LCC student Shelbie Rife cuts the skin off a blood orange for a compote during a baking class in the center building (Photo by Eugene Johnson)

Sixteen months ago, LCC student Shelbie Rife found a future in cupcakes.

As you enter her North Eugene home, you’re instantly met with Michael Jackson blaring in the kitchen from her iPad.

Shelbie is in the kitchen, making red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The smell lingers in the kitchen, where she is smiling and patiently awaiting her final product.

Shelbie, who has already received an associate’s of arts degree in culinary arts, is back at LCC working on a degree in hospitality management. She says she has applied a lot from her learning at LCC into her small business, My Buttery Fingers.

“Her dad and I are in business (Rife’s Home Furniture),” says Tammy Rife, Shelbie’s mother, “I think it’s cool that she’s trying to dabble (and) learning the pitfalls. She’s learning as she goes.”

She caters to customers who are holding events in Lane County — including bridal showers, weddings, baby showers and other customers, with a wide selection of delectable recipes.

What started as finding different recipes on the Internet soon blossomed into creating her own recipes from scratch – something she has mastered in the last year and a half.

“I just started on Internet recipes,” Shelbie says. “Then I started making my own recipes, using what I’ve learned from culinary school.”

Some of those recipes include fan favorites: Cherry Coke, coconut almond and snickerdoodle cupcakes to name a few.

Shelbie has mastered more than 1,000 different types of cupcakes.

“I can make any cupcake that you can imagine,” she says. “Business has been really good.”

Shelbie bakes from home and hopes to someday open up her own shop when the time presents itself.

“I’d love to own my own shop,” she says. “Maybe somewhere like Seattle or another big city.”

Shelbie’s grandfather, Donald L. Jones, says the sky is the limit for his granddaughter.

“I could see her having her own bakery,” Jones says. “I think she would do quite well. She can cook anything.”

“I’ve been really proud of her for sticking with it,” he says. “Nowadays so many kids give up. But she stuck with it. It’s exciting to see her do something she really loves. If you can find something you love, it’s not work.”

“My ultimate dream would be to have a lingerie and cupcake business. People would be able to take classes there. I have always admired (women like) Kat Von D from L.A. Ink and Marilyn Monroe,” Shelbie says.

Shelbie’s own culinary tastes make her a unique cupcake chef.

“I don’t even like cupcakes,” she says with a smile. “I take one bite of my cupcake and check for moistness and texture, and then I set it down.”

Shelbie bases all of her recipes on customer feedback. She says her father, Kevin, acts as her “designated taste tester.”

Prices for her cupcakes vary, depending on the ingredients and the amount ordered. Her base price is $15 per dozen.

Shelbie Rife bakes red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting in her north Eugene home (Photo by Eugene Johnson)

“I do it all from scratch,” Shelbie says. “Some people think it’s expensive and some people don’t.”

Baking cupcakes hasn’t always been a walk in the park for Rife. She said the amount of good times in the industry has overshadowed the amount of bad. But hard times are bound to happen.

“I’ve sat on the ground crying,” Shelbie says. “It hasn’t always been easy. Cupcakes have collapsed.”

“One weekend I had to do 500 cupcakes for all different things. It was intense. It always seems like I get all the orders all at once,” she says.

Tammy enjoys watching her daughter excel and seeing Shelbie “pleased with herself and enjoying what she’s doing.”

Shelbie started as a pastries chef at The Hilton Hotel, where she started creating her cupcakes and soon realized that there was a calling there.

“It got me excited about it,” Shelbie says of her experience at The Hilton Hotel.

This term Shelbie is taking her first baking class. Many might assume that it would come natural, but she begs to differ.

“I’m nervous,” she says. “I do things my own way. Now I have to work in groups and be somewhat civil.”

 

Jon Fuccillo

Features Editor

Phone: (503) 705-4406
E-mail: jonfuccillo@lcctorch.com