Tell us about yourself and your business?
My name is Katie and I am the owner of Winston & Walt. My company is a home-based business that offers personal and artistic cakes and cupcakes which I work on in the evenings and on weekends. I have a diploma of interior design, a diploma of building design and work full time as a senior civil engineering AutoCAD draftsman. I have an absolutely beautiful and intelligent 15 year old daughter who is the light of my world, am blessed with a lovely group of friends and in my down time I enjoy going to the gym, technical hand drawings and listening to music.
My business started the same way it does for many- I'd received lots of really lovely compliments and feedback on my daughter's birthday cakes and have been told many times over the years that I could sell them. I started Winston & Walt in 2023 not really knowing what direction I wanted my business to head, what I wanted to make or how to even take an order. I just wanted people to start asking me to make cakes for them but had no earthly idea how to make that happen.
Winston & Walt started with an Instagram page that I thought would become nothing more than just an informal “gallery”. Each time I took a picture my dachsund Winston would come over to see what was happening and featured quite heavily in my early photos. However I was wrong about instagram being a gallery, because after only a few months I started getting more and more orders through social media, so much so that I decided not to look into websites and such because the rate of orders I receive is perfect for me- it's enough to keep brushing up my skills but not so much that I'm pulling all nighters and struggling to keep up.
More platforms may mean more growth, but I am happy with the rate I'm going at and will certainly consider additional avenues in the future when I'm ready for that growth. This is a strange thing to say, but it took a bit of time at the beginning to comprehend the thought that this was my business, and I could make and offer whatever I wanted. I started off thinking that if I wanted to be successful I would need to offer cakes, tarts, biscuits, slices, sweets, pavlova, gingerbread houses… everything a local café does and it was all very reactive and I felt overwhelmed very quickly.
I initially started with sugar cookies because I was honestly too scared to make anything bigger. I would think to myself “I just want to make cakes and cupcakes and say no to everything else” so that's what I decided to do! My focus for 2025 are to improve my hand made decorations particularly with isomalt, wafer paper flowers and chocolate; and to pursue avenues such as magazine articles and tutorials, collaborations and brand ambassadorship.
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
Mostly Geometry and building materials. I absolutely love concrete. I like maths- I am a draftsman so geometry is 90% of what I do. And I love the colour of the sky on big mean stormy afternoons. I love using words like “brooding” and “moody” to describe cakes. I like textures and rough edges. When I was in college, I had the option to choose between woodwork and metal work as my senior elective.
I chose to complete a cert 4 in metal fabrication because I loved how rough it was- beating things into shape, welding things together, angle grinding things and it all resulted in stunning finished pieces. I considered that I didn't have the finesse, patience or gentle hand that woodwork needed, and I find that's translated directly into my cakes. If I make something dark, and textured and having rough edges I am almost always so much happier with the end result than making sweet little perfect Disney princess cakes.
Secondary to that, I really enjoy art and I am always thinking of ways I can use colour, sculpting, unusual techniques and edible images in my work. Period i cally I'll make what I call “Mondrian Cookies”, as a tribute to Piet Mondrian- one of my favourite artists. They're incredibly time consuming though, so I don't make them often!
Any advice for anyone thinking of starting a baking business?
It's absolutely incredible the amount of self limiting beliefs that will pop up in that first 6-12 months. Ensure sure you have a counter argument for every single one of them. My self limiting beliefs were mostly around my beginner skill set, so I took classes with Rosie at Inspire, Bake, Create and improved my skills and my confidence. When I would tell myself that people would hate my cooking and complain and the bad feedback would ruin my reputation I told myself to shut up because my cooking is delicious and I get told my cooking is delicious all the time, so I made a cake for my work morning tea and got other's opinions.
Self limiting beliefs are like cracks in a dam wall, if you don't patch the walls up your creativity, inspiration and motivation will literally disappear overnight.
Sometimes you can honestly repair the cracks in those walls by just telling yourself to shut up and use those concerns to show you where and how you need to grow. Whatever your concerns are, find productive ways to stomp it out. There are online classes to help you upskill, or programs that will help you with your time management, people on Instagram that show you how to make cool reels and posts, free graphic design platforms that you can knock out a logo, many free recipes on the internet, photography videos to help you with your imaging and people in the industry LIKE ME that want to help with your questions and who are all willing your success.
Whatever your self limiting belief is, silence it by investing in that part of yourself and you will be shocked at the results. Operate like a real business. And I don't mean simply changing your title from “home baker” to “CEO”. You can if you like, but if you can't put together a clean and professional invoice with reasonable terms and conditions your customers will not take you seriously. (I say this because when I bought my first quote and invoice book, I was so proud to draw up my first handwritten quote, only for a corporate customer to laugh at me when I gave it to her.) I threw the books away and taught myself how to use accounting and invoicing software.
Often corporate clients have their own payment terms which you often need to accept if you want the order. You need to decide for yourself if you want to accept their conditions over yours. Learn to say no. It can be a polite decline, or a hard no but either way you will experience times when you are asked for products you aren't willing to make, you're already double booked for that date, or you genuinely can't make what they're asking for.
Sometimes I get sent pictures of cakes that I know I just don't have the skill to make. Recently it was one with lots of fondant sculpting and I know within myself that I just don't have the skills yet to make what they were asking for. When I declined the order I asked myself "should I turn my attention to fondant sculpting so next time an order like that comes in I could take it?” But I reminded myself that I don't like making novelty cakes and I have a clear idea of the aesthetic I like to produce and to stay focussed on the skills I enjoy doing.
My hard and fast “no's” are Disney princess, tropical themes, anything with lots of fondant modelling or when am haggled with or if people demand cash on pick up. Of course, I make sure I have a professional explanation ready and will usually recommend another local home baker who has different skills and styles than I do. I appreciate also that the customer is supporting a small local baker, but that doesn't mean I can compete with the prices of the larger companies that can charge less, or have the skills to make every different style of cake.
Don't underestimate how powerful it is to take your practice pieces to work morning teas and ask your colleagues for feedback. Make cupcakes, practice your piping and give a little box of 4 to people you want to thank. This will also help you with how to address the aesthetics and presentation of your packaging, while also getting some pictures for your social media. Buy some cake dummies from a cake decorating supply store and go to town on it with your designs- trust me those dummies can take a beating so you can sure get your money's worth out of them.
Lastly, just enjoy the process. Put your heart into what you do, don't underestimate the power of a handwritten thank you note to go with an order and experiment as much as you can! instagram.com/winston_and_walt
