From custom cakes to beignets, a Sacramento pastry star answers our searing questions.

Owner of SpiderMonkey ’s Dessert Studio and award-winning pastry chef Jamie Mack knows her way around a cake. The Sacramento native has decorated thousands of them. She started as a teen, decorating ice cream cakes at Baskin-Robbins in Greenhaven. She went on to work as a production decorator for all Nugget Market stores. “I loved it,” she says. “That’s where I honed my skill set for decorating.” 

In 2010, Mack took a break to spend more time with her daughter, but customers wouldn’t let her put down her pastry bag. They sought her out with special requests, such as a cake that looked like a slot machine, and SpiderMonkey’s Dessert Studio was born. 

A win on HBO’s “Baketopia” elevated Mack to sugary stardom, and she opened a brick-and-mortar bakery and “dessert studio” in Arden Fair. Its specialty: beignets, the fried pastry staple of New Orleans. But what does she really love to eat on a chilly fall evening? Cobbler — especially with an extra thick crust. We sat down with the creative cake maker and cobbler enthusiast to learn more.

Q: What’s in the name SpiderMonkey?

JM: It’s a nickname from my uncle. As a baby, I just climbed up on everybody like a monkey. It stuck.

Q: Why beignets?

JM: After [“Baketopia” in 2021], I wanted to discontinue custom cakes. I wanted to do something I could teach other people to do, so my business didn’t live and die only with me. I started with cream cakes. Then, a friend of a friend who loved New Orleans and beignets, asked if I could make some. I said yes, but I didn’t know for sure if it was right. Next week, my sister and I flew to New Orleans, and I ate as many beignets as I could. I incorporated all the things I liked into one — fluffy on the inside, crispy on the edges, different flavors. I feel I got it to my satisfaction. Then we started making them for food festivals and events. 

Q: What makes yours different? 

JM: All the elements that people love about beignets — texture, slightly crispy, fluffy inside. Most people just fry dough and call it a beignet. Ours is truly a beignet. It’s our recipe and definitely different. The flavor is our own blend of spice mix.

Q: What would you choose: pie or cobbler?

JM: If I have to make it, I choose cobbler. If I’m dining out, and at Real Pie Co., it’s definitely pie. I don’t like making pies; cake is my thing, and I stay in my lane. At home, I do a really great cobbler — I love apple cobbler. I’m a crust girl, and pies just don’t have enough crust. I like big crust. Cobbler crust is my favorite; it has body. I eat [cobbler] warm. I’m a purist — just plain, no ice cream. 

Q: What’s your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?

JM: I have two. First is my veggie chopper, my choppy thingy. It’s a rectangle with a grid of blades; you push the fruit through it. My chef friends hate it. I went to culinary school, so I have knife skills, but most of the chopping I do is just diced. With my choppy thingy, I can fly through any fruit. It’s so fast and a perfect dice. Second is my immersion blender. It saves my life, I love it so much. I use it for all my sauces. It’s my secret ingredient for sweet potato pie. It gets the strings out — puréed, they come out silky smooth. 

Q: Do you have a favorite fall ingredient?

JM: My spice mix. It brings a warmth to anything you put it in. It’s like a perfect fall ingredient no matter what you’re making. It’s well balanced — cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. 

Q: And your favorite fall beverage?

JM: Eggnog with Skrewball [whiskey] is my favorite during the holidays, and I only drink it during the holidays. 

Q: What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever tried to make?

JM: In custom cakes, anything shaped like a car. People asked me to sculpt cars all the time — it’s so difficult. It never looks like the car.