Spreading happiness with baked goods
■ Tell me about yourself and how you come to Chichester...
I’m from Puglia, in the south of Italy. I left Italy over a decade ago, moving first to Ireland, then Wales, and ultimately to London to pursue my dream career in the music industry. I worked my way up to becoming a music/events promoter. Although my baking business is the reason why I’m known in Chichester, my full-time job is in the music industry. Over the past few years I’ve been working both as an agent and events promoter, working with the likes of Rick Astley, Sinead O’connor, Editors, Aphex Twin and more. Obviously with the current situation I have plenty of time on my hands, which helped me to start up my small baking business. I moved to Chichester from London for love over three years ago. I love my life here.
■ Where does your passion for baking stem from?
I come from a family of bakers on my mum’s side, so I’ve grown up in the bakery, watching my grandad and uncles creating some marvellous food. I guess the passion is in my DNA.
■ Tell me a bit about your business...
Happy Go Baking is a homebased baking business, born with the idea of bringing happiness to others through the medium of baked goods. Although I’ve been baking for friends for a few years, I only opened up for business in November 2020, once I realised that I’d be probably spending way more time than expected at home. It’s only been five months, but thanks to my collaboration with H&S Coffee and The Chipod, my business has grown in popularity and I’ve been working on it almost on a full time basis. The one thing that makes me happy is to make others happy, so whenever I receive an order, whether it’s for a celebration or for H&S, I put all my love and passion into what I create. Treating yourself or someone else is a form of caring, and I care for all my customers.
What are your top tips for
■ baking success – is it just a case of practicing, or do you need to put love in with the other ingredients for your bakes to have that edge?
I think baking, like any other craft, needs a bit of everything: Practice, imagination, understanding of the processes involved (there is a lot of chemistry and physics in baking), and a lot of passion. We’re very lucky these days to have plenty of tutorials available just a click away, and for free. It does take time to master it, a lot of practice and baking disasters. And even when you know what you’re doing, disasters will still happen! The truth is that anyone could bake, as long as they’re willing to focus on it and practice a bit.
How can people find
■ out more about Happy Go Baking?
You can find me on Facebook at www.facebook. com/happygobaking and Instagram @happygobaking – website coming soon!