CUDAHY — A Cudahy teen has the special skill of creating incredible cake art, and she is a serial entrepreneur. Meet 18-year-old Zohay Schwab.
"I’ve always liked to bake. I’ve done it since I was younger," Zoe Schwab, the owner of ZoMazing Cakes, said.
While she has been baking most of her life, she started selling her cakes in July 2020. Her dad posted a picture of a cake she baked on Facebook, and it got some attention. A few more posts later and Zohay was inundated with customers.
"Yea, it's turned into something I never expected it to be. I never expected to turn it into a business," she said.
She spends up to 80 hours a week baking and crafting cakes. All of her creations are custom made for whatever the buyer wants. She has created unicorn cakes, three-tier wedding cakes, realistic-looking dog cakes, and everything in between.
“I delayed graduating, since I'm home schooled, six months, so that I could focus on building the business.”
In general, art is made to endure. A painting hangs on a wall for years. Music is listened to for decades. However, Zohay's art is gone in a matter of minutes.
"It is weird thinking that I spend between two to eight hours depending on the cake design, and then once it's served, it's cut up in like five minutes."
It's all worth it to her, though. This is Zohay's passion. Her parents have been behind her every step of the way. They even carved out a space inside their kitchen specifically for Zohay and her baking.
Zohay became adept at cake art with lots of practice, watching Cake Boss, and watching YouTube videos. She practiced on her family a lot. While many might believe the constant smell of cakes baking would be wonderful, her family is starting to get over it.
"And like my family gets sick of the smell, like the butter sugar smell," she said with a laugh.
She is hoping to open her own storefront in the next few years.
Starting a business is nothing new to Zohay. In fact, she is a serial entrepreneur.
“First one we were breeding Himalayan kittens, and so we learned some entrepreneurial skills from that, and then selling handmade scarves.”
For her, it's all about autonomy.
"Honestly, I don’t really like people telling me what to do," she said.
But the cake business is sticking. She has more than 7,000 followers on Facebook. Orders are only becoming more frequent, which is why she needs the bigger space. But until then, the 18-year-old baker is stuck using her parents' kitchen.
You can reach out to her in multiple ways: zomakescakes@gmail.com, her website, and Facebook.
