Jessica Radloff of Wilton is the owner of Granite State Cakes (find her on Facebook and Instagram @granitestatecakes), a homestead business offering custom cakes and cookies for all occasions. Her inspiration for founding Granite State Cakes began when she made a cake for her firstborn son’s first birthday and friends and family started asking if she could make cakes for them. Children’s birthday parties are among what she most commonly receives requests to make custom cakes or cookies for, but Radloff has also fulfilled orders for occasions like baby showers and weddings.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
A bench scraper. It just really helps you get super-clean edges on the cake and make it look nice and clean.
What would you have for your last meal?
Tacos. We used to live in Londonderry and we would frequent the B’s Tacos truck. Their shrimp tacos are my favorite thing ever.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
I love B’s Tacos, but there’s also a place I love in Londonderry called Bangkok Thai. They have the most delicious basil fried rice. My mother-in-law lives in Londonderry, so we still do visit there often.
What celebrity do you wish could try one of your cakes?
Anthony Bourdain, just because he was so real and genuine.
What is your personal favorite custom cake that you’ve ever done?
I don’t even think it was near Halloween, but I did a cake that looked like a brain. … It was just a really clean white cake, with another cake on top of it and raspberry preserves. It looked gruesomely awesome in a super-clean way. [It was] probably one of the most fun and realistic cakes I’ve ever made.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
I think food trucks are really big right now. One of my dreams is to have a truck. I would do both sweet and savory options if I could.
What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
I think tacos are my favorite things to make. I like to do shredded pork tacos with my own hard taco shell.
Marshmallow cutout sugar cookies
From the kitchen of Jessica Radloff of Granite State Cakes
1 cup butter
150 grams (or about 1 cup) powdered sugar
75 grams (or about ½ cup) brown sugar, packed
1 egg
450 grams (or about 3½ cups) flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons marshmallow flavoring
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter with sifted powdered sugar and brown sugar until well-combined and mixture is slightly fluffy. Add egg and mix again until well-combined. Sift flour and cornstarch, and add half at a time to prevent a flour dust cloud. Once mixture is nicely combined, add vanilla, almond extract and marshmallow flavoring. Chill dough for about 30 minutes and roll out to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut and chill cutout cookies for about 5 to 10 minutes before baking on parchment paper until just golden around the edges and the tops no longer look shiny. Decorate with royal icing (optional).
Featured photo: Jessica Radloff. Courtesy photo.