My Biz: Life of a pastry chef is no cake walk

You could say Christopher Oetker is an architect of sorts, with pretty tasty building materials.

Oetker and his wife, Anna, own Christopher Ryan Confections. Christopher, as president and head pastry chef, creates its pastries and cakes.

“I like to call it Franglish-French-inspired American style pastries,” he said. “Traditional French pastries don't sell that well because there is too much to explain. I pride myself on making pastries accessible.”

Oetker attended culinary school at Kirkwood Community College before spending several years working at various local restaurants.

In 2004, the pair started their own business, then called Cakes by Christopher.

“We were doing it out of our home for a while, and it just became too much,” he said, so they were excited to become a vendor at the NewBo City Market.

“The overhead was low and it was a good way to get our name out in front of thousands of people," he recalled.

And it ended up being a good thing they did. Christopher Ryan Confections has done so well in the past year that the couple has opened a second location and expanded the menu.

Christopher Ryan Confections Bakery and Café - which will host a grand opening this Saturday at the Twixt Town road venue - will offer a soup, salad and sandwich café menu with vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options.

“We're aiming to have something for everyone. And 95 percent of what we offer will be made from scratch,” Oetker said.

Oetker's chocolate mousse cake and croissants made from scratch are two of their biggest sellers.

And he really enjoys doing 3D sculpted cakes.

“The sky's the limit,” he said, noting he's made a horse, a ship from "Star Wars," dogs, buildings and cars. “I like that surprise element. I start with three sheet cakes and I have to figure out how to make it work.”

Oetker has been cooking since he was young. Growing up as the youngest of three boys in a home with working parents, he said cooking dinner was often one of his daily tasks.

Then a home ec teacher in high school suggested that Oetker began to think about a culinary career.

The addition of the new venture will keep Oetker busy - both making pastries and food as well as dealing with the various business elements.

“I'm basically working 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week," he admitted. "That's the life of a pastry chef and business owner, especially when it's my name on the building.”

• Name: Christopher Oetker
• Title: President
• Company: Christopher Ryan Confections
• Address: 1100 Third St. SE and 1394 Twixt Town Rd., Cedar Rapids
• Phone: (319) 929-7913
• Website: www.christopherrconfections.com

Know a manager or company in business for more than a year that would be great to feature in "My Biz"? Contact business editor Michael Chevy Castranova at michael.castranova@sourcemedia.net