I will never forget how long it took me . Ultimately , it took me 24 hours to finish that cake without sleeping and from that experience I swore to myself that I would never make a fondant cake ever again in my life .
After this experience , I explored all the other mediums . I soon realised that for me buttercream is a more versatile medium and I could create with it in a much faster time . When I made my first buttercream cake after this one , I made it in two hour ’ s time and I felt it looked much , much better in terms of the overall design and technique than the one that I made with fondant . For example , I was able to quickly achieve straight edges and a very smooth texture on my cake , so I immediately fell in love with buttercream .
So , once I fell in love with buttercream , I challenged myself to always try new things and to see what ’ s possible with it . The rest is history .
WHAT DO YOU FEEL HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES SO FAR WITH RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS ? One of the things that I found hard at the beginning was having English as a second language . There were times when it was challenging to make a deal or when I wanted to explain something to a client , especially when my cakes are not as traditional as the ones that you find in the market . It took me a while to figure out that my cakes could also speak for themselves thanks to Instagram . Just by having good photos of my cakes , I could grow my business quickly outside of the people in my social circles even though I didn ' t grow up in Brisbane .
OUTSIDE OF CAKE DECORATING / BAKING , WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ? One thing that has always been a passion for me is fashion . And one of my hobbies has been altering my clothes to make sure that they fit well . Recently , I ' ve decided to test myself by trying to make my clothes completely from scratch , including making my own patterns , which has been a great challenge that has also has given me some new inspiration for cakes .
I have always loved to take photos too and have really enjoyed learning more about photography as I started taking my own pictures of my cakes . This hobby has become part of my job as a cake designer . I used to take good photos of the products I used , as my way to pay them back for how their products are essential for my work . Some of these brands started using them for their websites and this has grown into a new little side hustle , where some sponsors or suppliers send me for samples or pay me for my pics .
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO SHARE WITH DECORATORS / BAKERS THAT ARE JUST STARTING OUT ? I go back to the saying that I always tell my students . Focus on being the best in one thing . It doesn ' t need to be buttercream , it could even just be flowers or being the best at making chocolate molds . But just be the best in one thing . When you start to pick two or you start to work with too many different mediums - buttercream , fondant , chocolate , sugar paste – you can only learn so much . You can create very good things , but you will never be the best in one of those ones . So , this is my biggest recommendation for someone who starting in this industry . The market Is very flooded or there are many people who are interested in cake making and cake design and want to get into the industry . So , the only way that you ' re really going to stand out from the crowd and be noticed when there ' s so much competition is if you focus on one thing and you do it well .