By Elizabeth Kronlage ’18

Breaking stereotypes, Jason Braverman is a male technology teacher who loves to bake. Years ago as a student at Hobart and William Smith College in New York, Braverman discovered his interest in cake baking while working in the school cafeteria.

“I made main courses, I ran the omelet station, but first I worked for a period of time in the cafeteria and moved my interest towards the bakery. I had made cakes before taking classes,” Braverman said.

After developing his skills in baking classes, Braverman found that the best way to get people together in college was to offer them free desert. Braverman thinks of cake baking more as a hands-on hobby with an edible component.

“I am more into the sculpture aspect of it than the experimenting with the recipe side of things, so I typically just follow the directions on the back of a funfetti cake mix,” Braverman explained. The students in his tech classes are assigned to do a project each semester, and he bakes a cake at the end relating to that topic. Braverman still bakes cakes for his students as well as for special occasions outside of school.

Not only does Braverman bake cakes, he even helped design the floor plan for Fraiche Cupcakery, a cupcake shop located in Bethesda, which has recently closed. Braverman sill bakes cakes for his students as well as for special occasions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays and so on. On Thanksgiving, he didn’t bake a cake; he baked cupcakes shaped like turkeys.

“My favorite cakes have been ones in silly shapes,” said Braverman, who owns every book in the “Hello Cupcakes” series and has baked most of its recipes. He also watches shows such as “Cake Boss” and “Ace of Cakes” to see what cakes stand out to him. Braverman has a very big imagination, and likes to make desserts for his students and family so that it can help them connect and make memories with his creative cakes.