ERMELO – The cake decorator and baker, Debbie Smit, has a talent for creating realistic edible art.

She started cooking and baking around the age of nine and has fallen in love with baking ever since.

Smit’s mother was a major influence in her culinary journey, teaching her all kinds of tips and secrets involving baking and cooking. “My first cake was a disaster, but that is how you learn.”

Smit reminisced about how her mother’s passion for baking had rubbed off on her.

At the age of 16, Smit started competing with her cakes, winning her first competition with her Cindy Doll cake.

As time went by, Smit got married, took on the corporate world, and gave birth to her only daughter.

Due to a disability, she had to retire. Now that only her husband is working, the household relies on one person financially, putting some strain on the family.

Her daughter’s and husband’s birthdays were the main motivation for her to master her cake decorating skills and make their birthdays special. “Now what is a birthday without a cake?” Smit said that baking is not a profession for her. “It is more of a hobby.”

Word got out that there was a new baker in town, and it spread like wildfire. But lockdown took a strain on her small baking business, and more and more people started their own baking business. However, Smit’s extraordinary edible art is a talent that can’t be copied so easily.

Read the complete article in Highvelder.