Meet Tiffany-Ann Huang of Sweet Songbird Bakery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany-Ann Huang.

Tiffany-Ann, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
There wasn’t really a specific moment in time when I fell in love with baking because I have ALWAYS loved it for as long as I can remember and it has always been a creative outlet for me. When I was a teenager, I dreamt of opening a bakery – specifically, a cupcake shop because cupcakes were my first love. However, when I began college, I decided that I should pursue something hat would be give me more financial security. During this time, I still baked for fun during my free time and for special occasions.

Fast forward a few years, which was late last year, I was asked to create custom-designed cupcakes for a variety of events and the feedback was incredible – it reignited my dream of opening a bakery.

If I have the passion, creativity, and love of sharing happiness through my treats, then it is something I should continue to pursue no matter the fears and uncertainty, and so, I created Sweet Songbird Bakery.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Honestly, I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t had too many major bumps in the road; I haven’t dropped a finished cake or had someone tell me they hate my bakes…because any of those two would be a nightmare!

Besides Sweet Songbird Bakery, which I consider to be a full-time job, I have another full-time job, so the main struggle for me is juggling the two, while trying fit time in between to eat and sleep. I’m truly lucky though, because my family helps me in every aspect of this passion of mine. My dad constantly washes my mountain of dishes, my mom critiques the flavors of my cakes, my sister tells EVERY SINGLE person she knows about me and helps with every event I have, and my brother “tests” every buttercream and macaron I make “just to make sure.”

A huge struggle of mine are those unavoidable moments of doubt and fear of failure. I have this mentality of always trying to cover as much ground as possible, as fast as possible, but I’m so neurotic about my designs that I take quite some time trying to perfect every single aspect of baking – from the texture of the cake to the final design. I used to spend almost an entire day on one cake, but time and practice has helped me learn to become more efficient and become more confident in myself. Inevitably, I still have these fears from time to time, but I’m reminded that I’m not competing in a race, and beyond that, there is no standard to cake decorating; It’s my own art and I produce at my own pace, well hopefully just a smidge faster though.

Please tell us about Sweet Songbird Bakery.
Established in June 2018, Sweet Songbird Bakery is a bespoke bakery which specializes in buttercream cakes, cupcakes, and macarons. The name of my company was inspired by my absolute love of singing and by one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs called “Songbird.”

What I am most proud of as a company is honestly seeing the happiness that emanate from people when they try my treats – seeing the open-mouthed smiles and hearing the “oh my god’s” make me superinsanelyextremely proud and happy.

What is unique about my company is how fond I am of incorporating tea into my baking. I feel like baking with tea gives a perfect touch of flavor without it becoming overpowering. My most popular flavor is definitely my earl grey tea cake with lavender Swiss meringue buttercream, which also happens to be my favorite flavor combination! I recently tested some peppermint cupcakes and they were such a hit!

Design-wise, what catches people’s attention most are my floral and succulent decorated cupcakes! I’ve met so many incredible people because of these cupcakes!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Picking just one favorite childhood memory is so hard… I don’t even know where to begin! Most of them are definitely centralized around food.

I grew up seeing my grandma whipping up the most delicious food and my mom recreating those delicious recipes. My entire family basically loves to cook, so it only makes sense that I spend the majority of my time in the kitchen as well. I feel like growing up in the Philippines also gave me such an adventurous palate. I miss seeing street vendors around the neighborhood barbecuing isaw, yelling “taho” every morning, eating “dirty” ice cream, and eating the ultimate street food, balut.

Another fond memory I have, is always racing home from school to catch whatever was on Food Network (if I wasn’t watching Gilmore Girls) and trying to recreate those treats with my sister. I loved watching baking challenges, and even dreamt of competing in Cupcake Wars! It is actually still a dream of mine to to compete in a baking challenge…so stay tuned!