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.”
