My Cake Decorating Journey

Hello everyone!
So Michal came up with a brilliant idea to introduce this new blogging challenge about us artists sharing our caking stories.. How we started and where we are now. I think it would be wonderful to read about how all you wonderful artists came to be what you are today.

Here is my story :)
I started baking when i was 7 years old. My mother was a fantastic cook and baker. The first thing i learnt was a basic vanilla sponge. I could make it with my eyes closed. Baking and cooking was always second nature to me. It never felt like a chore.

Besides that, Painting was always one of my passions. My paintbrushes were literally and extension of my right arm. I wanted to pursue a career in fine arts, but that didn’t work out for me. I ended up doing a Bachelors in Business Administration because being the only child, i was expected to take over the family business. I worked in my fathers office, and in China for a little while. Did what was expected of me, but my heart wasn’t in it.
Then one day i came across an old recipe diary my mother used to keep. She had handwritten over 200 recipes in it. I found a short recipe for simple gumpaste. Out of curiosity, i started googling. I remember reading an article about ‘The difference between fondant and gumpaste’ .. and then there was no looking back. I found myself sitting in the office, scouring through cake websites, saving hundreds of cake pictures onto my desktop. I was hooked!
With a lot of courage I told my father that this was what i wanted to do for the rest of my life. He wasn’t convinced but decided to let me give it a shot. He knew i wasn’t meant for a desk job. I needed to use my hands. I needed to play with colour!

I sold my first cake a month later, after tons of experimenting and practice. That was when Firefly was born.
I started working in a tiny store room on my roof 4 years ago. Expanded that 2 years ago. And 2 months ago i expanded that further into a big studio i like to call my happy place. :)

Here are a few pictures of my work space:

My work is the most important part of my life. It IS my life. This is what i want to be doing even when im old and grey.
Being an artist from a very young age has really aided me in my sense of design, technique and colour and im so grateful to have found my passion so early in life. And i am grateful for all the wonderful people iv met in this trade. There is so much love and that sense of being a part of something so wonderful is truly magical .
When i look back to the time i made my first sugar rose and the joy and satisfaction i got when i placed it on my first cake. Nothing can beat that happy feeling of creating something beautiful out of nothing.

Here is a picture of my very first fondant cake:

And here is one of my latests:

Thank you for taking out time to read about me and my journey. And thank you to all of you for being such a beautiful part of it.
I cant wait to read your stories!
Love & unicorn hugs,
Pavani