Chelsweets

I have fallen down the Instagram rabbit hole. I follow way too many food porn accounts.  Of course, I have favorites and one of my very favorites is @Chelsweets. She bakes and decorates the most beautiful cakes! When she posts videos in which she frosts the cakes, I often rewatch 5-10 times. I am not alone in my obsession with these videos. She has 261,000 followers! I hesitatingly asked her for an interview and she willingly said yes!

ID: Please tell us a little about yourself and the genesis of Chelsweets:
CS: The goal of chelsweets.com is to share my recipes, techniques, and ideas, and show that anyone can bake! I work full-time in Finance at L’Oreal, and have slowly taught myself how to bake over the past few years. I’ve learned through trial and error, and by watching countless YouTube videos. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!!  Baking has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people and has led to some amazing opportunities. My work has been shared by Country Living, Pop Sugar, Cosmopolitan, the Food Network, and Business Insider. I’ve also had the honor of contributing to the Food Network, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, and House Beautiful Magazine.

ID: Did you bake with your Mom as a kid?
CS: Not really! Both my parents worked, and my sister and I did a ton of extra-curricular actives. We were always running from one thing to another and ate most meals out. The main exception is that my mom always made tons of fresh jam every summer! We had a ton of berries in our backyard, and every summer we’d pick them and make freezer jam for the coming year.

ID Do you eat your cakes?
CS: Of course! I don’t always eat a giant slice, but I always have at least one bite of each cake I make.

ID: Your very first job in high school/ what was your childhood ambition?
CS: My first job in high school was as a summer tennis coach! I coached kids 8-14 years old. As a kid, I wanted to be an architect during the day and a chef at night (I thought I could be both at the same time).

ID: The highlight of your career so far:
CS: The highlight of my baking career has been doing a social shoot with the Food Network. I shot 5 cakes in one day, at their studios in Chelsea Market.

ID: Any advice to people looking to start or grow their YouTube channel?
CS: I recommend creating unique and engaging videos that are either highly entertaining or very informative. It’s also great to consider including highly searched keywords in the title and description of your videos (SEO).

ID: What do you like most/least about working for yourself?
CS: I still have my corporate job in Finance, but I frequently bite off more than I can chew when it comes to baking. I usually wake up early before work to edit videos on tight deadlines!

ID: What’s your guilty pleasure?
CS: I love watching cartoons while I bake (when I’m not recording). It could be anything from SpongeBob to South Park!!

ID: What do you like to do when you’re not working?
CS: When I’m not at my day job or baking, I love to go for runs, play squash, and spend time with my boyfriend and friends! I also enjoy traveling and fly home to Seattle a lot to see my family!

ID: Please tell us a random talent we would be surprised to know about Chelsey.
CS: I completed Ironman Canada in 2015. It was the most difficult day of my life (took 16 hours to complete!!!!!!!!!!). It rained about half of the time, and my chain came off while I was biking one of the steepest parts of the course. I’m still not sure how I finished it ☺

Thank you, Chelsey, for your interview! I know my readers will enjoy it – especially the pictures!

Images courtesy of Chelsweets