Visions of sugarplums take the form of delectable pastries and cakes for Marilyn Barkwell – and all for good causes.
Lucky the bride who was born, raised and gets married on the Granville Road that runs for about 20 kilometres between Granville Ferry and Victoria Beach, in Nova Scotia. She gets her wedding cake made free-of-charge by Marilyn Barkwell, a "retired" dessert caterer who has lived there for the past eight years. There’s usually a bride every year, but this year there were two with the right credentials. And Marilyn lived up to her promise.
"I don’t do this for money, but I tell them if they want to, they can make a donation to the King’s Theatre," she says. The King’s Theatre, in Annapolis Royal, presents live theatre, concerts and other community activities in a heritage building, operating on volunteer funds and a few government grants.
Since Marilyn and her husband, Robert, a doctor in Annapolis Royal, arrived from Ontario, she has been turning out delectable sweets for charitable causes such as the King’s Theatre and, for the first time last December, the O’Dell House Museum, also in Annapolis Royal.
It’s a case of Love’s Labour not Lost on the cultural communities of the Annapolis area. Marilyn is doing what she loves to do, and with most of the ingredients donated, the ticket price goes to help the causes.
Born into a Saskatchewan family of bakers, Marilyn was "a natural" who needed no training other than what she got at home or on the job. During a year spent in France, where she hung out, she says, with a woman who had a little bakery shop, she learned to respect the chemistry that goes to work when flour, butter and ice water blend into a fine pastry.
"There are nit-picky things about the rules of pastry making, and you have to obey those rules or you won’t succeed," she says, adding that patience is also a top requisite.
Some time later, after settling in Dundas, ON, she was invited by the owner of a little Viennese restaurant to "come bake for me." There, for a couple of days a week, she turned out all the traditional classic pastries and earned such a reputation that people were asking her to make cakes for them. It was then that she had an industrial kitchen installed in her home and started a career in catering.
After about five years on her own she met the talented Mark Picone, now the chef at Vineland Estates Winery on the Niagara Peninsula. They decided to work together on catering jobs.
"He did the [main] food and I did the dessert tables, sometimes for 1,000 people" she says. They proved to be a great team during their 10 years of collaboration.
It may be a good thing that Marilyn loves desserts as much as she does. On the other hand, her passion has raised eyebrows when she eats out.
"When I go to a restaurant I order the whole dessert menu. I’ve brought lots of waiters to a breathless halt when I do that," she says. But, with a little help from her friends, she manages to try each of the desserts.
She’s also an avid walker, and spends an hour-and-a-half every day walking on North Mountain with her border collie, Rex.
"If you’re going to be a dessert lover, you must also love walking," she says. "It’s the flip side of the coin."
With the success of the inaugural O’Dell House Museum Christmas dessert party last year, plans are afoot to do it again this year, on December 3. After viewing a gorgeous chocolate ribbon-adorned cake and the caramel chiffon cake, I can’t help wondering how Marilyn can possibly outdo herself in the preparation of even more spectacular desserts. But I’m willing to guess she’ll try.
