The CakeUp Artist

Bah bah da baaahhhh…….I present to you our first ever guest creative contributor.

Each month my featured delight of a human will have an opportunity to share a little bitta info about their sweet selves and satiate my nosy curious nature. I have the pleasure of launching this space with a one-on-one interview with my favourite young baker extraordinaire.

1.) So baby sister, give us some background?

My name is Brónach. I am 18 years of age and I like….da rain. Ehhh I’m finished school and I don’t know what I am doing with my life or what else to say. This is kind of awkward.

3.) Yes it is awkward…..let’s carry on. When did you first start getting interested in baking?

I kind of always have been into baking. Eilidh (our sister) liked to bake and she always let me do it with her. We had to bake routinely for school bake sales and so when she left school I kept up the practice. When I left school I kept baking for our youngest brother who had his own bake sales to turn up at. So I can’t pinpoint an exact time, I just have always done it.

4.) Very nice. So why do you like baking?

Because it calms me. Whenever I am upset about something or something is weighing on me it’s an external task to focus on, a different space to be in so I don’t have to dwell on other things. Also I love having a project that I have been investing time in be enjoyed by others. Their satisfaction makes me happy, that people find my works tasty and that they admire the finished result. It is nice to be proud of something you make.

5.) So you like making pretty things eh?

I do yeah I do. I like having something that I can show off, and then smash and eat and fill my belly with yeah.

6.) What’s your favourite part of the baking process?

The decorating.

7.) What has been your biggest influence as a creative person and would you call yourself a creative?

I don’t know. Yeah I do consider myself creative because it’s like a form of art when you are decorating and making. It took a long time for me to be able to own that title, to talk about myself as an artist. That takes a lot of confidence and I still have days where I struggle to own that identity but I know it’s in me.

As for my biggest influence its not like there is any one person I follow who has shaped my baking but it’s like the energy of the creative spirit that is alive here in Ireland. Social media, in a positive way, is full of great Irish startups and people just sharing their works in new and motivating ways. For me I draw from this shared love of celebration and beauty that is all around and use it to encourage me. I also get a lot of ideas from new upcoming Irish bakers and bakeries. I love that they post what they are doing and they share about their mistakes and it’s fun and honest. I like going on Instagram and seeing something somebody made and it looks interesting and sparks that energy of “Ooh I think I want to try that!”.

8.) What is your opinion of the Great British Bake-Off (Great British Baking Show for the Americans)?

I fucking love it.

9.) Would you ever try out for it?

Yes but I don’t know everybody on it is so…they have had practice you know? So maybe one day. *Brónach stares wistfully into the distance and mimes a Paul Hollywood handshake to herself

10.) Mary Berry or Prue?

Prue.

OOOh controversial choice

Not controversial because I started watching it when Prue was a judge so she is like my lady baker that I recall most.

11.) Ok so what is your favourite thing to make?

Hmmmm. Good question. I really like making drip cake, it doesn’t matter so much what’s inside whether it’s sponge or biscuit but I love how glazes can look. Like a painting on top of the cake and I think it’s fun the variety of what you can do.

12.) What is your least favourite thing to make?

Emmmm pastries. They are really difficult. Like shortcrust pastry, it’s a very specific thing you have to do. Your utensils have to be cold and you can’t touch it for too long or you mess it up. Or like choux pastry ooooh that stuff is so finicky and delicate. That’s the thing with Bake-Off I would need to be confident undertaking making these difficult things in a highly pressurised environment. I would want to work towards a more perfected rigorous pattern of baking.

13.) When you are baking do you ever feel a creative flow? Do you feel yourself disconnecting from being present and from the focus of time or is it more of a hyper concentration on presence?

It definitely feels more like a disconnection from the external world. I completely lose sense of time, I feel like I am in a different world. I could spend hours decorating something and not notice time has gone by and suddenly its 3am and I’m like oh fuck I should go to bed. The cool thing about the being in the flow part is like you can plan how something is going to look but when you are deep in that zone of near meditative concentration you can actually make a mistake and then end up joining up with that random creative energy and following it to see how it turns out and sometimes it can even be better than you thought.

