I have a confession to make:

I come from a self-taught home baker background!

That may surprise you since I did attend Le Cordon Bleu in London where I studied to become a professional pastry chef.

The truth is I mastered the art of pastries well before my qualification.

In fact, I spent 30 years of trial and error working out the secrets to perfect pastries. I would look at pastry chefs and wonder, “How on earth do they get it all so perfect? What am I doing wrong?!” Little by little, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong — and how to fix it.

Now, every time I feel life might be falling apart, I know my pastries won’t be. Baking is now my therapy and gift to the world.

Always in my kitchen, I love having people round my table to share delicious home-crafted food. I founded Chez Shamwari, a pop-up tearoom in my house serving exclusive high end afternoon teas in 2011.

I fell in love with pâtisserie and so began my journey to learn this craft from any source I could: studying recipe books, attending recreational cookery courses, and volunteering as a classroom assistant to award-winning pastry chef, author, and tutor Mark Tilling.

I was so excited and deeply honoured when Mark invited me to do the recipe testing for his next cookbook, “Mastering Chocolate”.

Eager to cement my credibility, I took a career break from my day job and qualified as a professional pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London in 2018.

Through my afternoon teas and baking classes I have earned a reputation for delivering an exceptional and unique experience.

But if you really knew me, you would also know that baking means so much more to me than just the cake.

My vision is to create a movement to change the world through baking. 

To bake a better world. 

The simple act of baking brings a deep sense of well being and happiness.  It’s a simple act but a creative one which has a positive effect on mental health.  When I am in my kitchen, I am focusing so much on what I am doing in that moment that I forget the stresses and strains that might be worrying me; it’s almost like meditation!

Having created something though, the circle still needs to be completed.  And that’s where the sharing comes in …

I created Sharing Deliciousness based on an ethos to foster community and togetherness by sharing what we create. We live in a society where loneliness and isolation abound but by sharing what I bake, I believe it will go a long way in developing meaningful and long lasting relationships built on the foundation of love and concern for our neighbour.

So will you join me as I imagine a world where sharing a piece of cake is the catalyst to break down those invisible barriers, to make someone feel special, to rekindle or find new friendships?  

After all, together tastes better!