Diana Muchiri tips on cake business

“I baked my first cake when I was eight years old and I enjoyed it. However I was too young to think of this as an esteemed profession so I wasted a lot of time trying other things. I tried accounting, a course in purchase and supplies, another in animation and a job in marketing but still, I was unfulfilled.

“I got post-partum depression after having my second child in 2016. While going through therapy my psychologist helped me re-arrange my life, and I decided to follow my true passion and committed to baking.

I started with a small bakery right in my home. Then I noticed that my children were eating too much sugar and I could only bake late at night when they went to bed, so I began thinking of other options.

The breaking point was one morning last year when I woke up to them munching on a tiara I had spent most of the night creating to be placed on a cake. Now I have a bakery and a team to go with it.

“On a regular day at work, I will be baking, decorating or online learning a new tip or improving my skills. I make all kinds of cakes, ranging from wedding and bridal shower cakes to breakfast packs. The orders I enjoy most are the ones I haven’t baked before. It feels good to have a client fully trust me to try a new design.

“A lot of things can go wrong. The most frightening is when a cake falls or when it collapses during transportation. Just the other day, I braked too hard while making a delivery and the cake and the icing separated and went different ways. I have learnt is that the best way to handle such a crisis is to be honest with the client and to think on your feet so that you can still deliver.

I have learnt that a business is the people around it. I pay as much attention to making follow ups as I do to baking. I will want to know whether the taste was good enough, whether the texture was right. This is the only way to grow.

“My biggest challenge has been that I am a perfectionist, so sometimes I spend a lot if time (on a cake). Then there is the issue of pricing, of clients not seeing that they are buying value. If I could change one thing about this industry, I would put a price regulatory body in place.

I use quality ingredients but it’s a challenge sometimes justifying pricing because other bakers are using substandard ingredients and thus charging much less. Clients do not always understand this.

“When I am not baking, I play with my children outdoors. Other times, I play with my cats. I find it utterly relaxing.”