Little Pudding Bake Chat

Canadian baking superstars Jenna and Ashley of Jenna Rae Cakes recently visited Australia to teach some workshops, bringing their signature fun flavours and decorating style to Cakers Warehouse.  I caught up with them while they were in Sydney to chat about their business, their career "pinch me" moments, their second cookbook and how they planned to spend their second week holidaying in Oz.

Find Jenna and Ashle...

UK home baker, Thida Bevington, says she is drawn to beauty, but on most days, it is she who provides small moments of beauty for her devoted Instagram followers through her baking, her ocean swims and her walks through the English countryside.
In episode 22 of @littlepuddingpodcast, Thida chats about practising to perfect her piping skills (and strengthen her arms), how she came to live in (and love) Norfolk, why her tessellat...

A good macaron is a beautiful thing - the delicate crack of the shell, the slight chew, the velvety ganache or rich caramel that lifts the whole experience to another level. Like a lot of French patisserie, they can be tricky to master but Jath from The Sugar Hobby has not only perfected them, she has turned them into an art form.  From her favourite book covers to floral art and the cutest little sea critters, Jath has made them a...

Kylie Richards, co-founder of Cake Decorating Central, has seen a lot of changes in the cake industry in nearly two decades of running the business. But while trends and gadgets come and go, Kylie says the customers (many who've become friends) are why she loves her work, even the ones who bring in cakes requiring emergency surgery!
In this chat, Kylie talks with love about her late mother-in-law, Shirley Richards, a weddi...

Happy New Year Bakers! This is a big ol' buffet of my favourite moments from Season 1 of Bake Chat. It's a Mad Hatter's Tea Party in here and I love it!

In order:
1.32   Tilly @tillys_table
3.28   Amy @amy_minichiello_
5.03   Kate @rarerollingobject
13.28  Rachel @fortytwocakes
19.23  Erin @thegreatmarburgbakeoff
20.31  Charlotte @charlotteree
23.25  Jen @meltdownartisan
25.2...

Sophie Hansen is a food writer and cookbook author who lives with her family on a deer farm near Orange in rural NSW. She writes a blog, Local is Lovely, and compiles a weekly newsletter, 5 Things to Be Cheerful About, which is always full of good ideas for things to cook, read and watch. She also co-hosts Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love reading and cooking, and reading about cooking.
In t...

Anneka Manning is Australia's real-life, delightful answer to the fictional Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry.  In her courses at BakeClub, her popular school for bakers, she teaches the "why" behind the processes of baking as well as the "how."
Anneka chats about her career in food, from her start in magazines and publishing, to building BakeClub, extending it online and most recently developing...

Cakes made by Thao from Don't Tell Charles are instantly recognisable for their perfect, sharp edges, line cleans and abstract art. From a tiny cafe in Melbourne, Thao has built her business into an online cake school where she has taught thousands of cake makers from all over the world to "cake smarter, not harder."
She's always three steps ahead of the industry and whether you're a hobby baker looking...

Alice from Miss Trixie Drinks Tea and Alisha from Sweet Bakes are the cake babes behind Co.Bake Space, a luxe event and pop-up space for bakers and savvy brands in Melbourne.

In this super-fun chat, they tell me how Co.Bake Space came about, why they love working together and how they stay ahead of the game in a competitive, constantly changing industry.

Check out Co.Bake Space here

For more of Alice's work, see Miss Trixie Drink...

If Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was put into cake form, Das from Das Makes Cakes in Sydney is the lady to make it.  Her cakes are as creative and fun as she is, and her love of fashion, pink and all things 80's often shines through in her work.
Das talks me through her beginnings in baking, from being a bit over-competitive in her office bakes and going all-out on her kids' birthday cakes, which led to her first orders. ...

Let's Price Up Shall We?
Emma of Emma Jane Cake Design gives it to us straight about pricing and talks about why she was compelled to cost up her cakes on social media in her Let's Price Up series. But first she makes a cocktail.
Emma is a trailblazer in the cake industry, inspiring the flower shaped cake trend with her range of acrylic discs which she ships from Perth all over the world and she balances her bus...

Cassie from Cas' Cakery is not only a leader in her field of cake decorating, she's an inspiration to all women in business.

In Ep 12, ahead of her appearance at the Cake, Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney, she talks about the beginnings of her cake business with simple mud cake hacks while a mum to four kids under six in a remote mining town, the incident that made her commit fully to the business (instead of pur...

It’s Cake, Bake & Sweets Show week! This is go time for all the bakers presenting in Sydney next weekend. They’ll be baking and packing products, finessing their stands and probably trying to fit a nail or brow appointment in somewhere too! 

Here to talk us through her show demos, how she got started in baking and how she developed her very handy product, Cover Up, we’re kicking off the week with Lena from Savvy Cakes Sydney on ...

You might remember Monica Cavallaro as the tall cake queen from The Great Australian Bake Off, where she was a finalist in 2016. Since then, she has built a successful range of decorating essentials for bakers, her beautiful cakes have featured on two seasons of Married At First Sight, and she has appeared at cake shows all over the world.

Monica's next event is the Westgold Cake, Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney, whe...

This one is for the chocolate lovers! Jen Lo, the delightful chocolatier behind Meltdown Artisan, talks about her business journey from baker and cake designer to chocolate maker.  Jen reckons there's quite a few parallels between the two, and she likens coming up with her bon bon flavours to "taking a cake and reducing it to a tiny, bite sized piece."
We cover some of the challenges she has faced as a solo busin...

Charlotte Ree is an author and home cook whose new book, Heartbake - A Bittersweet Memoir, tells the story of her search for love and identity following her marriage break-up, and how she learned to care for, nourish and accept herself while finding joy again in cooking. In this episode, she talks candidly with Larissa about all things Heartbake and her life before and after her own personal reckoning. 

Find Charlotte on Instagram @...

Regional baker, Erin Davis, is putting the town of Marburg on the map through cake. She is the Creative Director of The Great Marburg Bake Off, a country show cake competition in, you guessed it, Marburg, and she is a hoot. We chat about pernickety cake show judges, the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook and associated nostalgia, and why you should never put your head too close to your beaters, especially if your...

Did you know that the number 42, much like cake, is the answer to everything?
Rachel Spangaro of Forty-Two Cakes knows this and it is the clever literary key to her business name. Rachel is famous for her wedding cakes and her signature lamington cakes - clean in design and precision-perfect but also lush and beautiful. She built her brand in Canberra but she has since moved to Perth and she talks about how it's all going,...

Kate Pritchett (clang!) is a cake genius, famous Chatter and all round hilarious and wonderful human.  In this Ep, she talks to me about where she finds inspiration for her beautiful cakes, the cherished memories and connections she has made through her baking and through the Chat 10 Looks 3 community, and about that time she delivered a wedding cake for a minister to a harbourside venue on a rocky outcrop in a cyclone.

Fi...