WADESBORO — Owner of Liyahs Sweet Tooth, Aaliyah Crawford, has always known one of her God-given talents lies in the kitchen, specifically, with the oven.
A classically trained baker, Crawford attended Johnson and Wales University where she learned to hone the skills the Crawford family handed down to her.
“I’ve always known how to bake. I just needed to learn how to decorate,” said Crawford. “I learned all about making dough from scratch, french pastries, fundamentals of baking; to knife cuts, making chocolates, making breads, cake decorating and then decorating cakes with fondant and even making entrants.”
Crawford started baking in middle school, quickly learning there was a ravenous demand for her baked treats.
“I remember in high school I made a brown sugar cupcake and it had candied sugar which I made from making caramel,” said Crawford. “I would even offer stuff to my New Tech teachers back in the day. Once I saw that people liked them, I knew I wanted to continue baking, and my goal was to perfect my passion.”
She recalls avidly watching shows like Cake Boss — eager to see other people succeeding at her dream.
“Cooking and baking runs in my family,” she said. “My dad Jamie Crawford could cook his butt off and his mother, Ruth, baked all the time. Once I knew it ran in the family, I wanted to carry on the legacy. Rest in Heaven to my pops.”
She admits her daddy never wanted to criticize her dishes, but that just like a mom, she could always find complete honesty there.
“My mom was always the one telling me what I needed to work on,” said Aaliyah, who said she was always grateful for the advice.
While everyone universally loves Crawford’s cookies, her favorite thing to make has always been cupcakes.
“I watched Cupcake Wars all the time, and it helped me try and find different flavors to make and how to make different icings. It helped me see how creative the competitors were on the show. I loved it,” she fondly recalls.
Crawford grew up watching all types of cooking shows, often finding herself glued to the Food Network, her go-tos being Cupcake Wars and The Pioneer Woman.
“My go to is actually Cupcake Wars. It doesn’t show on TV anymore, but that’s one of my dreams, to get to bake on TV and compete in the challenges. At a young age, I would write down all my recipes on note cards and different tablets and practice making things I found on the Food Network website,” recollects Crawford.
A hard-working single mom, Crawford spent Thanksgiving cranking out baked goods for Ansonians, ensuring their Thanksgiving would be as memorable as her desserts.
“My most popular dishes were sweet potato cheesecake, cookies and cream cookies. My family absolutely loves my cookies even down to the little kids. Kids are sometimes hard to please,” laughed Crawford. “But I almost wished I made double the cookies.”
“This Christmas I left it up to the customers to order whatever they wanted. I (ended) up making a banana pudding, red velvet cakes and brownies for sure,” said Crawford with all the confidence of a Southern dessert-maker who knows her market.
“Everyone seems to love my cookies. They are so soft and melt in your mouth. My top flavors would be cookies and cream, chocolate chip, strawberry and cream and sugar cookies. You can’t go wrong with a nice soft chewy cookie. Brownies would be number two on that list because I love how fudgy my brownies are and I offer different flavors.”
Orders can be placed with Liyahs Sweet Tooth on Nicole Aaliyah’s Facebook page.
Reach Lauren Monica at lmonica@ansonrecord.com
