field guide #3 take a shot everytime I say diva

a conversation with Maegan, founder of smother

I first heard of Maegan, aka Smother, when someone at work recommended her for cakes. When I saw her cakes, I was in awe, and immediately dm’d her saying that I thought her cakes were incredible, which led to us deciding that we needed be friends (a lesson to be more chalant when it comes to making friends!!!!)

When we caught up, I realised that behind the cake, she is also a film obsessive, a self described diva, and that physically incapable of looking at anything without seeing a potential cake.

MAEGAN’S FIELD GUIDE:

things she's thinking about, consuming, and returning to

binging survivor It’s a bit off brand for my normal media consumption, but personally I’ve been recently really inspired by it. Each contestant has to form or break alliances, and ultimately have to learn to trust themselves. As a small business owner, trying to balance multiple aspects of running your own business, it’s easy to get swept up with what other people are thinking. What it makes me realise, is how important it is to have the trust in myself and my instinct, instead of being swept up by the algorithm.

top hats yes, like the magician top hats that you pull a bunny out of. There’s something really magical to me about what it symbolizes and I think I would look cunty as fuck with a top hat (i don’t know if I can swear on this). I think they can be really high fashion and so stupid. If anyone knows where I can get a good top hat let me know. Also I’ll probably make it into a cake anyways, sorry!

alien I’ve spoken a lot about this with you, Amni, but I love this movie the most. My girl, Sigourney Weaver, my bush out queen. Side note, she refused to shave her bush for the movie and thats powerful to me and very inspiring.

gourmands are really having a moment right now. When I was in the US, I visited a lot of perfumeries and picked up some very special goodies. I cant stop smelling them, I want to eat them. There’s this one called Fat Electrician. Its kind of yummy but also mechanical. Also, Unknown Pleasures by Kerosene, it’s earl grey, caramel, vanilla, bergamot lemon. I just can’t wait to make this into a cake, I want to eat it. I love weird stuff like that.

david lynch He has such a unique language and way of describing the world that is filled with both hope and despair!! I’ve really been thinking a lot lately about creating a Blue Velvet cake. There’s so much texture to the movie that I’d love to work with! I’m really interested in working more with movement lately (like with the fire horse cake). I’d also love to bring Lost Highway to the cake world. I picture the iconic shots of the highway lanes, where instead of coming directly at you, they’re swirling around as the cake spins on its table.

stardew valley I love playing it. Maybe its the small business owner in me, but I love working on my little digital farm, decorating my house, andhitting the mines like a blue collar worker. I play a lot. I have an undisclosed amount of hours on that game.

madonna She’s a capital D diva, I think she invented having eras. I love that her personal brand is so strong that she can constantly be evolving, and still remain true to herself. I love you Madonna, please adopt me.

ANIMAL PRINT IS A NEUTRAL WE’RE NOT ARGUING ABOUT THIS.

IN MAEGAN’S FIELD:

Why ‘smother?’

My best friend, CC, she actually helped me come up with the name. In the American South, a smother is a sauce that you cover your food in. Its such an interesting word because theres a lot of good but there can be a dark side. You can smother somebody with your love and affection. How a mother will smother her children. Theres a sexual element.

where does a cake start for you?

Just like every other bitch, I like Pinterest.

But also, it sometimes starts from a word or a feeling. Sometimes people will tell me they want their cake to feel like a party. Or a bathroom tile. One time, I was walking through a shop and I saw a bedazzled pinstripe shirt, and I thought, you know, what I cant afford that, but I can make that into a cake. So yeah, I made it into a cake.

Tell us about the Fire Horse cake!!

I made a conceptual cake to celebrate the year of the fire horse. I made a zoetrope in cake form. A zoetrope was the early form of animation, using an apparatus that spins to create the illusion of moving pictures. I based the cake based on one of the earliest films ever made, “Sallie Gardner at a Gallop”. The film was originally made to study the galloping patterns of a horse, and was basically the first film ever made. I had the idea to put that on the sides of the cake, so when you spun it, it would show the gallop of the horse.

Side note: whats really cool is that the jockey in the film, was a Black man, making the star of the first ever film, a Black man. The Chinese New Year also happened in February which also coincided with Black History Month. Yeah, it was a very cool cake to make because I’m a huge film enthusiast, and to be able to merge two of my great passions was very special.

was Smother’s aesthetic always this clear?

Never. When I first started out, I called it Sweetie Hut Juniors (the real ones know that is a Spongebob reference). Believe it or not, it wasn’t really connecting with my target audience. Smother didn’t even start out as cakes. So yeah, as I figured out what I wanted to do, I had to rebrand.

My roots run deep, and undeniably influences my aesthetic. A lot of Americana comes out in my brand, which is what I’m building it on. And I’ve also transformed that a lot more into a diva. Smother’s a diva.

if Smother were a person who would it be?

Well, Smother is kind of my baby, but Smother is also me. My most exaggerated and fully realized diva self is expressed through Smother.

There is also a very introspective and surreal head-in-the-clouds element to it. It would definitely be Betty Boop meets Alice in Wonderland. Or Barbarella is a good one, such an outer space baddie.

what do you know about yourself now that you didn’t before starting Smother

I would say two things. I did not realise how much of a creative person I was. I think a lot of people find it hard to call themselves creative. It feels like a box to put yourself in, or a pedestal. But becoming more comfortable with that part of myself has made my work better and better.

Also, I feel like I didn’t realise how much of a work ethic I had. I did not know that I had it in me to grind and hustle and start my own business. I never thought that would be me. And, so I'm really proud of myself.

what would Smother never make?

Someone else’s cake design without credit.

most ridiculous brief you’ve received

LOW KEY, any and every time someone has sent me an AI generated cake. Respectfully, disrespectfully, get that shit outta my face. I really don’t need AI to be creative for me. Also, AI does not know shit about cake okay!

a cultural moment that felt very Smother?

For Paris Hilton’s 21st birthday, she held a party in a nightclub and brought twenty one cakes in the club for the party. That’s very Smother coded.

If you want to work with Maegan and get a beautiful diva cake made, make sure to contact her at hello@smother.world!! 🎀🎂💅🏼