This is me, Emily Bohane, and I love baking always have and always will. I grew up in a family where homemade cakes and cookies were very popular and if you could be the one to provide them, then so were you. Because of this everyone in my family really enjoyed cooking delicious food and baking yummy goodies, including my mum and especially my grandma (Oma). So, it was once I turned three that my mum decided it was time to get me involved in baking. She would always make our family birthday cakes from scratch and she would let me mix the batter (and lick the spoon and bowl).
As I got older, I became a lot more involved and independent with baking. I started making the birthday cakes, without mums help, and my sister and I would get more and more creative with new and more extravagant cakes each year. We then discovered the internet which was a whole new treasure chest of fancy cakes and new recipes. This is when my baking started to become a lot more creative and a lot more frequent. I could find new recipes online whenever I wanted, and I didn’t need to buy new baking books all the time (even though I still did).
By the time I turned eight I was completely independent in the kitchen and classified myself as a self-taught baker. I was making all sorts of new things including cakes, cupcakes, brownies and cookies. I would make all my own birthday cakes for school and would constantly want to keep baking more advanced designs.
When I started high school, the trend had shifted from elaborate cakes to fancy cupcakes, and so did my focus. I started work on my cupcake frosting skills and would take them to school for all the bake sale fundraisers. This then merged with one of my other passions, my love for social justice, and I was able to organize the inaugural RSPCA cupcake day at my high school. For this I made cupcakes that looked like different animals, such as pigs, cows and ducks, which were an instant hit with my peers.
It was at this point in my life that I realized I could make a real career and business out of my baking. I started by selling cakes and cupcakes to all of my family and friends, for birthdays and other celebrations. The crowd favorite was a triple layer mousse cake with three different flavors of mousse and a chocolate brownie base, which I was able to adapt into all different combinations and flavors, such as the triple chocolate one I made for family Christmas.
When I started year eleven my focus become a lot more intense and I become a lot more serious about my business. I started a Facebook page and started to sell my cakes to more than just my family and friends, around my hometown. I had people buying my cakes and cupcakes for birthdays, engagement parties, baby showers and business events. I even got the chance to sell my first custom made wedding cake (this happened to clash with my year 12 graduation ball – talk about stressful).
Sadly, once I started university my business had to be put on hold. I had to move to the city and live on campus where I didn’t have access to a kitchen and then I went to live in America for 6 months which meant my baking slowed dramatically. I still baked a lot when I visited my parents at home though and my love for baking was still very prevalent.
This brings us to where we are now, I am finishing my degree and bringing back my baking business. I am living in a house with the most incredible kitchen and have started to get my business back on track. I am in the middle of developing new marketing plans and an improved business model. I have started selling my cakes again in Sydney, instead of my hometown and I am hopefully about to start a stall at the local Sunday markets.
So, this is the story about my life and why I started baking, but I guess the main reason I felt like I needed to share this was to inspire you all. You should always do what you want to do, not just in relation to baking, and if it’s something that you really love, you might be able to find a way to turn it into your career. So please follow your dream, whatever they may be, and don’t let anything stop you doing what you love.
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