Carla Hinote, who reluctantly went into a career as a pastry chef, is famous in the US town of Cashiers for her life-sized cakes
The Cape Town-born pastry chef has made a name for herself as a life-size cake boss.
For Christmas, Hinote creates cakes that look too good to eat. Each year she has made her creations bigger and better.
Raised in Goodwood, Hinote moved to the US in 2007 and has settled in the town of Cashiers in North Carolina, where she is affectionately known as Carlacakes for her sugary creations.
But baking was Hinote's first choice when she began studying to become a chef at the City and Gills College in Green Point in 2006 for six months. But her fate was sealed after she secured an apprentice job as a pastry chef soon after.
“I didn’t want to be a pastry chef - at the beginning, I just wanted to be a regular hardcore chef on the line. In the industry it’s very hot, very tough, especially for women because we have to work hard to prove ourselves. It’s a man-driven industry,” said Hinote.
Having worked in Green Point and Camps Bay establishments as a pastry cef, the 40-year-old said she never stopped hoping to move overseas.
And when an opportunity arose to work in the US, she grabbed it with both hands.
“I applied, went through all the hoops. It was not easy. You had to do paperwork, background checks and a bunch of interviews, and I made it through all the interviews, and finally, I got the job,” said Hinote.
She said she was excited about a line cook position in Florida in October 2007 but got the pastry position instead.
During her time as a pastry chef at the Sailfish Point Country Club in Florida, she worked under chef Charles Rosselli and fell in love with baking. “I met my husband in 2012, and we permanently moved to North Carolina, and I had to make my way,” she said.
Hinote now works at Mountaintop Golf and Lake Club, where her creations wow visitors.
“I worked my way up to an executive pastry chef. I have an assistant named Wendy Botha and she is also South African. And we have South Africans that come and work with us every year,” she said.
She said they started working on projects where they would bake cakes each year, one more extravagant than the other, beginning with a clubhouse, the size of a table.
Hinote and her team then made their first life-sized cake, a Santa sleigh. Next was a truck in which people could sit and take pictures.
“People call me Carlacakes,” she said.
She said this was all God’s plan from the beginning, and he had blessed her beyond measure. She also credited her parents, Lorraine and Gideon Goliath, who were her inspiration.
“I have an amazing husband, and I couldn’t ask for a better life and a career because I am challenging myself to new heights, and that is just amazing to me,” said Hinote.
Mountaintop’s Food and Beverage director, Danielle Grobler, said: “I love working with Carla. I have been at Mountaintop for 15 years and have worked with Carla off and on over the years. She made my 8-year-old’s birthday cake for each birthday.”
“People are amazed and shocked that we can make something huge and take pictures (of the cakes).”