Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Todd.
Hi Abigail, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I love birthdays! Growing up, my mom would always put on themed birthday parties with matching costumes, games, and a special cake. When I started to have kids of my own, I wanted to pass on this tradition by baking homemade cakes for their themed birthdays. But, with little baking experience, my first few cakes did not turn out as I had hoped. The cake tasted weird and the frosting was always too runny. I took these flops as a personal challenge to better myself in the realm of cake baking. I read through numerous baking blogs, watched countless Youtube videos, and practiced…a lot. Through this process, I discovered my love for baking and decorating cakes. After filling my own recipe book with cake, filling, and frosting recipes that I had developed and tweaked, I wanted to do more than just bake as a hobby.
With the encouragement from my husband and my friends, I decided to try and see if I could make this hobby into a home business. I put together a portfolio of pictures of the cakes that I had baked, created a logo and a Facebook page, and joined several crafting groups on Facebook. Whenever someone would post about needing a cake, I would comment with a collage of pictures of my work and the orders slowly grew from there. Today, I’m on Facebook, Instagram and have my own website. I bake and decorate cakes and cupcakes for birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries…etc. I feel so blessed to have numerous repeat customers and am baking more and more as my clientele expands. My love for baking continues to grow and I am excited to see where this business takes me!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a gradual road with a few bumps here and there. When I first started, the hardest part was being patient. I was so excited with the launch of my Facebook page and wanted to take on orders at full speed. But, it took time to develop relationships, trust and to get my business’s name out there.
A tricky aspect of running a home-based baking business that I did not expect (but probably should have expected) was managing the finances (income and expenses) and the scheduling (baking days and delivery days). I did not go to business school or culinary school, so I had some catching up to do to make sure that I was not losing money off of my cakes and that I had my orders organized so that I was not baking all through the night. I have not yet perfected either of these, but I have come a long way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Bake My Day is a home-based baking business that is centered around baking custom cakes and cupcakes to enhance all types of events! When people order a custom cake, they want something special that is tailored to their event. My goal is to deliver cakes that are not only beautiful and fun but that are also delicious. Quality of ingredients and attention to detail are a priority in my cakes. Every customer that orders a cake from Bake My Day works directly with me in order to get what they are wanting for their cake. I specialize in themed birthday cakes because I love creating all the details that make each cake unique and special to each order.
When it comes to wedding cakes or cakes for large events, one of my favorite things to offer is a cake tasting consultation! From my menu of cake, filling, and frosting flavors, the potential clients choose the flavors that they want to try and I create a buffet of samples for them to mix and match. This is one of my favorite things to do as a baker because I love getting to know my clients, seeing what flavors combinations they love, and talking them through their vision for their special day.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
What has worked best for me is listening to advice from people who have successfully started their own business from home and utilizing social media platforms to get my business’s name out into the community.
Contact Info:
- Email: bakemydaybyabbi@gmail.com
- Website: www.bakemydaybyabbi.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bakemydaybyabbi
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bakemydaybyabbi
