Student follows passion for baking with successful custom cake business

An Optometry student has been reflecting on her successful cake and treat business, which caters for events and special occasions.

Optometry student Maryam Shah started ‘Maryam’s Cakery’ in 2019, after deciding to follow her passion for baking. Maryam bakes a range of sweet treats; such as occasion cakes, cupcakes, cake-pops, chocolate covered strawberries and more.

What started as a favour for friends and family has turned into a successful side business alongside her studies. Now running into its sixth year, Maryam is even creating custom cakes for large scale events such as weddings, baby showers and cultural celebrations.

For Maryam, the business allows her to take time away from her studies to do something she is passionate about:

Choosing to study Optometry 

“I've worn glasses throughout my childhood, so I've been going to the opticians regularly. I've always wondered “What are they getting to see that we can’t?”. After that, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into it, did some work experience and I found out that I really liked it.

I liked the idea of working in healthcare but also like working with people, so I just felt like optometry was a really good option. It has a great work-life balance as well and isn’t too intense. It also doesn’t take a long time to become qualified and you're still making a big, big difference in people's lives.

It's not just a case of checking people's eyesight, but you’re also checking their overall eye health. Eye tests have helped people detect bigger things, such as brain tumours. Something like a brain tumour can actually be spotted in eye tests, even if it just starts out as a headache. Eyes really are like windows to the soul, so it’s not just about reading letters on a chart.”

Discovering her passion for baking

“As a child, I loved baking and would offer to make family birthday cakes for practise. I would totally insist on doing it for anyone who wanted it and then it got to the point where my cousins and family would ask me to bake something for a friend, family, colleague, etc. Eventually, people would feel bad that just making them for free, so they'd give me some money for doing it. After a while, people started to say ”You should start a business” so I decided to go for it!

To start off, I created an Instagram and then I kept practising until I got really good so I could start selling. I started off selling them for cost price, but the more I built up my skills then the more confident I felt in being able to charge properly. Before, I was more of a hobbyist baker but I would never have imagined making it into a business.”

There are only so many cakes you can make for your family before they can accuse you of making them fat! The more I started building my business, the more it grew due to word of mouth so it was good that it developed naturally.

I make larger cakes and cupcakes, but I’m open to trying something else if someone were to ask. I’d say one of my biggest achievements was making an actual wedding cake! My mum had a friend who asked me to make her a wedding cake, which was a lot of pressure of course but she was very relaxed about it. She let me take full reign of it which really helped build my confidence and made me realise that I can actually push myself. Now, I can make occasion cakes for events like baby showers, wedding favours, etc.”

Balancing her business with study

“My course involves me being in on campus most days of the week, so its quite content heavy and I also have a part time job at the weekend working at an optician. They do recommend in optometry to try and work in that area because it’s really useful to get experience. It can be quite tough to balance the baking business as well, but I’ve found a way of being able to manage my time; adjusting how often I take orders if it’s approaching exam season for example or baking on a day with less classes.

Baking really is my passion, so getting to make my passion into an income is amazing – it doesn’t feel like you’re working at all! It allows me to switch off as well and knowing that baking cakes can make people happy makes it even better.

It’s definitely important to keep in touch with your hobbies and passions. Life is always incredibly busy and will keep on getting busier, so it’s important to make time for the things you love doing. I often find that you can relax by being productive or doing something with your hands, especially if it’s creative.

If you enjoy baking, reading, knitting or colouring – you should always make time for it, even if it’s just a short time a week. It really can help you switch off and take your mind off of things. You need to remember to keep filling your own cup.”

You can check out Maryam’s bakery business on her Instagram page

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here