One of today’s trending desserts is the cakesicle, which is a larger slightly different edition of a cake pop and shaped like a popsicle, hence the name. Nineteen-year-old baker Leianna Chung is on top of her cakesicle game. Her scrumptious looking cakesicles appeal to customers and keep them coming back so that she seems to always have numerous orders to fill.
Leianna established Sweet Pie Treats Guyana in August last year, offering cakesicles, cupcakes, strawberry cheese cakes, strawberry crumble cakes, cinnamon rolls, and mini bundt cakes as well as edible and cardboard cake toppers.
After graduating from School of the Nations in 2019, Leianna was looking forward to pursuing studies at a university abroad the following year. However, with a worldwide pandemic, those plans were postponed. During this time, Leianna became a tester for Amazon; vendors on the site would have their cakesicles shipped to Guyana and she would provide reviews on what she thought about the desserts.
With time on her hands, she began making the treats and because of her love for food photography, took pictures of them. Being in the kitchen was nothing new to her, as she had assisted her mother, who is a cake decorator, every now and then. She subsequently decided to make three different flavours: sponge, red velvet and strawberries and cream. She then posted photos of them on her mother’s social media page. People became interested and encouraged her to start her own cakesicle business. So after several batches of cakesicles and with her family being her testers and giving great reviews, she launched Sweet Pie Treats last year.
Deciding to go for it and establish her business, Leianna said, was scary as she was not considering a business at all. All she really wanted to do was make cakesicles and do food photography as hobbies, but choosing to share photos of the desserts online led to a new and exciting venture. Her first order was for a couple’s gender reveal. She did not have an active business page on social media, so almost all of her customers were through word of mouth.
Customers, she said, seem to favour her strawberries and cream cakesicles best, though they also like chocolate cakesicles.
Making chocolate cakesicles proved a challenge at first, particularly learning how to temper chocolate. However, after numerous tries, she figured it out. Leianna explained that with every chocolate cakesicle, a new batch of chocolate is tempered.
Despite doing art compulsorily from nursery until ninth grade at Marian Academy, Leianna said, she was never inclined in that direction. Today, however, she often sketches various designs for her customers so that they have an idea what the cakesicles and cupcakes will look like. Mostly, the actual desserts look more appealing than the sketches.
There are a few other cakesicle makers in Guyana, but the teen believes that what sets her apart is her knowledge of science and her love for experimenting. Her love for food science, Leianna shared, began when she was 11 years old. She would come up with recipes and write them in a book she created specifically for that purpose.
Custom boxes
Initially, when she started, she had designated prices per dozen of whichever particular dessert the customer wanted. But she found that customers wanted to taste different flavours without having to buy a dozen of each or the occasion being celebrated was in a small setting and there was no need for a dozen desserts. Leianna then began creating dessert collections which allow customers to have a little bit of everything. Customers can also customise what desserts they want in their boxes.
The teen baker noted that on average, it takes her four hours to put together a collection which would include sculpting, making the fondant, airbrushing, and painting. Making cupcakes or the cakes for cakesicles takes up separate time.
On average, she has about five to ten orders for collections every week. Sometimes she works into the wee hours of the morning to ensure she is done ahead of pick up time.
Leianna already has an idea of which holidays would be peak times for her business. To date, she has been completely booked in advance for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Over the Easter weekend, Leianna had numerous orders come, some of which required her to get colourful since this holiday has themes of Easter bunnies and Easter eggs.
While holidays can become hectic with orders, the top occasion she caters for is birthdays. Her biggest order to date was for 36 cakesicles and 36 cupcakes for a birthday on February 23. She also had other orders for February 22, which is her birthday. Though she wasn’t able to celebrate as she would have liked, knowing that she was able to satisfy her customers made all the difference.
Leianna said business has not been too challenging for her. She added that with supportive parents who were able to financially assist her also, she has her own space inclusive of a kitchen with all the necessary equipment. Exploring business in the food industry was mostly because of her mother, but Leianna said her father, who is a software engineer, has influenced her decision to take that path herself someday. She is considering pursuing this degree online.
Leianna uses her free time to plan her next set of orders and get all her required ingredients in advance. Recently, she began including cake donuts in her collections.
In the near future, Leianna foresees having a storefront for Sweet Pies Treats Guyana as well as a few employees. Leianna can be reached via Instagram @sweetpietreats.gy or at 618-1685.
