This archive report was first published on 18 July 2020.
From Passion to Business: Perpetua Mwangi's Cake Journey ¶
Published on July 18, 2020
Perpetua Mwangi, a 24-year-old lawyer, has been passionate about baking since she was young. Growing up, she watched her mother and aunties bake their hearts out, which only grew her love for pastries.
After completing a baking course in 2016, Mwangi started a home-based business, Delizia Kenya, with her sister. They began by selling cupcakes for Sh20 and eventually expanded their offerings.
As a lawyer by profession, Mwangi's business venture has been a unique blend of her two passions. She shares some of the secrets of her trade and misses, including her favorite pastry to bake and decorate.
When asked about the most unexpected thing that has ever happened to her while on the job, Mwangi recalls a time when she was delivering a two-tier cake and it tipped over, separating the tiers. She had to beg bakeries to help her repair the damage, only to learn later that tier cakes are assembled with skewers.
Mwangi's business has also seen its share of unusual cake designs, including a boom box cake for an 80's themed party. She has also had her share of cake fails, including a purple velvet cake that turned green and blue.
Despite the challenges, Mwangi loves baking and would love to travel to Italy to learn more about their unique cheese and sweet dough combinations. She is also open to taking up baking as a full-time job, but acknowledges that it can be stressful at times.
For those looking to try their hand at baking, Mwangi recommends using measuring cups and spoons, as well as a mixer and whisk or wooden spoon. She also suggests using a multi-purpose scrapper, which can be used as a dough cutter, bench scraper, and even a ruler and cake smoother.
One of Mwangi's favorite recipes is her fluffy vanilla cake, which requires 230gms of margarine, 200gms sugar, 360gms of self-raising flour, and 1 cup buttermilk. She also shares a recipe for coconut macaroons, which requires 400gms all-purpose flour, 220gms butter/margarine, 150gms icing sugar, and 100gms desiccated coconut.
