Asheville’s Whisk Owner Meg Schearer Whips up Joy in her Kitchen… Even at 3am

By meg hale brunton

As a child, Whisk owner Meg Schearer was sure she would grow up to become a veterinarian, teacher, or do something in theatre. Instead, she found herself thrown into the world of baking. “I really didn’t get the baking bug until I got a job at a bakery in town where I learned my passion was for baking,” she explains, “and I happened to be just a little bit good at it.”

After working as a front of house manager at the bakery for a while, Meg was trained in the kitchen and worked what she refers to as “the dreaded muffin shift.” It was called that because the employees’ shifts began at 4am so they could prep the dough. Shortly after Meg started, the bakery’s dessert chef put in her notice two weeks before the beginning of wedding season. Though she didn’t feel qualified for the role yet, Meg accepted the position. 

Meg remained head dessert chef for over six years. The bakery got busier, and went from making six or seven wedding cakes every few months, to making around a hundred quarterly. Then, she was unexpectedly laid off. “Without that gentle nudge out the window, I would not have climbed the building,” she explains.

In February 2016, Meg struck out on her own and started her own bakery, Whisk. She rented out the kitchens of local restaurants that were closed in the afternoons to do her baking. She went on to rent Westville Pub’s kitchen while they were closed for renovations. She started making the bread and desserts for the pub while also baking and decorating for her customers, but eventually realized she needed more space. “The third time someone elbowed a wedding cake in the walk-in, I said, ‘Okay, we need to figure something out,’” she says, laughing. 

In 2019, Meg opened Whisk in its current location on Smokey Park Highway in Asheville, North Carolina. She was pleased to find that her customers were willing to follow her wherever she moved. The location is the only drive thru bakery in Candler, which her customers seem to love. The space is small, but accommodates Meg and her father adequately. “Dad and I have a really good thing going on here. He’s my right-hand man.” They start work together in the wee hours of the morning, and operate the window from 7am to 1pm.

Undeniably, Whisk’s best seller is their cinnamon rolls. They are Meg’s own recipe, which include her secret ingredient: a lot of butter. The rolls are as big as your face, and Whisk sometimes sells eighty in a day. “They are what put us on the map,” she acknowledges. “People come from all over Western North Carolina to get them.”

One of the things Meg loves most about her job is getting the opportunity to use her artistic abilities to decorate birthday cakes. She hand-draws all the designs on her cakes, starting by outlining the image with toothpicks. Crafting something for a celebration makes her feel a particular sense of accomplishment.

Though she loves her cakes, Meg’s favorite thing to bake is bread. “Bread is so much more nourishing and more versatile. Bread is very elemental,” she says. Meg says she feels a strange connection to all the bakers of different cultures across the world, who are all waking up early in the morning, and going through the same motions and movements to prepare their bread. To her, that’s worth getting up for.

Meg has put her all into her business – it is her life. “Anybody who owns a business of any kind needs to know that you’re going to be living it. It’s your life, and if you don’t think that’s what it is, then maybe you should not do it,” she warns young entrepreneurs. She also encourages taking business classes and being willing to accept help. “I’m definitely proof that hard work pays off. Anything that’s good is worth working this hard for.”

Despite her love of her work, Meg is making it a goal to make herself more of a priority in her life and take more time off in 2023. “My work has to come first. It is such an incredible priority that it makes me miss out on a lot of things,” she explains. Meg says she hasn’t taken a vacation in years, misses out on gatherings with friends, and hasn’t seen a Widespread Panic (of whom she is a huge fan) show in forever. 

Meg recommends new bakers take notes on everything they are learning. She remarks that having your math and measurements written down is a great way to prevent early-morning baking mistakes. She also encourages taking photos of everything you make. 

While she has been a professional baker for many years now, Meg enjoys her job and couldn’t see herself doing anything else. “I have genuine joy for what I do, still, after this long. I’m still so very proud of it even after all this time,” she says of her baking. “Getting up at 3 in the morning, you gotta have some joy.”

For more information on Whisk, visit their website: www.whiskavl.com

Meg’s Easy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

¾ stick of Butter

2 oz. Cream Cheese

1 Egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 tsp. Milk

¼ cup Vegetable Oil

1 ¼ cup Sugar

2 ½ cup all purpose Flour

1 tsp. Baking powder

½ tsp. Baking soda

½ tsp. Salt

Instructions:

Melt butter and pour over cream cheese in a mixing bowl while still hot. Add other ingredients and mix well. Add tablespoon size balls onto greased cookie sheet and flatten (optional: roll cookie balls in sugar before putting onto sheet). Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. For added flavor, add lemon zest, or dried strawberries to the batter before baking.