International cake sensation and Logan City local, Jackie Thompson, is part of Logan City’s first Food Trails.
The South East Queensland Food Trails, which aims to promote eateries or produce in different towns within Queensland, was appealing to Rebel Digital Executive Account Manager Joel Hall, who is organising the Logan City trail.
“The purpose of these videos is to shine a light on the amazing food industry across Logan and how the SEQ Food Trails website can help people navigate this ever expanding industry sector,” Mr Hall said. “I am so honoured to be working in partnership with the South East Council of Mayors and Logan City Council to make this project a success.”
Owner of Contemporary Cakes, Jackie Thompson, feels excited to be part of the Food Trail.
“I am looking forward to being part of Logan’s Food Trail, meeting more visitors in our studio and sharing baking and decorating skills,” she said.
Mrs Thompson’s catering business is a five-star registered licensed business which has been operating for the last 10 years. Her unique, award-winning cakes are born out of a passion for baking which began at a very young age.
“When I was 7, and then when I was 9, I had two lovely little brothers given to me, as my parents tell me,” Mrs Thompson said. “So, by the time I was about 10, I had my test guinea pigs to bake cakes for.
“My mum always said that I had the best fed birds in London, because half the time the cakes didn’t even go to the family, they went straight outside. But practice is progress, not practice is perfect.”
Mrs Thompson says she was very fortunate to learn cooking skills from her mother’s good friend, a home economics teacher.
“She had two sons who were not interested in cooking, so I was her little apprentice,” Mrs Thompson said. “So, when I was 12, I was making chocolate eclairs, choux pastry, and viennese biscuits.”
At 13-years-old and with a love for food, Mrs Thompson went on to bake goodies for school fundraisers, school fetes, and spring fares.
“I really feel like that was a little like entrepreneurship,” she said. “What was really interesting was that my school teachers were buying everything before it made the stall.”
Looking ahead, Mrs Thompson thought she was going to be a home economics teacher, but after meeting up with a friend during the school holidays who said he was going to study catering at a college close to where Mrs Thompson was living, she thought it could be a career option for herself.
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” she said. “I still loved cooking, I still used to cook dinners every Saturday night, I still used to cook savouries and sweets, but I hadn’t actually thought about being a chef.”
After applying for a spot to study at the Highbury College in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, Mrs Thompson was accepted, and began her studies.
“College was the pinnacle of how I am, and where I am, and why I am here today,” Mrs Thompson said.
Unbeknown to her, she attended the college with Masterchef presenter Gary Mehigan, who Mrs Thompson ran into again at a Brisbane Food and Wine Show 35 years later.
“My husband said, ‘you know everyone!’,” Mrs Thompson laughed. “It’s a really small world.”
After spending time in Germany following the completion of her studies, Mrs Thopmson came back to England and became involved in the film industry, with her cakes appearing in BBC programmes and Hollywood blockbuster movies Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason, and Finding Neverland.
“It was a great opportunity,” Mrs Thompson said.
A nine-tier wedding cake for Palazzo Versace, and cakes for The Royal Family and celebrities, such as Calvin Harris, are also on Mrs Thompson’s client list.
“There’s so many things that I’ve done, but it’s all been part of this journey,” she said. “It’s amazing how we all put people on pedestals, but they’re just ordinary people.”
Following a holiday to Australia, they fell in love with the country and decided to move to Logan City. Mrs Thompson and her husband then opened Contemporary Cakes, now 11 years ago.
“My dream was to do this, to have this business,” Ms Thompson said.
Contemporary Cakes, which services and delivers to Brisbane, Logan, Gold Coast and Mount Tamborine, caters for lots of occasions and has a variety of unique baked goods. Ms Thompson also conducts classes in her studio, from advanced cake decorating to kids’s baking classes.
Not only is Ms Thompson a skilled chef, but she is also a voluntary Logan Chamber of Commerce committee member. Ms Thompson has published a collaborative book called ‘Business2Business: A Collaboration of Chapters written by Chamber members’ about growing and connecting small businesses, another passion of hers.
To learn more about Contemporary Cakes, click here.
Click HERE to read more about the South East Queensland Food Trails
