From a young 7-year-old baking peanut butter cookies to recently recreating a sweet spice cake stuffed with three pies inside, it’s no surprise that Elizabeth Crane, 23, is now pastry chef for 13moons.
Elizabeth’s piecake, inspired by a famous Pumpkin Apple Piecake from 3 Brothers Bakery, was a wedding gift for her mother, Karen Lindahl, last March. She spent weeks formulating the recipe. Inside the spice cake were three stacked layers of pecan, apple and pumpkin pie inside.
From an early age, Elizabeth began honing her baking skills. She baked cookies every week for a couple of years, she said — mainly because the ingredients were readily available.
For a while, Karen was the family’s cake queen. Her four children threw out-of-the-box cake ideas at her — everything from a tank cake to a truck-shaped cake hauling cattle behind it. By 12 years old, Elizabeth had taken over cake duty.
“I kind of lost my job as cake maker,” Karen said.
Eventually, friends began hiring Elizabeth to bake cakes for them. Longtime friend Candy Hobbs first met her through church when she was just 5 years old. Candy said Elizabeth’s compassion shows in her artistic delicacies.
Elizabeth baked a jungle-themed baby shower cake last year for Candy’s daughter. It was adorned with monkeys and giraffes made of fondant, a dough-like frosting.
“It was so beautiful. It was hard to cut,” Candy said. “You just looked at it and thought, ‘How can someone do that?’”
Elizabeth also recently made her brother, Trevor Hasenoehrl, a banana-flavored cake for his 22nd birthday. Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, a role playing game, it was complete with fondant dragons, a campfire and monsters. She said they’ve played together every week for the past 13 years.
One key to Elizabeth’s success is her attention to detail and pursuit of improvement. Elizabeth’s mom said she likes to get things right and is constantly evolving her recipes. She remembers an apple pie recipe that she shared with her daughter.
“She made it 10 times better,” Karen said, joking that it couldn’t have been her recipe.
This seemingly natural talent for taking plain recipes and constantly improving them, combined with her passion, helped lead Elizabeth to a career as a pastry chef.
“I tried to discourage her from going to culinary school,” said Karen, “but I’m glad she did.”
Despite Elizabeth’s deliciously decadent recipes, her favorite is cinnamon rolls. As far as baking for newbies goes, she suggests following a recipe step-by-step the first time before altering it — switching out ingredients or seemingly small changes can cause a kitchen calamity.
Try out Elizabeth’s seasonal dessert menu — including her mother’s favorite, Pumpkin Ginger Snap Cheesecake — at 13moons the next time you dine with us!
