Adriana Perez Barrios – Baker

Adriana attends the Washington City Church of the Brethren in DC. She has been baking cakes for over two years. Enjoy photos of some of her cakes and her process in creating them!

To keep up with Adriana and her beautifully baked creations, follow her on Instagram @manosenlamasa

Describe how your spirituality connects with your creative process?

“When I am baking I feel closer to to God. I think it is because I am able to go through what happened in my day and speak with God like if he was there baking with me. I think the connection between my spirituality and creativity comes more when I am decorating the cake. When I decorate a cake I think about the wonderful things of God’s creation, flowers, leaves, trees, snow etc, and I think wow, God has to really be powerful and merciful to make and give of all this beauty.”

WHY do you create?

“First, I make cakes because they are delicious and when I give them to people I am giving love, for me it is a way to let people know they are special to me. Also I create because it is a opportunity to make art. I always wanted to know how to paint and draw but I am really bad at it, so I discovered that I am better creating forms and shaping an idea with butter and flour. Somehow it is easier for me to ”paint” or make drawings using butter cream, cream cheese or whipping cream. It is smoother and easier to correct if I make an error.  When I bake I feel free and ideas for decoration flow pretty easily. It also de-stresses and gives me inner peace, plus makes me feel productive in those days that there is no where to go or nothing to do.”

How has the pandemic (if at all) affected your creative process?

“Since coronavirus I create more content, and emphasize more than anything making flour cakes,  perhaps because we are home and there are less things to do. Also because there is some kind of satisfaction and sentimentality about eating a cake.  Before I was making all kind of desserts, like cheese cakes, mouse cake, cookies etc. But now I am just making flour cakes, and also creating some simple videos about the process I go through when I make and decorate the cake. The videos are more about trying to establish connection with people and making the social distance less harsh.”