(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Sandra Brumfield has been artistic across different mediums. She studied fashion in France in college and worked as a nail tech for 20 years, all the while baking with her mom and grandmother.
Around the economic downturn of 2008, she decided to enroll in the French Pastry School in Chicago.
“Some people, they just go into baking. Me, I wanted more formal training,” Brumfield tells WBBM Newsradio.
Her business, Sweet Nouveau, began with custom wedding cakes, and Brumfield added caramels as favors for wedding guests.
“Next thing I know I’m getting calls about ‘Can we get caramel favors?’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’”
When that side of the business took off, she offered traditional caramel flavors like salted and vanilla. But Brumfield’s desire for something different led to her cracked pepper cashew and her most popular flavor, Mexican chili. The heat tends to sneak up on people.
Not all of her ideas have been winners, such as a ginger caramel. She said her attempt to blend beer and pretzel flavors also was disappointing, though she may revisit it.
Brumfield hopes to eventually open a store, but for now she makes her sweets in a commercial kitchen in Hammond and sells them online.
Sweet Nouveau also keeps a busy schedule at various markets across the Chicago area.
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