and the heart of wedding season — and the holidays — especially the weeks right before Thanksgiving and Christmas — are exceptionally busy for McDonald and her staff.

In addition to cake orders, Pastries by Design bakes about 200 cupcakes daily. And on event days, such as Music on Main, that number jumps to somewhere between 600 and 800.

“Cakes and cupcakes make people happy,” McDonald said. “I love seeing the look on people’s faces when they pick up a cupcake loaded with sprinkles.”

Although even though she is elbow deep in batter and sugar on a daily basis, you’ll rarely find McDonald sampling any of her recipes.

“We live, eat and breathe cupcakes, but if someone walks through the kitchen with a steak, you might lose an arm,” McDonald said. “I won’t eat cake or cupcakes. I’m done with those now. I won’t even eat it when it’s my own cake.”

A YEAR OF CHANGE
In the coming year, McDonald is looking to continue to streamline her business while continuing to provide the quality and care her clients have come to expect in the past three years.

“It’s been a huge change for us,” McDonald said. “We’ve grown exponentially — 2011 (was) a huge year for us. We just want to continue to handle the influx of business and finish streamlining.

“We’ve only been in this location and handling this amount of volume for a few months,” McDonald said.
In 2011, Pastries by Design saw its volume nearly triple. And with increased foot traffic comes an increase in the volume of products that go in and out of the store on a daily basis.

“What people don’t realize is that we are making this stuff every day,” McDonald said. “What you see at 10 a.m. might not be the same at 4 p.m. You may have 15 choices at noon and only six choices at 5 p.m., but it’s always fresh and homemade. What we have is all fresh and good stuff.”

Cakes are Pastries by Design’s biggest seller, but the amount fluctuates from day to day and season to season. And recently, the public has become more aware of the options that are available and is requesting more creative and intricate cakes.

“I feel like every cake has its own personality and aura,” McDonald said. “I love them all.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].

Click here to view a complete list of East County's "Delve into 12"