We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nishat Hamid a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nishat, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I started Cherry On Top Cake in 2013 as a passion project and a way to give myself a creative outlet when I started college. The business slowly grew and turned into a profitable side-hustle. I was creating birthday cakes, baby shower cakes, engagement cakes, and so much more! However, I was attending more family weddings and realized that there were not many flavors or desserts that represent South Asian culture in today’s cake shops. As a first-generation American with parents who were born in Bangladesh, I wanted to pay homage to my roots and have a piece of that identity in my work. This lead me to start experimenting and take my business to another level.

It’s no secret that South Asian cuisine is some of the best in the world. Beyond the savory dishes, there are some truly indulgent sweets! From mango lassi to gulab jamun – desserts and drinks across South Asia hit the right spot. Being a minority group in SoCal comes with some setbacks including having to assimilate to the norms around us and have typical “American” desserts at desi events. I created cupcakes flavors that are unique and replicate popular sweets like jalebi, gulab jamun, rasmalai, chai, and rose. I also create custom cakes designed to look like sherwanis and sarees which are traditional South Asian attires. I was then able to expand my clientele and had people from other cities and states interested in my South Asian inspired desserts. Representation is so important, and I love being able to offer these options for birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and more in SoCal.

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?

My name is Nishat and I am a self-taught cake decorator that started this business in 2013. After graduating high school and having lots of spare time on my hands, I decided to venture off and pursue a few of my passions and interests. I always had an interest in arts in crafts and grew up watching shows on Food Network like Ace of Cakes which always intrigued me. I took a few cake classes that taught me the basics of buttercream and then took it a step further by teaching myself more techniques through YouTube and blogs. I started making custom cakes for family and friends then decided to show and express this creative art to the world. Slowly I started my website, created my Yelp page, and was marketing my business to everyone in the SoCal area.

While building Cherry On Top Cake, I was also simultaneously in school to build my career. The business travelled with me as I attended UC Irvine, USC, and lived near UCSB. I was able to find a niche of parents who weren’t close enough in proximity to celebrate their college student’s birthday but wanted to send them something special. I would create cupcakes or cakes for these students and deliver it to them along with a birthday note from their parent. I even had a popular “cake-in-a-jar” sale during finals week so parents were able to send their children a sweet, motivational treat. Now, as an academic advisor at a community college in Los Angeles, I have built this brand that combines my two passions in life – helping students in higher education and creating cake masterpieces.

I am very proud of the “girl boss” mentality and drive I had growing up and I hope to inspire others. I’ve heard of many people who let go of their aspirations and dreams simply because they feel like they do not have enough time, they don’t think they can reach them, they are fearful of the potential failures, or they give up when someone says no. Sometimes this self-doubt leads to not living our life to the fullest and doing all that we love. The road wasn’t easy and I’ve recently seen the long-term side effects of how hustle culture can hurt your mental health and body. It’s so important to take care of yourself and recharge when needed so that you don’t burn out and can be the best version of yourself for your clients. I am happy to say I have finally found that perfect balance of my two passions.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started by creating an Instagram page and posting my work. It was mainly followed by my friends and family but I knew that consistently posting would help me get there where I want to be. During the pandemic, TikTok blew up so I created an account and started posting there. I was creating a lot of South Asian inspired desserts and noticed that those videos would do well, especially amongst the South Asian community. I followed the trends and made sure to post consistently even if it was a three second video. I then posted a video about a faux cake that got 13 million views. The video had a lot of comments from new bakers who were interested in starting their own business. I geared my TikTok page towards those home-bakers and posted guides on how I started mine along with hacks/tips and tricks for cake decorating. This then gave me a lot of engagement amongst other home-bakers as well as those who liked to bake for fun. The key is to be consistent and find your niche. Your niche may change here and there, but gear your content to what is working for you. My Instagram never grew as quickly but I remain consistent on there because I get about 50% of my inquiries through that platform.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As a one-woman business, I bit a lot more than I could chew in 2020. During the pandemic, I started selling and shipping hot cocoa bombs throughout the US. I was so excited to see the highest sales I’ve ever had that I never paused to ensure I wasn’t overworking myself. During Christmas time, my holiday sale was bringing in orders every hour. That year, I made and shipped over 350 hot cocoa bombs but was completely burnt out. This was when I realized I needed to pivot my business to ensure that I only took a specific amount of orders every holiday sale so that I would never cry in the shower because I was so overwhelmed at 4 am again (true story). I was lucky enough to have amazing friends to come over and create assembly lines in my apartment to make sure all the cocoa bombs were shipped out in time. It’s important to listen to your body, partake in self-care, and know your limits. If you aren’t 100%, your business won’t be either. I took a break after that Christmas to recharge and revamp the way that I ran my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cherryontopcake.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherryontopcake/
• Yelp: https://www.instagram.com/cherryontopcake/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cherryontopcake?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc