Meet Brittnie Tran | Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brittnie Tran and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittnie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started creating cakes at the end of 2021, after stumbling upon a random cake decorating video on YouTube. I thought it was extremely relaxing and mesmerizing to watch them decorate these beautiful cakes, and since I have a pretty steady hand, I told myself – I can do that too! I fully baked and decorated my first cake that same week. I have always loved creating all things food in the kitchen, so having another hobby centered around that was exciting. After about a year of making plenty of cakes, the hobby started to become expensive and at the same time, people were asking me to sell them my creations. So naturally, Kalabar Cakes was born.

Please tell us more about your business. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today business-wise. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I am most proud of how much I have learned throughout this journey. I love that I am able to take creative inspiration from an item, such as a birthday invitation or a dress, and create a design on a cake that matches. Having been creative from a young age, I find making cakes stimulating and enjoyable. Along with being artistic, I have always loved to cook and bake, so I find it very fulfilling to be able to have a job that merges both art and food. I also really love that I match what I am wearing with my cakes. I am a total homebody, and have all of these cute clothes that never get worn, so it’s a win win to feature them with my cakes on my Instagram. The feedback on the matching outfits has been great, and I’m thrilled other people love it just as much as I do. I think it sets me apart from other cake artists as well, and easier to identify me as the headless baker with the matching outfits. While I do love the process of making pretty cakes, there are challenges. I’ve overcome all cake related issues that arise with patience. I’m not naturally a patient person, but most problems I come across when dealing with cakes or customers can usually always be resolved with patience. If there’s one thing I want the world to know about my story, is that if you want to pursue something, just go for it! Do it with 100% effort, passion, and above all, love what you do. I saw a random video on cake decorating, liked it, knew I was capable of doing it, and I did it. I never thought it would have taken me this far, but it is all about that first step.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If a friend were visiting me in Houston, I’d have a few places to go and some activities I’d love to do with them. For breakfast, the first place I’d take them is a local taco shop near me, called Soliz. I’ve been going to this place for over a decade now, and it is just as amazing as the first time I tasted it. (Shoutout to Eric and his wife, who are the kind owners of this place.) We could also visit my favorite dumpling spot in Bellaire, called Northern Pasta. I love having some great dumplings for brunch. For lunch, I’d have us go for sushi at Keepers, located in Sugar Land, or House of bowls, which offers tasty Cantonese food. As for drinks, I don’t drink alcohol so I don’t have any recommendations, but I love this coffee shop in Bellaire called Le Drip. They have the best sugar cane drink, and although I also do not drink coffee, I have heard from my friends and family that they have awesome coffee. Lastly, for dinner, we could go to Rosie Cannonball for some glorious pizza, or Handies Douzo, located in the Heights, for an intimate setting and fresh fish. For dessert, I found this new Thai place, called The Nines Thai, that has the best homemade mango sticky rice and ice cream. After all of this eating, I would take my friend to do one of the activities I love the most, which is walking my dogs at various parks and trails I have found in my hometown, Sugar Land. To be honest, I am personally not one to venture around the city or go out to eat often, so if a friend were in town, we would probably spend a lot of it exploring the city and new places together!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Thank you to everyone who has supported Kalabar cakes on this magical journey. A special shoutout to my friends and family, and the biggest, most significant and loving thank you to my #1 fan and my other half, Faisal. My heart is filled with gratitude, love, and respect for him as he deserves the world. I could never thank him enough for moving mountains for me on a daily basis and being my biggest inspiration in this wonderful life we share together. Faisal is not only my other half, he is the other half of Kalabar Cakes, filling many positions within the company. A man of many hats, and along with being hardworking in his own endeavors, he works extra hard to make Kalabar Cakes be the best it can be. He even came up with the name Kalabar Cakes, which could not be more fitting to me! He is my beautiful blessing, and I could never thank him enough.

Instagram: @kalabarcakes

Other: Tik Tok is the same as my instagram! 🙂

Image Credits
The photos not of me are from Ruby Olivia Photography (based in NYC)