We were lucky to catch up with Cece Kirkwood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cece, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

We’re going to have to go wayyyyy back for this one. I began baking when I was very young, I’m talking 5 or 6. I first learned how to bake the chocolate chip cookie from the greatest baker I know, my mom. I baked with my mom throughout my childhood, but mostly just followed my mom’s directions, not really learning the “science” behind the bake until later.

But the kitchen was not always a sunshine-y place for me. Through my teenage years, I unfortunately “bought-into” the toxic part of the world that made you feel bad about enjoying the food you loved…forcing me to feel that I needed to take up less space.

In addition, growing up, I was a performer – everything from musical theater to dance. As my relationship with food suffered, so did my love for the stage lights and having any sort of attention on myself. Instead of feeling euphoric after a performance, I began to feel guilty for taking up people’s time. My anxiety grew, I went to college, I kept my head down, rarely baked unless I knew other people would eat all of it, got my degree in business and started a career in fundraising.

Then several years flew by and the covid-19 pandemic hit. I found myself with more time on my hands than I ever had before.

More time to work on my relationship with my body, food and self-worth. More time to appreciate the hard work my body does just to keep me alive and healthy. More time to realize that that creative light that I dimmed for so many years, was begging to shine again.

So back to the kitchen I went, but this time, I was on my own. I did call my mom though. I asked her for her chocolate chip cookie recipe, a couple bread recipes and off I went! Once I felt comfortable with the basics, the experimenting began. My wonderful husband (and Chief Taste-Tester) can tell you that there were a number of failed recipes but even more successes.

Being back in the kitchen healed two parts of me that I had ignored and repressed for far too long… my love for good food and the joy I feel when I can be creative.

Every new “baking basic” I learned, such as the difference between baking soda and baking powder, was a tiny cure for that young soul inside of me who just wanted to be happy. Being able to take ingredients in my pantry and turn them into something delicious all on my own was incredibly healing. I began to learn again that I deserved to fuel and honor my body. I deserved to take up as much space in this world as I needed to thrive.

After several months of clogging my friends’ social feeds with bagels and cookies and bread, my friends and husband encouraged me to start sharing my baking journey with more people, on my own instagram channel and thus Baking by Cece was born!

I didn’t realize it when I picked baking backup again a few years ago, but looking back on it now, being in the kitchen really allowed me to be creative again in a whole new way. And showing off my bakes on social media helps me scratch that performance itch again. The stage lights are shining again and I’m happy to be there.

The joy I feel being able to bring these two worlds together – performing and baking, all the while healing and learning to love every ounce of myself… What could possibly beat that?

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well hello! My name is Cece and I am honestly so delighted to be here and talking to you about baking!

In the after-hours of my corporate job as a Program Manager, I throw on my apron and become a self-taught baker and recipe developer. I love to create easy to follow recipes that fuel our souls.

I firmly believe that anyone can bake! We just need to know the right tools and baking basics to help us along the way.

Have you ever baked a cake and unfortunately it fell after coming out of the oven and now has a giant sunken hole in the center? I used to blame it on the “unknown” or “bad luck”. But not anymore. Now I know that baking is a science. The ingredients you add to the mixing bowl are all an important puzzle piece to your finished baked good. If you don’t understand how these ingredients interact with one-another, you won’t be able to re-trace your steps and learn what went wrong with the cake.

Now I’m not saying every cake you ever bake with be perfect every time. But if you knew that over mixing could lead to a sunken cake or opening the oven too soon could cause the cake to stop rising… you might be able to spot what happened during that bake and not make the same mistake twice.

That is why I created Baking by Cece. I want to help people learn the basics behind a bake so they feel confident when they step into the kitchen.

For every one of my recipes on my blog, I have accompanying photos and step by step instructions to help you along the way. They are also each paired with a couple tips and sometimes a deep dive into a baking basic to make sure you have all the necessary tools to succeed.

On bakingbycece.com, you’ll find weekly, new, fun and easy to follow recipes. I’ll also sprinkle in the basics to baking, all the while spreading nothing but positive vibes for our bodies. I hope to bake with each and every one of you readers very soon!

How did you build your audience on social media?

While still growing, I am immensely proud of the baking community I’ve been building around Baking by Cece. My audience is resilient and full of folks who want to love and honor their bodies while learning how to bake delicious goodies to devour themselves and share with loved ones.

I’ve been building this community for a couple years and I haven’t take any short cuts. Don’t fall for the “buying followers” scams and please, whatever you do, do not do the follow/unfollow trend.

When I first started, I did research and found a couple social media manager accounts that I loved and wanted to listen to their advice. For me, these were the people who talk about consistency and quality over quantity. I still have a full time job, so I knew I need to be in a rhythm that I can maintain and not grow resentful over because I over-committed and couldn’t produce.

If you can join a 30day instagram challenge and come out of it stronger, the more power to you. But that won’t be the path for me while I grow my passion and maintain my full time job.

What I do find that works best for me when I’m looking to hit that next community growth goal are baking basic series. The world loves a good three-to-four part series. I like to choose a few baking basics and package them up along with a recipe to highlight. I’ll complete this series of posts over the course of a week or two. Once the series is fully “online”, I will run a couple targeted ads to help my series reach new eyes. They’ll see Part 1, be excited to learn more and stay for the long-run. It’s important that any ad or boosted post you show to a new audience is true to your brand. Otherwise, those community members won’t stick around because you aren’t producing what they are expecting to see.

The best path for you to grow is to be true to yourself. The people who join your community will be there for the long-haul because you present as your most authentic self. And that version is the one that people will follow, learn from and cheer for.

Accounts I love to follow include: @hustlinghuman, @photographyourfood @10kunder10k and @puregallussocial

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The first book I read was “Crushing It” by Gary Vaynerchuk. This book is all about building a personal brand online. The author is a little brash, but his philosophy makes sense and helped me focus on what I wanted to do with Baking by Cece. Narrowing in on your niche is vitally important to succeed. You need to pick a path and stay on it. This book can help you begin that journey.

I’ve also really leaned into free resources that are available to me by local non-profits or government resources. One of my favorites is SCORE.org They are a free resource that helps you find local mentors and resources depending on what business you are looking to start. This is a free resource though, so you get out of it what you put in. Your mentor won’t hold your hand through every step. You have to come prepared to each session and do your homework. They will help build connections, increase your network and guide you along the startup path.

Right now I’m reading the “4-hour-work-week” by Tim Ferriss. This book focuses a lot about a concept called the “new rich” and the ability to live the life you’ve always dreamed, while proactively working less. This isn’t a book about how to quit your job and work 50-60 hours a week for yourself. Its about prioritizing what matters most to you and offloading the stuff that doesn’t. Making life work for you. I think this is an especially important book for me as I juggle my family, my full-time job and Baking By Cece.

Contact Info:

• Website: bakingbycece.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakingbycece/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakingbycece
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/baking-by-cece/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bakingbycece
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bakingbycece

Image Credits
Baking by Cece | Cece Kirkwood