Inspired by 'The Cake Boss,' Princeton Teen Launches Baking Business

Lizzie Frieder, 17, has been making birthday and special occassion cakes for her family and friends for years. 

In March 2011, during her sophomore year in high school, the Princeton Township teen entered her first baking contest, "Bake with the Cake Boss."

Frieder won second prize, a mixer, and the approval of master baker Buddy Valastro of Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken and TLC's "The Cake Boss." Frieder's entry was a double layer chocolate cake with melted dark and white chocolate panels on the side of the cake.

“He (Buddy) said it was good, that it was moist and chocolaty,” Frieder said. “I was thinking it’s just a hobby and I’ll see how it goes. Then I got second place and he’s my baking idol so when he said it was good, I decided to take it further.”

Using her family’s kitchen as home base, Frieder launched to launch her own business, Baked by Lizzie, in the fall of 2011. She takes cake and cupcake orders through her website.

Customers can choose their filling, icing and decoration, although she says often customers give her free reign when it comes to decorating. Prices vary, but an average cake that feeds 10-12 people costs about $30. Frieder delivers cakes within driving distance and can also ship her creations.

Everything she makes is homemade and says she is always experimenting with new and different flavors.

“I think every one of my cakes keeps getting better and better because I’m getting better and better skills so my most recent ones are my favorite ones,” she said.

Her parents helped her launch the business, but Frieder says she’s now making a profit, which allows her to pay for her own baking materials and also save some money.

Frieder bakes while also attending Princeton Day School, where she will be a senior in September.

At PDS, she plays soccer, lacrosse and ice hockey and has developed a passion for the Chinese language and culture. She can hold a conversation in Mandarin (with limited vocabulary) and has been to China for visits during the past two summers, including stays with families, hiking and touring.

This year she will apply to colleges, probably in the northeast or Midwest, although she said she hasn’t yet narrowed down her list of choices. She hopes to major in Chinese or media studies.

Frieder began baking as a child with her babysitter. Later, she became interested in not only baking, but also cake decoration. She often watches online videos and then practices the same cake decorating ideas at home.

Her older twin sisters, Ali and Jess, 19, sometimes help her and Frieder says her friends often want to come watch her bake and be her sous chef.

“That’s fun,” she said.

Frieder said her great-grandmother was known for her baking skills.  

“I never met her but she had a lot of recipes that she handed down so she was a good baker apparently,” Frieder said, adding that she started off baking one of her great-grandmother’s specialties, a moist chocolate chip cake, for family holidays.

Frieder says she will enter more baking contests if she can find them. And she hopes to visit The Cake Boss' store, Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, despite the rumored long lines.

“I think it would be really cool to go there someday,” she said.