Fit for a King
Words: Michelle Wallace IG @my.michelle.w
Photography: Sergey Yusin @sergey_yusin
Wardrobe: Jaxson Maximus @jaxsonmaximus
Make-up: Julia Brig @juliabrigmia
style | June 01, 2021
A Touch of Sweetness With a Little Bit of Sin
Jae Camino, who grew up in The Bronx, never imagined as a child that he would become a chef later on in life. A tennis prodigy at an early age, Jae spent most of his childhood playing tennis on the courts of NYC, eventually leading to a #1 ranking in the state at 12 years old.
Aside from swinging a racket, Jae also loved spending time in his mother’s kitchen helping her make dishes and cakes for events that she was catering. He learned much about food from her and always tells people, “I graduated from the culinary school of my mama’s kitchen.” Jae’s mom taught him how to make classic Filipino cuisine and desserts at a very young age.
After attending college with a degree in business, Jae decided to pursue a career in marketing and events where he learned a lot about the ins and outs of the industry. Jae would later use these skills to help.create his own businesses. However, In October of 2010, tragedy struck as Jae was on his way home from work. He was crossing the street when a cab hit him. The hit-and-run situation put Jae in a hospital with broken bones, nerve damage and other ailments that would take him over a year to fully recover from.
During this time of recovery, Jae decided he did not want to continue working in the corporate world, and decided to focus instead on his true passion – FOOD. Specifically, Jae’s passion was in creating custom cakes and desserts. It was always his creative outlet while working in the business world, creating custom made cakes for friends and family on weekends during his time off. Coming to the conclusion that he wanted to start his own dessert company, Jae designed a logo and created a website for “Jae’s Sinful Delights.”
“Jae’s Sinful Delights” started out with catering desserts for not-for-profit events in NYC. This helped get the word out of his new specialty dessert company. After a year of working events in the concrete jungle, Jae made the move to a different jungle – Miami.
He started catering private dinners and not-for-profit events in “The Magic City.” The energy and tropical weather of Miami were a significant plus for Jae, but after three years in South Florida, he had an opportunity to open up a brick and mortar bakery in Panama City Beach, FL.
Growing up in NYC, Jae had no idea what to expect opening a food establishment in Northwest Florida. “Now that I look back on it, it was such a great learning experience opening up my first store in a location where people were always celebrating an occasion on the beach – especially weddings,” says Jae. He would later go on to win “Best Desserts” in Bay County from the Panama City Living Magazine People’s Choice Awards. “I was honored that in a little over a year, the people of Bay County embraced my concept.”
During his time in Northwest Florida, Jae was also a competitor on the Food Network show,“Bakers vs Fakers.” He was thrilled to be a part of the second season and had a wonderful time creating desserts for the viewers. “It was a little surreal filming and seeing myself on TV, but I would definitely do it again.”
After three years of creating cakes and desserts in Panama City Beach, Jae decided to relocate his business back to Miami. He always loved the vibe of this city and was already familiar with the landscape. He is looking forward to opening up a “Jae’s Sinful Delights” custom cake and dessert shop in Coral Gables along with his new venture, “PLANTATUDE,” which specializes in plant-based confections. “I’m extremely excited to give the people of Miami an array of high-quality desserts and artistic cakes to choose from.”