In this series, we talk to people who turned their passion for food and baking into a business idea. We talk to home bakers who are constantly experimenting and innovating and navigating through these difficult times to bring the sweet and the savoury to our doorsteps.

A business idea that came about during the Covid-19 lockdown period, Menaka Yapa was an event planner and co-founder of Peach Petals, an event planning company. Presented with the challenge of finding quality bakers to match her requirements, Menaka decided to learn how to bake and decorate cakes for her own events. “Cakes and More was started not only with the intention of creating fabulous cakes but also to put together a wide range of sweets that satisfy our client’s tastebuds.” 

What are you offering?
Currently, we offer designer and customised birthday cakes, wedding cake structures, engagement cakes and cakes for any special occasion based on our client’s requirements and preferences. In addition to that, we also offer cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, cakesicles and mini cakes among others which are very high in demand these days for theme events. 

Out of all the products we offer, we are very well known for our perfect fondant cakes with customised edible figures and toppers. We only have a handful of confectionery artists in Sri Lanka who are really good at fondant cakes and figures and I’m so lucky to be one of them!

What would you say is your signature style in baking? 
Cake should not only look good but taste as perfect as it looks. This is where most of the bakers go wrong, I feel. I personally concentrate on both the taste and the look of all my cakes. To ensure the quality of the output we always bake fresh and moist cakes to match our individual customer requirements. Also, we have a wide range of flavours and fillings that the clients can choose based on their preferences.

What was the most challenging part of getting your business to take off?
Finding the time to complete my higher diploma in confectionery arts as I wanted to start the business after getting qualified. I’m an accountant by profession and working for a well-reputed company in Sri Lanka. It was not at all an easy task to manage time in the beginning as I’m running businesses as a hobby while allocating nine hours of the day for the full-time job that I do. But with the support from my family and mainly from my husband, I was able to overcome all those challenges successfully.

What makes your brand stand out? 
I believe the quality of the final output of my products, colour selections and most importantly the perfect fondant figures I do for the cakes bring out the best of my brand. Quality always comes with a price and that’s totally relevant for my business as well. We always listen to our customer's requirements to understand what their expectations are. We pay a lot of attention to the hygiene and safety of all our products since mostly our cakes and sweets are consumed by kids. Therefore, we ensure that we use only the best ingredients from selected vendors who maintain their standards. And also, the cakes and other products we deliver are well packed and safely delivered to the customer. 

What do you enjoy about baking and operating your own home baking business?
Baking always makes me happy but decorating cakes takes me into a totally different world. I’m so fond of making figures and toppers for cakes. As a woman entrepreneur doing my own business makes me not only financially stable but also gives me a  lot of pleasure and satisfaction to feel that I’m so independent and have my own source of income.
 
How can home bakers navigate these difficult times in an economic crisis? 
Unfortunately, the economic crisis is having a massive impact on home bakers just like most of the other industries with the continuous rise in ingredient prices. And it’s obvious that the clients can’t expect the same prices to be offered to them throughout. To maintain the quality of the products it is essential to increase the prices of products rather than sacrificing the quality of products to meet the prices in the competitive market and letting down the brand name. 

What's next for your brand? 
My next target is to start my own cake academy and a cake studio to bring out the best in young and talented people in society who are keen to learn the art in a proper way and start their own business like me.

Any advice to anyone who wants to start their own business? 
Businesses are not about succeeding from day one. One step at a time will take you a long way if you work hard and commit to what you do with all your heart. Customer satisfaction should be the utmost key goal for any business. Offer them the best and they will do the rest!