hans westermark
ELEVATES THE ART OF BAKING
B Y F R I T T S C A U S B Y
ALLISON POTTER ALLISON POTTER
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com 61
WBM
wILMINGTON, known for its history and
azaleas, the Battleship North Carolina, and
Dawson’s house, offers a newer claim to
fame: the renowned cake decorating of Hans Westermark.
Raised by a family of bakers, Westermark traveled to
Pennsylvania during the summer of 1990 to work in his
grandfather’s bakery.
“I didn’t realize this was going to be the start of the rest of
my life,” he says.
Westermark returned home to Wilmington to finish
high school and got a job at Apple Annie’s Bake Shop that
mainly involved cleaning up. Fearing that his artwork
would be ruined if he left it in the car, Westermark started
bringing it inside. Bakery owner Gary Longordo recog-nized
his talent, along with his work ethic and experience
working for his grandfather, and asked him to become an
apprentice.
After seven years at the bake shop, Westermark did an
exchange program in Switzerland for 18 months to learn
the Swiss way of baking. He returned to Wilmington in
1999 with a new set of skills, which he successfully inte-grated
into the baked goods.
For the first 20 years, Westermark worked side-by-side
with Longordo decorating cakes. After Longordo sold the
business, Westermark became the only cake decorator, a
position he’s held for the past 10 years.
“I’ve learned a lot because I like to experiment a lot,”
says Westermark, who has been featured in national and
international media outlets.
“My style is very old school apparently, partially because
I use parchment for decorating instead of pre-formed plastic
bags,” he says.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com HANS WESTERMARK