Elise Strachan has spent the past five years of her life baking cakes for the Internet. She refers to herself as “a young mum from the Gold Coast,” yet almost 10 million follow her every word each week as she bakes and and other delights.
Through her and social media channels including her pretty account, Strachan’s has not only become a massive community of cake lovers and bakers, it has also morphed into an impressive global business. These days, Strachan divides her time between Australia and the US, keeping on top of it all.
It would be easy to assume that Strachan and her husband – the man behind the camera – might let all that internet fame go to their heads. Yet, even as she , and films for TV, Strachan seems to be taking it all in her stride.
Catch her in Sweet Smarts here or on SBS ON Demand:
So, what life lessons has she picked up along the way to becoming a renowned dessert celebrity?
Be the MacGyver of cake
Strachan believes that one of the biggest lessons she has learnt along her cake creation journey is that it’s okay to have your own style, and there’s no point trying to emulate the stars of the celebrity chef world.
“I think there are always periods in your life when you look at people who are better than you, who are more professional, more precise,” she told SBS. “I think my specialty is taking all kinds of sweets and desserts and making them really accessible – a little bit like the MacGyver of cake,” she laughs. “I think my biggest learning curve has been learning to own that.”
videos range from incredibly simple baking recipes to those for bakers with a little more experience, but they never include expensive equipment or terminology that the average person won’t understand.
“I like taking the cakes that are $500 at the shop, or that you see on TV being made with pipes and $30,000 pieces of equipment, and breaking that down so that you can make the same thing with a snap-filled bag and a little bit of baking paper,” Strachan says.
Don’t feed the trolls
Trolls are an inevitable element of any high-profile online business, and despite its non-controversial subject matter, My Cupcake Addiction is no different. Strachan’s approach is simply not to feed them – because trolls don’t deserve cake.
“I never indulge people that are trolling,” she says. “I either ignore it or get rid of the comment so it doesn’t breed more negativity.”
Strachan has noticed that if she nips an initial negative or trolling comment in the bud from the get-go, it will end there – whereas if it is left, others pile on top.
“There’s almost a pack mentality online,” she says. “I think everyone who makes these kind of comments needs to realise that there is a person working their butt off on the other end. I wouldn’t be human if it didn’t affect me sometimes.”
Invite your audience over
In a traditional business model, creators can only do so much research about their audiences before they throw their product out to the world and hope that it works.
Strachan has an advantage: she can chat to her audience whenever she likes. She holds regular live chats on to find out what types of desserts her audience want to see next, and keeps an eye on feedback and comments.
“When I meet people in person, they already know me very, very well,” Strachan says. “They have followed me through the beginnings of my channel, they’ve been there when I’ve had my babies. It’s more like a friendship than if you were to meet Nigella or Jamie Oliver or somebody who is an elevated celebrity.”
“I was making something live the other day, and right in the middle of it Oliver, my 5-year-old, comes in. I’ve got about 3000 people watching, and Oliver says ‘Muuuum, Jacob's not sharing the iPad!’ So I am always troubleshooting these parts of my life while a live audience is watching,” she laughs.
“Kids come in and sneeze on the food just as often in my house as they do in other people’s.”
Putting it in print
Strachan has just released her first cookbook, Sweet Celebrations, after much demand from her audience to have recipes down on paper.
“Before, there was nothing that my fans could really show their 97-year-old grandma about the girl who they watch bake cakes on the Internet, but now there is,” she laughs.
The goal behind Sweet Celebrations was to create a “beautiful, inspiration coffee table book” with recipes that online and offline fans had never seen before.
Source: Murdoch Books
The book focuses on different occasions throughout the year – kids’ birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s day, Valentines Day, and of course the big holidays like Christmas.
“I was very inspired by my childhood growing up,” explains Strachan. “I would always flip through the Women’s Weekly cake books as a kid – I think most children of the ‘80s were very enamored by those!”
“My aim is to get people into the kitchen to make memories, not just to bake food.”
Cook the book
These make a great party idea, especially for children, but will adults love them too!
Chocolate sprinkle ice-cream bowls Source: Murdoch Books
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Source: Murdoch Books
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Source: Murdoch Books
