Katherine Sabbath Wants To Teach You How To Make Cakes That Are Out Of This World

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Every inch of Katherine Sabbath’s life is tinged with a love of design. Her home is an effortless mix of chic and kitsch. A colourful playfulness extends to her clothing, social media and her work — riotously fun cakes that break all the rules.

Sabbath calls herself “a high school teacher turned cake creative and cake teacher”. In 2015, she quit her teaching job to instead “teach how to make cakes and treats” across Sydney. Despite being in demand with popular chefs, Sabbath has created her own unique career rather than follow the well-beaten path of other creative pâtissières.

In fact, it seems like rule-breaking is a cornerstone for someone who used to be a rule-enforcing teacher. Experimenting with baking and decorating as a teen, Sabbath amped up her concoctions and did away with the precise measurements and recipes demanded of other cake creatives. Sabbath is guided by her taste and intuition — each cake is a mixture that balances damn good ingredients with taste and the recipient in mind. But Sabbath says her approach is simple: “it has to come from the heart, has to taste good and has to look good”.

Sabbath gained most of her students and fans via Instagram. “Social media has completely changed my life”, she says. Her cheery photos of cakes, fashion and bright Sydney culture brought together a community of people she has been able to translate into a career. But it’s also been a source of inspiration for Sabbath, who uses social media “to connect to other like-minded creatives”.

Like many other designers and creatives, Sabbath draws a lot of inspiration from nature. “I love the ocean, harking back to my career as a geography teacher; just appreciating the beauty that surrounds us,” she says. “One of the things that I love is doing the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee… I find that so relaxing”.

“I’m also really inspired by fashion and art and music,” she says. This inspiration can be seen in her cake creations which often mirror her fashion style and technicolour urban edge.

Despite all this talent and passion, Katherine Sabbath’s creative career didn’t happen overnight — it’s the result of years spent sharing, experimenting, learning and collaborating. Some of those years have been spent being mentored by industry experts. “It’s important to have a mentor when starting out”, she says. “They have the expertise, know-how and contacts to get you to where you’d like to be”.

While Sabbath knows the value of hard work and goal-setting, her favourite career advice might sound surprising to aspiring designers. “One of the best pieces of advice is to always celebrate your wins. It’s so easy to be caught up in always chasing those goals but if you don’t think about all those things you’ve achieved along the way you will lose sight and you won’t appreciate how far you’ve come.”

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