Growing up in Skerries, Co Dublin, I always thought I was a home bird.
I had decided from a young age that I was going to be an Irish teacher. But lunchtimes at school were spent watching Home and Away and dreaming about visiting Summer Bay.
When I made the decision that teaching wasn’t for me, I looked at what other career I might pursue. In my last few years of school, I had started making cakes for my friends and family for their birthdays and had found myself getting paid orders for cakes from family friends. So I decided to do Culinary Entrepreneurship in TU Dublin. I graduated in 2016 and, after my final exams, I was lost. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.
I wouldn’t consider myself a risk-taker so the thoughts of going full-time into cake-making scared me (and my parents, whose kitchen I wrecked every week).
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That summer I travelled to Australia on my dream holiday. I was only in Sydney one day when I thought to myself, “I really like it here, I think I could see myself living here”.
After a three-week holiday, spent travelling up the East Coast, my mind was made up. I was going to move to Australia.
So much for not being a risk-taker.
On Easter Monday, 2017, I got on a one-way flight to Sydney. It has been the best thing I have ever done.
I have made friends for life and have had the most incredible experiences. Even though sorting and grading oranges in rural Australia at all times of day and night would test anyone’s belief they were doing the right thing. But it got me my second-year visa and when I returned to normal life, I got the urge to get back into cake-making.
I applied for my dream job in a patisserie and was lucky to get sponsored to work there. My skill set grew over the three years I was there and people were coming to the patisserie specifically for my cakes.
When the global pandemic hit, it was a crazy time for expats here. We were essentially locked in for nearly two years. The comfort blanket of “you’re only a flight away” was pulled from under us.
Sydney was placed into a severe lockdown in May, 2021 and the Covid situation was worse than the first wave. However, that was when I started my business – Cakes by Emma.
On one of the many lockdown walks I took with my partner, Lewis, he turned to me and said, “this is your opportunity to start your own business, what have you got to lose?”.
After a lot of deliberation, I took the plunge. I put it out on Facebook that I was offering small cakes for lockdown birthdays, and to say I was bombarded with messages is an understatement. The Irish community is incredible out here. They have supported me from day one and I will forever be grateful.
When lockdown was easing, I had a decision to make. I went all in on my business, quit my full-time job and have never looked back. Things changed forever.
The business is approaching its second birthday and my cake fridge is fuller than ever.
Lewis also quit his full-time job to help me in the business. Without his help, the business wouldn’t have been able to grow as quickly as it has. We are selling out at markets every other week and we have launched a postal service where we can send brownie boxes all over Australia.
This year, I have Cakes by Emma’s most important wedding cake to date. I will be flying home to Ireland in October to make my brother’s wedding cake. I am so excited to see my family and to meet the newest addition to the family, Cuan. Nothing beats the feeling of arriving in Dublin Airport.
Of course, I miss my family every day, it is tough missing out on family occasions and missing my niece and nephews grow up, but spending the last six years in Sydney has made me into the best version of myself. I have grown so much as a person and I am genuinely the happiest I have ever been.
The lifestyle here is incredible.
If you go to the Coogee steps at sunrise, the place is hustling and bustling. And you are never too far from an Irish accent (or a Mayo jersey!).
The weather here is hard to beat. Even on a cold winter’s day, the sky is so blue.
But Home and Away lied – it gets pretty cold in winter.
- Emma O’Hanrahan graduated from TU Dublin in 2016 with a BSc in Culinary Entrepreneurship then made the move to Sydney to pursue the “Australian Dream”. After picking oranges, she started making cakes and has turned her passion into a career.
- If you live overseas and would like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, email abroad@irishtimes.com with a little information about you and what you do.
