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Say hello to Adiba of Adibakes!
Her “5 ways to eat a cupcake video” has 1,500 hits on YouTube!
Adiba is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto Scarborough. She studied a Specialist in Marketing. I first met Adiba while I was an Operations Director for TMG, and she was a Creative Director.
Although she is currently working in a field that wasn’t the one that she studied, she is always doing new things to help further her own company; Adibakes. Currently it is baby season, and wedding season is coming up soon. She is going to be VERY busy with orders. Especially since her cakes are so beautiful.
She started Adibakes a couple of years ago when she realized just how much she loved to bake. It started with making cakes for her friend’s birthday, to a cousin’s birthday, to her current business orders. She was able to really “up her game” once people started to pay for her beautiful creations.
Adiba is the perfect example, that you can learn anything if you put your mind to it. She is self taught and learned a lot of her technique via YouTube, Food Network, Ace of Cakes, and of course Sugar with Ana Olson.
The first cake she made was a fondant cake.
Her two first paid fondant cakes were her Hello Kitty cake and her Sponge Bob cake.
Her favourite cake she has made so far is her sushi cake.
When she was first getting paid, she was undercharging for her cakes. Now that she has filled so many orders, she is used to figuring out a fair price for both her and the client. Her fondant cakes start at a minimum of $50, and her buttercream cakes start at $40. Naturally, the more complicated the design that is requested, there will be an increase in the price.
Adiba loves to make cakes with gum paste peonies. It takes her about 2 days to make the flowers because you have to build the petals to make the peonies larger, and more intricate. They have a gorgeous wow factor to them.
She also loves to make big cakes! She has made a 3-4 layer engagement cakes, and a really cool 2 layer Harry Potter cake.
Adibake’s Facebook page has 535 likes, and she 400 followers on Instagram. She didn’t think that her business would be this successful. It all started out as a hobby for her. Now that it is becoming successful, she wants to continue learning to make her business even better. She plans to take courses to teach her more baking skills, and to perfect her photography to showcase her gorgeous and delicious creations. By the end of the year she hopes to come up with a new marketing strategy to spread the word of her business.
Her favourite type of decorating is fondant work. She also loves to do royal icing on sugar cookies. She has these super cute fairy cookies that she has done icing work on that stands out the most to her.
If she could give her past self any advice, it would be to watch a video twice before she starts trying things. Adiba says, “sometimes you need to watch a video twice, because some things need more careful attention, and if you get impulsive, you’ll end up wasting time and ingredients.”
She also does cupcakes!
One of the biggest lessons that she has learned while owning her own business is that you can’t always be nice. This actually reminded me a lot of what Arnold Lan of Lantography told me (they actually went to the same high school!). Your friends and family will try to bargain for cheaper orders, but the amount of work that you put into your art, isn’t worth the cost that they’re asking to pay. She had to learn to say no. Now she knows what $$$ to ask to charge.
“You need to know what your product and you are worth.“
As for the future of Adibakes? Adiba hopes to take more lessons. She isn’t a professional pastry chef, but maybe 10 years down the road she will be. She hopes to start doing more photographs in a mini studio, to help get her business out there.
Her favourite flavour of cake is pistachio and chocolate hazelnut crunch.
What’s yours?
Don’t forget to watch her video “5 ways to eat a cupcake“
What’s your favourite way to eat a cupcake? Mine’s “the classic”
Follow Adiba on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adibakes/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adibakes/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpaUgbiRaz4nQTbM6cVx0Ow
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