Charlotte Bakery Bangkok | Tradition in Every Bite

I grew up in Oxford, England, surrounded by proper baking — the kind that doesn’t need fancy icing or gimmicks. Just a perfect sponge, soft crumb, and a good cup of tea. My Grandma Amy baked everything by hand, even during the war when ingredients were scarce. My mum carried that same spirit — every birthday cake was homemade, never store-bought. That’s where my love for baking began, even if I didn’t realise it at the time.

When I moved to Thailand — first to Phuket, then to Bangkok — I was shocked by how hard it was to find a decent cake. Most were dry, overly sweet, or just lifeless. They looked beautiful but lacked the warmth and flavour I grew up with. You could buy a “sponge cake,” but it wasn’t truly a sponge. You could buy “cream,” but it wasn’t real cream. Everything felt too processed, too fast, too fake. I remember thinking: How can such a food-loving country not have a proper cake?

At the time, my main career was as a creative director and cinematographer, working on commercials and films across Asia. Between shoots, I started experimenting — quietly building a small bakery side of our luxury gifting brand, Basketeer, with my partner Nong. We thought, “If no one’s making proper British cakes here, maybe we should.”

It wasn’t easy. For months, we struggled to find bakers who understood what we were trying to do — the texture, the balance, the restraint. Thai cakes were often made to look beautiful but lacked the depth and technique that define a true sponge. After countless failed trials and endless frustration, I realised the only way forward was to do it myself.

So I went back to basics — Grandma Amy’s notes, my mum’s recipes, and memories of those afternoons in her kitchen. I rewrote every recipe, tested every ratio, and baked until the results finally felt right. That’s when I met Chef Ex — talented, open-minded, and eager to learn. Together, we rebuilt every recipe from scratch. I taught him the old-school techniques: how to fold by hand, how to feel when the batter’s ready, how to tell if a sponge has risen properly without cutting into it. He added precision and consistency. Together, we finally found the taste I’d been searching for — honest, soft, perfectly balanced cake that reminded me of home.

That’s how Charlotte Bakery was born — not from a business plan, but from obsession. An obsession with good cake, good craft, and the belief that the only way to make something authentic was to do it ourselves. Even now, every cake that leaves our kitchen carries that story — from England to Bangkok, from Grandma Amy’s recipes to Chef Ex’s hands, and from my own stubborn love of detail to the plate in front of you. Because sometimes, the only way to find something good is to make it yourself.