Meet Yulia Giorgobiani | Cake artist and cake business coach

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

Hi Yulia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was a fashion corporate employee with busy schedule, late nights, minimal time off and 2 children at home. I saw cakes of European and Russian cake artists on Instagram and got inspired to start baking. With busy schedule I could only bake at night after kids went to bed and sometimes it was until 2-3 am and then back to work at 9 am. I was exhausted but I didn’t care, baking and cake decorating was my therapy, unknown world of endless creativity where there was no limits. I did not care about eating cakes as I never liked American cakes, it was too sweet and spongy for me. Same time I wanted to create cakes that are stunning to look at and create that delicious memory in your mind. I never looked at the cake as just sponge and cream toppers with cherries. It was art for me since the beginning. I could spend hours and hours at night creating something and then go back to work in the morning and think all day about what I was going to make at night. My first “quality check controls” and judges were my family members and my first “customers” were my co-workers. It was some kind of different pleasure when I let my team members taste the cake and then see their face expression change. They haven’t tried European and Russian cakes except French pastry shops all over Manhattan and those didn’t really offer many custom cake choices. My interest in cake creating grew and I decided to start my Instagram page. I was posting my creations without any expectation, just doing what I loved and sharing it. One day my co-worker that tried my cake approached me and asked if she could order a birthday cake for her boyfriend. I was thrilled as I had no idea what to do. I knew I could make the cake but I had no clue about what to charge for my cake. I just named a very low amount, she agreed to it and my first custom cake order was placed. Since the beginning of my cake journey I didn’t like fondant and gum paste and I didn’t want to work with it. I fell in love with Belgian chocolate and that was my main ingredient in cake decorating. I wanted to create something different, to stand out and to separate myself from most of the local cake artists. It was completely new in the market, which required different skills. Also I wanted my cakes to be delicious and eaten until the last crumble. I unterstood I needed professional pastry training. I fell in love with what Amaury Guichon (famous French pastry chef and pastry artist) which had a live masterclass in Charlotte but it was completely sold out. I just put my name in the waitlist without any second thought and went back to my routine. And then one summer day I receive an email that the spot was open to the masterclass. I was at work and my blood was pumping very fast. I knew this was my chance and I had to take it. I booked the masterclass without knowing how I could attend as it was already a week after in the middle of busy fashion week. I sent the intention and the Universe completed the puzzle. Childcare, time off from work, my husband’s support were all aligned with my trip. A week a later i spent the most amazing 3 days in Charlotte, NC with Amaury Guichon and another 12 pastry chefs/professional bakers. I was an underdog, with 0 professional training, thousand or million of questions but absolutely determined to learn pastry. After that trip something changed inside me and I realized I was wasting my time in corporate doing something I didn’t like or had passion for. My creativity started unleashing and I had no desire to stop it. With my dear husband’s support we decided that I was going to leave corporate and try starting my small custom cake business.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I create custom cakes that are covered in Belgian chocolate ganache. I’m also known for hand-painted on Belgian chocolate cakes with 100 percent edible decorations. When I started baking I didn’t like American buttercream nor fondant. It was too sweet and I haven’t seen even one person who would touch fondant on their plate. Therefore I wanted to create cakes that are beautiful to look at, balanced in sweetness inside and 100 percent edible. I fell in love with Belgian chocolate ganache. I’m an explorer, that’s my life Moto, I approach everything with curiosity that’s mostly what helped me quit my fashion corporate job and started baking and making cakes from scratch and building my brand. At first people were reluctant to try something unfamiliar, they were used to buttercream and fondant and even though lots of them didn’t like it they were hesitant to try.
Recently I also started teaching other bakers that are willing to learn how to stand out from their colleagues. I enjoy watch others grow personally and professionally.
Was it easy? Absolutely not but I was driven by fire in my heart to educate people that cakes are Art and not just sponge and cream any longer. Cakes are to enjoy and appreciate it as a unique piece of Art.
What helped me overcome challenging and still helping until now is a journey or personal growth. I’m a spiritual person, I love meditation, psychology, life coaching. I learned that no matter how many techniques you know, how good professional you are at what you do if you want to succeed in business Yu need to multitask and to learn about many aspects of business process including but not limited to accounting, marketing, sales, customer service, talent management. I have a business degree and I can’t tell you that I learned any of these skills at school. You learn every day by building your brand, by choices you mark and that’s right – success is a choice, I truly believe so.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ll start by answering this question by saying that I absolutely love New York City. It doesn’t matter how crazy ad overwhelming it can be at times I truly love it from the bottom of my heart. I love and appreciate art in every form therefore I would love to take my friend to the museum in the morning (Metropolitan is still my favorite), then we would have beautiful brunch in one of the cozy spots in the Upper East Side (cafe Cortado is highly recommended), then we would take a stroll in the Central Park and enjoy the nature and eventually would walk down to the Edge (Hudson Yards) to visit the most exciting observatory nowadays and enjoy the view of the city that never sleeps from above. After all we would go to Broadway show to enjoy the art of music and theatre and we would finish our amazing day with the walk in Highline and dinner in one of the cutest restaurants in the village with fresh oysters and a glass of white wine topped with delicious dessert.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First of all it’s my husband Saba, who is standing by my side all the time and supports my crazy adventures without any doubt. Second, it’s my parents that despite their life views and background support me and encourage me to create more. Then, it’s my kids, Gary and Mark, who gave me the second childhood and let me discover my creative nature again. Also, French pastry school that is honestly the best in the world. I got inspired to start baking when I first visited Paris and in every corner I saw beautiful pastry shops with state of the art pastries. They were aesthetically so beautiful that I did not want to eat them simply just wanted to stand there all day and stare at them.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ponchik_cakeboutique?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=