Self-taught baker in Toronto makes the most unbelievable Japanese anime cakes
Julia Yang started her baking journey when she was only three years old, now she is twenty-four and making the most elaborate custom cakes.
From intricate creations of anime characters like Nezuko from the Demon Slayer, Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen and Sailor Moon to wedding and baby shower cakes - Yang has an impressive eye for detail.
Yang started to bake from a young age with her mother for Sunday service at church. She started to help by gathering ingredients then mixing and eventually taking over.
Julia Yang told blogTO that, "As I got older I wanted to include more cake decorations and incorporate a more creative aspect. I tried my best to learn how to decorate cakes by watching a lot of videos online, reading books and testing out lots of recipes."
Yang went to Ryerson University for Business but after a year of her parents seeing it wasn't her passion they encouraged her to follow her baking ambitions and take a course in baking or culinary instead.
She then went to George Brown College and studied culinary and interestingly enough, the savoury techniques she learned in her program could be applied to her baking.
"I wanted to apply the techniques that I would learn from savoury and apply it to sweet," said Yang.
She explains that she uses the same technique as making pasta for her baking. "I create a well for the wet ingredients and gradually incorporate it into the dry ingredients - except I mix in a bowl and not on a slab of wood."
Prior to the pandemic, Yang was working as a server at the airport. When everything started to shut down she had more time to focus on her craft and use what she learned in her business and culinary program and apply it to her cake business.
The average cake Yang sells goes for about $160, however, on the lowest end they sell for $85 and can go up to $350, depending on how elaborate the cake is and how expensive the decor adds up to.
All custom cakes are entirely one-of-a-kind and freestyled, "It takes about 5 to 8 hours to create each cake and I don't sketch it out, I just research the character or idea before getting started then I create on-the-fly as I go."
On average she receives over twenty-five inquiries a week however, "I only accept half of those orders on a first come first serve basis so I can ensure that each cake gets the love and time that it deserves."
Order requests can be made by sending Yang a direct message on Instagram or emailing her. By the end of July, she will have an online forum to make the process a bit more seamless.
Yang reveals her long-term goal is to open a cafe with her sister Lucia Yang where cakes, slices, specialty drinks and more will be available.
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