Do What You Love; Bim's Cakes Edition

Good Morning! As some of you know, my big sister Oby is the baker in the family. Oby is the first daughter and has always been the home-maker. Try putting a plate in the fridge without the cover and the look she'll give you alone, will make you scurry to find the cover. Or try washing dishes without wiping down the sink afterwards, you'll get her wrath. No, wait! attempt to comb your hair anywhere other than the bathroom, the rest is history. haha!

Anyway, I digress.

Oby always loved to bake and in 2007 she decided to do something about it. I remember clearly when Oby and Ogo decided to register for a cake class. They asked if I was interested? Me? I have 0 patience for decorating so I passed on it, choosing instead to spend my summer doing God knows what while my sisters learned the intricacies of making all kinds of things from sugar and butter.

Over the years, Oby kept at it; taking the time to learn and practice. Call Oby on a weekend and she is at the store looking for new "Cake Gadgets". Go to Oby's pantry and there is no sort of flavor you won't find in it. I don't know anyone else who takes her hobby as seriously as Oby does. For her birthday, she'd rather you buy her a ticket to a Cake Convention than an LV purse. First, who does that? Second, who knew there was such a thing as a Cake Convention? haha! I think she even said for her 30th birthday present, she wants a ticket to a cake cruise....O di egwu...we shall see if this family will agree to spend our money on that! The logic is that if we sponsor her on a cake cruise, there shall be no enjoyment for us...in the spirit of selfishness, maybe we should just throw her a party so we can enjoy too. Haha! I kid I kid :-)

Anyway, Oby just recently registered her cake business as "Bim's Cakes". BimBim is what my parents have always called her, so the name is an Ode to the awesomest parents a girl could ask for :-)

Today, Oby still has her fulltime job as a Cancer Researcher/ PhD student but in the evenings and weekends you can find her in her "Cake Lab" (as she calls it) designing something different for someone's birthday, graduation, anniversary, bridal shower, baby shower, and now wedding (Yippie to the third wedding cake order she got last week). I honestly haven't tasted any cake better than my sister's, but then I am love-biased. :-0

Oby probably doesn't know (until she reads this lol) that I learn more from her actions than her words. And her persistence for and dedication to what she loves is a quintessential lesson close to my heart. What's more is that Oby is always open to feedback. She'll always bake samples for us to taste and tell her if its too dry, too soft, too sugary...and each time, she took it graciously and tried to make the next one better. Cake-taster is one job I do not mind....at all. In short, sometimes I purposely tell her the cake is too dry so she can re-bake so I can re-eat. ha! O gosh, I just exposed my secret. Oh well...

Its just amazing to me how a simple hobby turned into something lucrative. We all know deep down what we love doing yet most of us don't take it seriously. Obs found something she loved doing, took the time to learn to do it well, set a vision for what she wanted it to be and set it in motion. Now she does something she loves doing and gets paid for it. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

If my words don't inspire you enough, maybe these cakes, personally baked and designed by Bim's cakes, will do the job...Enjoy ;-)

Tiffany's-Inspired Cake 

Kolanut inspired. Love this! 

My personal favorite....The cake she made for me when I graduated law school. It profiles my favorite legal subjects :-)

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard-work, determination, and dedication. ~ Gail Devers

Obs & I at my graduation party doing my "Thank you for the cake" dance

Oby, the Cake Designer

Dedication involves making the space to let young ideas take hold; every tree was once a seed and every company was once an idea-Zephyr Bloch-Jorgensen

Click for Bim's Cakes blog.

Stay Inspired :-)