Hi it’s me again, Rachael, you might remember me from my last blog post for CakeFlix, which told the story of my CakeFlix Master journey? If not you can check it out here CakeFlix Master – Rachael Smith.
At the time I thought I might start my own blog and, as you can see, I wrote that one a year ago, this is my second one, so I really kept on top of that idea didn’t I?
Anyway, apparently, I won the ‘Cake of the Month’ competition for October (Halloween image below)……. I still think there was a mistake somewhere, there were so many fabulous entries, I questioned how mine won…….. David did double check and yep, it was definitely me. Then he asked if I would write a little bit about myself. I thought sure, I’ve done that before, I can do it again, how hard can it be? Well, as it turns out – super, flipping hard!!
So, way, way, WAAAAYYYY back in my youth, I very much thought ‘Use it or lose it’ with regard to my brain (I still do, it’s one of the reasons why I’m a CakeFlix Pro member!) and not long after finishing some extra GCSEs at night school, a colleague made me a sculpted birthday cake. A bright red, dial faced, telephone (for the young people reading this, the type of phone that was attached to the wall by a wire, you sometimes see them in museums or ‘old’ films from the 1980’s – as if 1980s is old…..pfft!). It was a fantastic cake that captured my imagination and I’d found my next learning project!!
I signed up for night classes at my local cake shop where I learnt Royal Icing and Sugar Flowers and then I was off – where to you ask? To the dizzy heights of cake stardom? Nope. I made, on average, three cakes a year, one for my aunt and one each for my kids, sometimes I threw caution to the wind and made a cake on request oooh la la. That’s how it was for a many a year, the kids would pick a design from Debbie Brown’s “Party cakes” book and my aunt would invent a reason to have a cake, it’s great having an aunt like that, asking for a fruit cake to celebrate stubbing her toe four years ago…………..
But kids grow up, they no longer want parties with cake and my aunt sorta forgot her toe stubbing anniversary so I had a few years where I sporadically dabbled in cake and before I knew it, I was knee deep in my day job as Examination Officer in a secondary school, trying to fit 500 students into a room that only seated 300………….
Then along came my third child (yay a new kid to make cake for!). During my maternity leave the family seemed to have a lot of special birthdays and anniversaries and my small cake business near Birmingham took off – not in a rocket heading for the moon kind of way – but more like failing to slow down for a speed bump in time………..
So, I joined CakeFlix and I became a stay at home Mom and I had every intention of going back to work when my little girl went to school full time, just as she was about to start, I had another baby (Yay, a new kid to make cake for!) and I had every intention of going back to work when he went to school full time ………. Am I repeating myself?………….well, it was suddenly time, he went off to school and my eldest daughter had a baby (yay a new kid to make cake for – wait – I am repeating myself aren’t I – why didn’t you say something???). I spent my days helping her, doing the school runs, and NOT looking for a job. Subconscious decision made – stay at home Mom with a side hustle of cake design.
I got to work on the website (the one that’s been sitting idol with a basic landing page for quite a while – whoops), looking into advertising,
logos and figuring out my actual niche – and then BAM ………….. Chicken pox – a whole MONTH of chicken pox and just out the other side of that thrilling experience? COVID, home school and lots of sitting in cupboards eating cookies (you DID read my first blog, didn’t you?). Plus hubby working from home (he’s still here…zooming up a storm in my cake room a.k.a the front room/dining room/room of multiple functions).
All of that brings us back to this somewhat normal week. We’ve now got another two grandchildren (Yay……. I think you know what I’m going to say….), my youngest two kids are back in school and I’ve just won October Cake of the Month – yeah, that bit doesn’t happen on a normal week. Oh and I still have no idea what my niche is……………….
So, there you go, version 342 of my second blog post – you’re welcome ;D
Some interesting points about me (well I thought they interesting :-)…
My favourite cake skill – This changes all the time but I think at the moment, my favourite skill is……painting – either with cocoa butter or vodka.
My favourite holiday – I’m always happiest in the UK near the sea, where I can look out at the horizon and if there is a cafe near by where I can get a cream tea and a hot chocolate – perfection!
My future in cake – short term I’d like to finish the website, long term – more learning, I think I’d like to teach in some capacity and possibly write a book – but what about? Answers on a postcard please ……………
I would love to see you on my social pages…
https://www.facebook.com/innercakeuk/
https://www.instagram.com/innercakeuk/
