Anyone can bake... I could! (story of my baking project)

Back in 2016, somewhere between June and July Chao Gato was born! That means I’ve been serious with this new “hobby” for a year now.

It actually started longer than a year ago to get shape and take a direction. I don’t come from a family of bakers like many people I know do, specially in countries where there’s such thing as winter and tons of goodies baked during it. But my grandma was very good at many things, one of them was sweets, and even though I didn’t learn any recipe from her or her mom I like to think some of those skills are in my blood. My mom won’t admite it, maybe because cooking and baking stresses her out but she’s pretty good too. All that to say, I trust the mystery of genetics, because I wasn’t raise like a baker or cook (by fortune I always had somebody cook for me… not anymore).

Fast forward to my 20’s I started to follow blogs, and pretty pictures can be very inspiring, so by following couple of steps I made pretty decent cookies, but nothing to brag about. Then, during my relationship with Mark I developed most of my baking skill, his mom has crazy baking skills and can make anything, everything always amazing and this guy grew up not just eating that but also watching her and learning couple of tips and tricks. I tried making stuff here and there, but then one February everything changed.

We love cake pops, so we decided to have a little competition, who can make the best cake pop? After a trip to the grocery store and load up in ingredients we both started, then the judges (roommates, family and friends) liked both cake pops, so we called it a tied! But it didn’t stop there. I gave away at my office the extra cake pops, they actually looked pretty crappy, but they were tasty and I got a good response. So I didn’t stop there, I knew I could do better. I made a second batch and they did look way better this time… That was encouraging, I texted a photo to a friend who I knew loved cake pops and she told me she wanted to learn.

I showed my friend how to make them, she was super happy and wanted to basically started a business selling door to door or no matter how… But I was in a completely different page, for many reason that society wasn’t going to work, so I decided to keep my solo road. Little by little I starter learning techniques, obsessing over bakers and party decorators, buying books, and even taking classes (mostly online) but I also found a great place in MTL called “The Lincoln Apartment Bakery” where I finally learned how to make Macaroons.

One day last summer during my vacation, I was at home by myself in front of the computer with a to-do list, with 1000 projects I wanted to get my hands on, but somehow it wasn’t working, my head was in outer space. So I came to the kitchen, and started baking, one thing after another, until I had done soooo many that it was enough to set up a sweet table… Next morning I got some tissue paper and made cute tassels, then I put everything together and started taking photos, I couldnt believed I made that happen, those amazing pictures were the product of my passionate work.

During the last year I’ve been throwing parties for any reason that seems appropriate (cinco de mayo, birthdays, holidays, welcome, etc…), but those are only excuses, I need people to eat what I bake and I need to practice, so parties are always welcome. I’ve been also bringing to work all my experiments, because again, I need people to eat what I bake, not just for the feedback but also because we definitely don’t need that much sugar at home 😛

Long story short (trust me, this is the shortest version possible)… While all this has been happening I set up a website and Instagram account to document everything I’ve doing, and actually that helped me get real orders, yes, Real Orders! as in people willing to pay me to bake them goodies. And well that’s how Chao Gato was born!

Now, a bit over a year since all this began I started teaching bachelorette classes at the Lincoln Apartment Bakery on the weekends, my confidence levels in the baking world are growing, and my hobby is paying for my wedding dress! how cool is that? At the beginning of 2017 I set a goal and said “whatever money I make with Chao Gato this year is what I will spend on my wedding dress”, can’t deny that the idea of walking down the aisle wearing a paper dress was a little scary, but so far I am safe.