00:00I'm Lucy Fink. I'm a video producer at Refinery29, but every so often I like to
00:04try other people's jobs. I'm spending the day with Chelsea White of Chelsweets to
00:09learn the ropes when it comes to being a food content creator. This is Lucy for Hire.
00:15Chelsea White is not your typical content creator. Her subject is cake. Layers upon layers upon layers of it.
00:25I started making cakes about six years ago and it was really just a great way
00:29for me to unwind after work and kind of have a creative outlet from working in
00:32public accounting at the time. Four years, over 600 cakes and almost 650,000
00:38Instagram followers later and Chelsweets is still unique for most content creators.
00:43Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I actually have a full-time
00:46day job in corporate finance and that Chelsweets is really just a side hustle for me.
00:50It's not every day you meet someone with 650,000 Instagram followers who says
00:55their Instagram business is their side hustle.
00:58Money, money, money, money. When it comes to money, I obviously still have my day job where I do have
01:04a six-figure salary.
01:06And a lot of people I think would be surprised to know that with Chelsweets I make almost twice my
01:11corporate salary.
01:12Part of it is through ongoing partnerships with different networks and then I also
01:16have some revenue come in from advertising on different platforms like on my blog or on
01:20YouTube and things like that.
01:22My first challenge was to create the cake concept.
01:25I'm a content creator of my own. I'm making videos and telling stories all the time.
01:30But Chelsweets audience repeatedly comes back for one thing and one thing only, cake.
01:36So she needs to be continually innovating and coming up with the next big cake idea.
01:41So the first part of this is gonna be coming up with kind of the design and the concept of
01:44the cake that you're gonna make.
01:45It's important to note that Chelsweets typically spreads her workout over the course of a few days.
01:49One day after work I'll make the layers, another day I'll prep frosting, I'll get everything ready and then on
01:55the weekends one day I'll decorate the cake and film it and then I like to usually
01:59edit it the following day or the following week whenever I have time.
02:01But for the purposes of this episode she challenged me to do it all in one day
02:06only. We began by brainstorming the way Chelsweets typically does, pulling up
02:10inspiration images online and sketching out designs in a notepad. We came up with a
02:15few thought starters, scratched a few ideas, and then ultimately settled on a
02:20holiday themed present cake.
02:23Okay, here's our idea. Red buttercream Christmas cake shaped like a package with a
02:29white fondant bow, red, green, and white tie-dye Christmasy layers inside. This is it.
02:36It's gonna be beautiful.
02:36This is the one. Alright, let's get started.
02:39Do this.
02:40We got to work making the cake batter, mixing all the ingredients, and then
02:45creating rings of red, white, and green that would ultimately make the inside of
02:49the cake look very cool. So you want to, yeah, get it like inside of that and then
02:54it'll eventually start having that really fun pattern.
02:57We popped them into the oven and moved on to my second challenge, setting up and
03:02prepping for the shoe. For people interested in creating their own food content, this
03:06part of the video should give you some great insights into how Chelsea works.
03:10So for my setup, I really like to use two of these, I call them umbrella lights. I'm
03:14not sure what their technical name is, but I think that's right. And I also have a
03:18tripod that has like a pivoting head, which makes it really great because if your legs
03:23are a little bit uneven or your floor is a little uneven, which mine is, it's really
03:26great having that and being able to adjust. But that's all it is, is two lights, a
03:29tripod, and a camera that can shoot video.
03:31She uses adjustable softbox lighting and a Canon Rebel T5. And she keeps her lights
03:37set up in her apartment all the time for easy access.
03:40Is it always like this?
03:41It is always there. My poor fiancé has to stare at it 24-7, but there's nowhere else
03:45to put them, so that's where they hang out.
03:46I have lights like this in my bedroom, so production life.
03:50Yep.
03:50We worked together to move them and assemble the lights into the right position.
03:54And afterwards, we popped the camera onto the tripod and made sure it was level and
03:58centered with the cake stand. I think that looks pretty good.
04:01Yeah, it looks centered, it looks nice.
04:04It's important to have all of the ingredients you'll need pre-prepped and ready to go, so
04:08that once the camera starts rolling, you're ready to work. So we trimmed the cakes.
04:12We got Loose Sweets in the kitchen today. She is making moves, trimming some cake layers.
04:17Just call me Loose Sweets.
04:19And gathered our essentials.
04:22Here's the fondant.
04:24My third challenge was to shoot.
04:27While filming these videos, Chelsea's running the camera and lighting by herself, but she's
04:32also the one in the video making the cake. So she's managing the technical side, but
04:36also the creative side as well. This challenge involved a lot of technical skills. Firstly,
04:41frosting a cake properly is not easy.
04:45As I was working, I realized how different Chelsea's job is from a classic cake maker.
04:50She's not just making the cake and hoping the finished product looks and tastes great,
04:55but her art is actually the process of making the cake. At every step of the way, she needs
05:00to be aware of the camera, how low the battery is, what the lens is focusing on, and if she's
05:06working on an area of the cake that's within the camera's view.
05:09How do you do it so you want to start from here?
05:11Yep. Exactly. It's all about the reach.
05:24This challenge took the longest amount of time, but the final payoff was magical.
05:30Once the shoot was wrapped, my final challenge was editing and programming the content appropriately.
05:36I use iMovie to edit my videos, which is just a free software that came with my Mac. It's
05:40super simple and straightforward, and I taught myself how to use it. I'm usually only making
05:44like two or three cakes a week, and to kind of help maximize my content and spread that
05:47out to fill my feed, I like to divide each cake into one video of the build and the assembly,
05:53and then another video of the decoration and the cut.
05:55I chose to edit my video with Adobe Premiere since it's the software I'm most familiar
06:00with at work. Thankfully, I have some video editing skills from my job, so I just pulled
06:04all of the footage into the software and began cutting the clips. I exported two versions the
06:09way Chelsea does, one showing the assembly and frosting of the cake, and another showing
06:14the decorating and the cut.
06:21My favorite part about being a food content creator is the flexibility, and I mean that
06:26in so many different ways, where you can make your cakes when you want, for the most part,
06:29minus partnership deadlines. You can try different designs, different techniques. There's not
06:34as much pressure because you really have full creative freedom to do whatever you want.
06:38You're not confined to an order or a certain flavor that someone wants, so I really love that.
06:42My least favorite part about this job, and by job I mean being a cake content creator,
06:47has to be sometimes the negativity on social media. People don't realize how much time you're
06:53putting into something and how much work, and I think it's so easy to just make a simple
06:57statement that's critical, and it just doesn't make you feel like your time and all of your
07:03effort is really being valued.
07:05Overall, my day as Loose Sweets was a major success. My Christmas cake was not only beautiful,
07:11but it was delicious too, and I think my Instagram audience will love watching it come together.
07:17As the sole proprietor of Chelsweets, I would absolutely hire Lucy in a heartbeat.
07:22Maybe it'll be called Loose Sweets. Who knows?
07:25Chelsea is blazing the trail for female entrepreneurs that want to build their
07:28business on social media. She's a true example of the fact that doing what you love can bring you
07:34immense joy and financial gain. And as we all know, cake is always the answer.
07:40It's really good.
