The first Frosting Shot

Have you ever felt different from everyone else as a child? Looking back, I think I’ve always been a little so when it came to the kitchen. While other kids were playing with toys, I had my own pots and pans. Not the plastic kind, actual real ones - that my mum intended to throw away. I used to go in the garden to gather leaves, flowers, twigs and dirt, and create magical recipes that I wanted to “cook”. Of course, as a four-year-old, I wasn’t allowed to use the stove, just yet, so I’d stir in water and pretend it was ready to eat. My imagination turned our garden into my own little kitchen. 

Baking Memories

Then the real baking began. My mum would buy me these My Little Pony cupcake mixes—my favorite cartoon at the time. It was as if magic came in a box. All I had to do was add an egg and water, stir it together, and bake them in these tiny cases. You see, cupcakes were something of a mystery on the tiny island I live, Cyprus, so baking them felt like an enchanted process to me. And they were mini cakes!! Once baked, we would spread on the watered-down icing mixture, and top each one with a little wafer image of a My Little Pony character. And they tasted delicious!!! I think they were vanilla flavored, but I cannot really recall.  

A few years later, my mum bought me a book called My First Party. It was filled with crafts and recipes for themed parties. The "difficult” project in the book, was a bear cake—chocolate cake with two cupcakes for ears. Just imagine a round, chocolatey bear face with kid-friendly decorations to create the details. This was it!! — the very first cake, baked by me from scratch, for my 12th birthday, to serve everyone at my party! 

The only picture I have of this Bear Cake from my 12th birthday. A little blurry, but priceless.

Having a birthday cake was a whole deal ever since I was a little girl. In case you haven’t noticed, my mum was a big part of that. We share the same passion for the kitchen. Always buying new gadgets, trying new recipes, acquiring new cookbooks. She and her best friend (my aunt) always provided me with my dream cake, made by them from scratch. One year, we had visited Egypt (I am part Egyptian), and that year I wanted a pyramid as a birthday cake. You have to consider, this was in the early ‘90s, on a small island with barely any supplies for special cake decorations or the internet for that matter so you can order online. This was when people were truly creative, but simple! So, they went through their cookbooks and all the recipes they shared with other people (because before blogging, you shared recipes with your friends and neighbors), and found a choux pastry recipe. They made profiteroles, filled them with cream, stacked them as a pyramid, and drizzled with melted chocolate. Voila! I got my pyramid cake.  

This passion is what made me believe that every single birthday is special! There should always be cake, and you should always make a wish when you blow out the candles! Non-negotiable! And if you ask my friends, they will tell you that I always try my best to make their birthdays as special as possible!  

My pyramid cake

What's on the Menu

If you know me, then you also know that I run a home-based bakery, called Frosting Bar. And that’s where the name of this blog, Frosting Shots, comes from—little bursts of my sweet kitchen experiences. Like shots of frosting 😊 I very much enjoy testing (and tasting) new recipes all the time, and experimenting with new things on my counters. I thought, why not share those adventures with you? You can try them at home, too. 

I gave blogging another shot very long time ago, before Instagram and TikTok took over.  Pinterest was huge for me, though, which had inspired me to take better pictures, but I had never imagined I would have my own account to upload my own pictures taken with only my smart phone. Fast forward to now, I have all the above for Frosting Bar, and I’m excited to share the good, the bad, the mishaps and the tasty successes from my baking life.  

Do you remember the first cake you ever baked? Or do you have a favorite birthday cake memory? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below! 

So whether you’re here for the stories, the recipes, or just a little frosting inspiration, welcome to Frosting Shots. This is where my baking journey continues—one sweet shot at a time. Cheers! 

Some of my favorite kitchen tools.