Every now and then, we all wonder what it would be like to switch jobs and try something else for a day. Our Amy Erickson's been giving it a try lately. This month, she traded in her microphone for an apron at Frank's Bake Shop in Bangor:

Ok, I'll admit I went into this one pretty confident.

I fancy myself a decent baker at home...but I was about to get a serious reality check.

Bernadette Gaspar threw me an apron and put me right to work.

"I think we oughta try you on cake decorating."

Easy enough, right?

A little frosting, a few decorations...not quite.

The first secret I learned?

Pile on the frosting...when you think you have too much...add more.

"If you do not you're gonna get crumbs in the frosting."

Maddie's one of the professional decorators at Frank's...she gave me some tips for perfect frosting.

"Look at you with the wrist action! It's a lot in the wrist...seriously!"

And just when I think it's looking pretty good...

"Alright, what do you think of these sides? Bernadette? Well, I can see some bare spots. Maybe Maddie can help you. We don't want to be embarrassed."

That's where the paddle comes in.

And see how she spins the platter as she goes?

Not nearly as easy as it looks.

"this spin takes a long time to get down. I don't know how you do this!"

Finally...

"I'm pretty proud of that. That looks pretty good. That was hard, though! Took a lot longer than I thought."

That was nothing.

Next came decorations.

Maddie tells me I'm doing a scallop trim with a star tip...and gives me a quick lesson.

"Seriously?!!"
"oh, God! How did you do that? Oh, this looks horrible."

From there it was on to making flowers...again, Maddie makes it look effortless.

"There's no way."

Ok, so mine is a tad wilted...but still recognizable...and edible.

But I'm too tired to eat.

"How's your arm, is it tired? Yeah, actually. Yeah, my wrist is."

Next, there are cookies to be made...so we head for the dough.

My assignment?

Glazed butterfly cookies.

"There goes your raise! Stick that right back in there."

Bernadette says it's easy for home bakers to get overwhelmed in a place like this.

"If I had to pay you for that cookies, i'd have to triple the cost because of the time it takes you to get it out."

But I finally got them made and into the oven...along with some cakes...and with all those shelves cranking out goodies all day long...we're talking some serious heat.

Takes some getting used to.

"Ow!"

At the end of the day, I got my review from Bernadette.

"I think you did a wonderful job, I really did. And you only got a little bit of a sunburn in the oven. But you didn't get a burn! That's good."

So do I have a future as a baker?

"I think reporter is good. You make a good reporter."

Amy is always looking for suggestions for her next job swap.

If you have an idea, you can email her at aerickson@wabi.tv.

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