Sometimes you come across the bubbliest of people, all smiles and good vibes, spreading happiness and sweetness as they go, kind of like Julie Agas.
Julie is the skilled pastry chef behind Addicted to Cupcakes, a sweet new little enterprise that is getting bigger by the day as word of mouth is bringing more clients to her doorstep.
One finds it hard to believe this business has been running for less than a year especially after having tasted her intricately decorated cupcakes.
Even though Julie has never before publicly shared her personal story and what led her to become a pastry chef, she decided to tell Neos Kosmos, in the hope of inspiring more people who feel their life has lost its meaning.
“Perhaps this could be beneficial for others,” Julie says.
“Last year, I was actually working full-time in a normal retail environment and never had I thought of having my own business, let alone making cupcakes for a living.
“Pretty much what happened to me was . . . I got this cough, I didn’t know what it was so I went to the doctor. He referred me to get a chest X-ray thinking I might have bronchitis. So I went to the hospital and they would not let me leave. They came out and told me I had Hodgkin lymphoma and it was in my chest cavity; behind my ribs, in my chest bones there was a 15.7 cm growth. It was pretty massive.”
Julie spent days wondering and asking her doctors what had gotten her there at 39 years of age. Aside from having to quit her job, what pained her the most was not being able to freeze her eggs before her cancer treatment as it was imperative to start chemotherapy straight away.
“When we found out we were in distress. We did not know what to do. We called my work and I had to stop working. I had to stay in hospital for a month placing all my hopes on the fact that Hodgkin’s is 99 per cent treatable.
I did my chemo for six months, and then radiotherapy. I was feeling lost, in a rut, wondering what to do. I was sick yet wanted to keep myself occupied but I also I needed to feel like I owned my life again.”
Julie had always loved baking cakes, not so much cupcakes, but had never attempted it professionally. She would bake for friends and family events or simply because she loves cake.
“While in this rut, I announced [to] my husband that I was going to start my own business,” she says, adding that despite his initial surprise and worry, her husband Tony has been extremely supportive of her venture throughout her journey to recovery.
“I was still doing chemo when I went and got my ABN, I registered and also got my food handling licence.”
Julie did work experience at a kindergarten in Dingley Village after completing the online licensing courses. That’s where she first started handling big orders and got a better understanding of the process.
“When I get big orders I still go and make my cupcakes there, they have a huge commercial kitchen,” she says.
Less than three months into the cupcake-making business and while undergoing radiation therapy, Julie became very sick and was unable to work. When she became cancer-free she went back into retail, only to realise this was not her true calling.
“I was healthy and had my life back again but all I could think of was making cupcakes again! It is my passion and I missed how happy it made me. I quit, relaunched the cupcakes, and before I even had a chance to process what I was getting into I started getting clientele from word of mouth.”
Today, at 40, with her hair slowly growing back, Julie is happy and prouder of herself than she’s ever been.
“I have no children, but I do have a cat!” she enthuses. “And my cupcakes.
“I was in a bad place and wanted to keep my mind occupied, and you know something? it worked! It really worked.”
After the first reviews on the flavour, Julie also decided to enrol at Bake Boss, Australia’s leading cake decorating and baking supplies company.
“I really wanted to further my knowledge and learn how to decorate the cupcakes, how to do kids’ cupcakes, and to make flowers and buttercream; create as many designs as I could possibly put on a cake without compromising the quality and taste.”
And so she did, discovering that she had a natural talent for it. With her combined knowledge she started creating different looks for her cakes and cupcakes while venturing into creating themed and animated children’s cakes and cupcakes upon request.
Apart from the regular flavours on her menu, Julie works around dietary requirements offering gluten-free and dairy-free baked goods.
Some of her best and most original sellers are the sticky date sensation, Baileys bliss, cappuccino crave, lemon zing, Tim Tam temptation, Malteser couture, crunchy honeycomb, passionfruit swirl, and strawberry entice; the list is so long!
“Of course I do classic cupcake flavours too, like red velvet and the vanilla, cacao and regular buttercream top ones; there’s well over 30 different cupcakes on my menu!
“The good thing is I’m cancer free now. I still do my PET scans every month but I can work like any other person, so be prepared for many more.”
To find out more about Julie’s addictive cupcakes visit Facebook @weareaddicted2cupcakes or call Julie on 0401 723 983.
