Cake! magazine by Australian Cake Decorating Network August 2014 | Page 112

Elise Strachan
interview with

Working from home - It’s Not a Piece of Cake!
Louise Vansleve

You own and run successful YouTube
Channel My Cupcake Addiction. Can
you tell us a little bit about it?
I do! MyCupcakeAddiction is the 3rd
largest YouTube baking channel in the
world and the largest specialising in
comprehensive, step by step cake and
cupcake decorating tutorials – best
of all they’re all 100% free! I love the
interaction I have with viewers from
every corner of the globe, and have
recently translated my videos into
a Japanese channel and a Spanish
channel – Hola!
MyCupcakeAddiction forces me to
stay up with the trends, to challenge
myself and to grow as a decorator so
my audience can also grow. I have
viewers from every age and every
demographic so I try to make sure I
have enough videos that are simple
and easy to follow, and enough
that are challenging to the already
established baker or decorator.
Did you ever dream that your channel
would become such an internet
sensation?

A fanatic for all things cupcake, cakepop and cake Elise Strachan has taken the virtual
world by storm, making herself a household name on computer screens around the
world.
Written by Marianna Saran
Elise was kind enough to take some
time out of her busy filming schedule
to show us behind the scenes of her
‘My Cupcake Addiction’.
The busy mother of two has built a
YouTube empire with a following of
more than 550,000 subscribers, from
her home based on the Gold Coast,
Australia.
Her channel My Cupcake Addiction
is in its eighth year and is the largest
decorating tutorial channel on
YouTube.

Tell us a little bit about the wonderful
woman behind My Cupcake Addiction;
I’m 32 years old, a mum of two – one
toddler and a newborn and like many
cake decorators, I juggle my work
commitments when my babies sleep.
Which often means not so much sleep
for me, so lucky I love what I do!
Have you completed any formal training?
I have literally just completed a Pastry
Chef degree, which I have been
working at for the past 18 months. Prior
to that, I was a self-taught baker, albeit
one with quite a few cake decorating
classes under my belt. I wish YouTube
had been more prominent when I was
learning to decorate – I would have
saved so much money!!

I didn’t! I have a sign on the wall in
my office that says “Whatever you’re
Thinking, Think Bigger!” – this has
truly been the case with my YouTube
channel and the response has been
overwhelming. That being said, I have
worked incredibly hard at growing
the channel and often put in 60+ hour
weeks, so the success is fantastic but
also hard earned.
Where did the idea for Cupcake
Addiction come from?
I started selling cupcakes at a local
market in Sydney 8 years ago. After
moving to the Gold Coast, I kept up
the selling of cupcakes markets and
built my custom, novelty and wedding
cake business to the point where I
physically couldn’t take any more
orders. I originally looked into running
hands on courses, but didn’t have the
time to invest so the idea to put a video
on YouTube came via my husband. The
first one, a cookie monster cupcake
was nervously filmed but well received,
and now we have over 300 videos
and I’m much more confident with my
teaching style.
Who do you try to target with your
online tutorials?
I try to target those who really want to
learn to bake and decorate, but don’t
necessarily have access to classes.
When I was learning, there were so

few options for classes in Brisbane
and I always had to travel to Sydney
or Melbourne – a $500 course quickly
becomes $1500 when you factor in travel
and accommodation and not everyone
has access to that kind of money.
I target mums who want to create
amazing cakes for their kids, but have
no idea where to start, teens who love
to bake and share their creations with
their friends and lots of cake business
owners looking for inspiration and
ideas to use i