14.) Whats you favourite time of day to bake?

Oh 3am haha I love the privacy of the very late evening/early morning. Everyone is asleep and I can just listen to my podcasts and my music.

15.) What has been your favourite cake you have made?

I really like the marbled one I made. It was like pouring paint on top and having the colours mixing and it was wild around the edges where the browns were producing a variety of shades. More recently I made a cake for a friend’s birthday, it was a pink cake and I really liked doing that one. I used Kim-Joy’s baking book you gave me and it was really different the flavours and colours and I had to go to a special shop to find rosewater to pair with the lemon and it was like a super refreshing flavour combo and everyone who ate it was like “ohhh” and I was like “oooooooh”.

16.) Is she a source of inspiration for you?

I really enjoy her book actually she makes baking approachable and accessible and fun. A thing that she does that I have not found in other recipes is she scales her ingredients, every single one to fit your desired outcome. For icing and stuff like that she will write her measurements out to an exact number so you can adapt it for your own baking outcome. In most books the cake styles are old where they ran thin and they don’t always scale well to a more modern approach to baking.

17.) What is the downside to having baking as a creative hobby?

Well the cost, both in terms of time and money. Like I can only afford so much so I can’t risk messing up as much and doing endless bakes over and over. I have to be careful and guard my resources. Hopefully one day when I am in school for it I can relax a little about that because I will have greater resources to pull from and the time to invest in practicing.

18.) What are your plans for your baking?
Well I want to study and eventually I would want to open up a bakery so I can do cakes for events and stuff like that. Also I would like my store to be a coffee shop that people can come in and sit with their family and chat over my home made baked goods that are yummy and not crappy like frozen factory made brownies.

While I’m saving up I want to get a job in the baking sector will be massively beneficial to be around the industry. To learn and see how the baking world works, to build connections and observe bakers in a professional capacity. It’s cool to see everything in action.

That obviously is not going to happen in the near future, I don’t know if I would do it in Ireland I want to try it in an economy that supports growing small businesses so we shall see.

19.) What do you believe in?

I believe god is a croissant, sitting on the back of a pain au chocolat riding atop a giant Tarte au Tatin.

20.) Describe your perfect sandwich.

Ooooh ok so you have got some bread with chia seeds in it. Ok. We have got a thick ass layer of green pesto. On top of that there is baby spinach leaves, mozzarella cheese, then some cold roast chicken or hot because this sambo is gonna be toasted. On top of that there is cucumber. TOAST IT.

21.) Have you made cakes to order? Or can you?

I do yeah I did one for a girl in my year’s birthday, I’ve done some for people in our house estate. I did one for a joint 18th. I’m always up for making cakes for people, as practice and ways of being able to afford to make more.

22.) Ok I have some tough rapid fire quick choice questions because why not.

Coffee or tea?

Don’t you dare make me choose. How could you? NOT fair…..I suppose depends on what version of Bronach needs to be present that day.

Barry’s or Lyons?

Lyons.

You are dead to me.

Pat the Baker or Brennans?

God obviously Brennans what kind of monster do you take me for?

23.) When you look back at your younger self what is one thing you want to say to her?

In relation to baking, I would tell myself to do it more because I never really got into it on my own. I think my younger self would have enjoyed exploring it more.

24.) What brings you meaning?

Can I be corny and say my friends? Oh also making people happy.

25.) Finally, sorry that was a lot I LOVE TALKING. Ok what is one thing you learned about yourself during the pandemic?

I have a lot of distractions in my life that I did not realise were distractions. Like there were so many big parts of my life that I used as an escape and I didn’t even notice I was pouring so much of myself into them. I have been deconstructing the noise I have and hiding, avoiding uncomfortable things.

That’s deep. I shall call you Buddha Brónach now.

Ok I’m done. God that was like much more intense and deep than I thought. Make me sound smart.

If you make me many baked goods.

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the insight into this little muse of mine, sister dearest that she is. Follow the CakeUp Artist on Instagram to watch her journey of growth from amateur baker to private baker for moi. JUST KIDDING. For any possible inquiries for custom bakes you can reach out to her over private message on her Instagram or send me an email and I shall connect you.