Rebecca Bourne, a BYU student, immerses herself in French culture to live out her dream as a baker by learning from the world's best at Le Cordon Bleu.
Bourne was born and raised in southern California and is one of six kids. Her family grew up playing many sports which consumed their Saturdays. Bourne, less interested in the sports world, was left home to cook breakfast for herself on Saturday mornings. With the choice between eggs or a box of cake mix, like any little girl would, she chose cake and began her first bake: cupcakes without frosting. This started her love for baking.
In middle school Bourne began her cake and cupcake baking business, and she has since baked over 1,000 items ranging from kids birthday cupcakes to wedding cakes and everything in between.
“As I got older I started falling in love with making the cakes pretty, and even beyond that I started to fall in love with people's reactions to it," she said. "My mom always says I care just as much about the person's face when I give them the cake as I do about the process of making the cake itself.”
In order to keep up with her growing passion for baking, and dream of opening a bakery, Bourne continued to work hard in school and continue her education in accounting at BYU. She knew an education would be crucial to the logistical side of owning a bakery.
“As I get older and life becomes more realistic, the more I understand that food businesses have a small profit margin because it's more of a passion," she said. "So the dream of owning a bakery would be difficult without the logistical background of accounting.”
With the passion for baking, and hard work in accounting, Bourne's acceptance into the world-renowned culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu, or the Blue Ribbon, was literally the icing on the cake. She applied after her freshman year and was accepted.
"Le Cordon Bleu has made a worldwide contribution to the conservation of the art of French living and French culture," the culinary school's website reads. "Whilst being an independent entity, Le Cordon Bleu’s commitment to expand its network of teaching, research and development of products and services has been globally recognized through working collaboratively with the industry, training and university partners."
The big twist of a mission call came and completely changed Bourne's perspective after the school's acceptance. She found out she had been called to serve in the Paris France mission, in the exact area she would be moving for the school.
“I am fluent in Spanish, and I was so confident that I would get called Spanish speaking, so I totally ruled out Paris,” Bourne said in reaction to the call.
The call to serve her mission was a shock, and the enrollment in Le Cordon Bleu then served as a preparation not only for her future as a baker, but her future as a missionary. The culinary instruction would be given in French with some English translation. So with no prior knowledge of the French language, she would be fully immersed.
"I'm starting to have conversations with people in French and spend time with the missionaries who could end up being my future companions," Bourne said. "It's been insane and a dream and a huge testament to me of how aware God is of me on a personal level.”
Bourne's mother, Mandy Bourne, explained how much she admires her daughter's talents, her ability to share them and the intent care she shows in developing this talent.
“She spends so much time thinking about how to make a treat exactly how someone would like it, decorate it just as they would hope or dream, making sure the flavors are just what they would like," Mandy Bourne said. "She tests the recipes, remakes them if they don’t turn out perfect. Knowing the hours, days and sometimes weeks Rebecca puts into making a cake makes me want to show more appreciation and gratitude for and take more joy in all of the lovely gifts our Savior has provided me.”
Rebecca Bourne's passion to bake has completely changed her life. It has taken her across the world, taught her a new language, driven her studies in accounting and taught her how to bake much more than just boxed cupcakes without frosting.
“It's next level art,” she said. "Creating and mixing flavors for a specific person and monumental event takes so much time and effort that it has become art for me. A piece of me goes into each cake."