Lauretta Krah is a Pastry Chef as well as a Cake and Sugar Artist from Ghana, She is also CEO of DLaurel Cakes; a firm bent on leaving its mark on the Ghanaian confectionary industry and beyond. Lauretta began her business in 2016 while pregnant, the newborn arrived the following year as she ran her startup.
During an interview with TheAfricanDream.net Lauretta shared her passion for the sugar art plus the history and drive behind her passion as an entrepreneur. She said “I learned how to bake after I completed St. Mary’s Senior High School for girls in Accra, Ghana. I worked a little to perfect myself in the art but then had to stop.“
She stopped because she gained admission into the University of Ghana to major in Geography & Resource development and French, “so I prioritized continuing my education and shelved my entrepreneurial ambitions for a while. I, however, picked up from where I left off after completing University and emersed myself into cake artistry while waiting for a job in the cooperate world.”
It was around this time that Lauretta Krah “started realizing how creative I could be with this passion and decided to pursue it further and seriously after I completed the university in 2013.“
How Lauretta Krah mixed Geography and cake
The CEO of DLaurel Cakes feels she hasn’t totally abandoned her passion for geography, if anything at all, she explained that “based on my studies at the University of Ghana I know geography entails the nature and relative arrangement of places and physical features. I am therefore using that aspect of it in my passion for my sugar art to perfect the making and customization of cakes with unique physical designs by specializing in novelty cakes for all occasions as an entrepreneur.”
“Being an entrepreneur is the ability to see beyond that which seems to impede your progress and using the best of your intellect and determination to press on in pursuit of your dreams. That is what sets me apart I believe,” said Lauretta. Another peculiar thing is the story behind the name of her firm — DLaurel cakes.
Since her name is Lauretta derived from the word Laurel and laurels were used to crown victorious people in the past and even today, she decided to use the first alphabet of her middle, thus the letter ‘D‘, to evolve the name DLaurel to give the meaning ‘The Laurel‘, explained Lauretta.
Click here to read about another African woman entrepreneur in the food industry.
“Though great achievers are awarded a Laureate, I see every completed work of art I create for clients as my little laurel to them for trusting in me to handle their requests as customers,” — Lauretta Krah.
“It is not an easy trade but if you love what you do you end up enjoying it.” Lauretta recently made a cake that looked like a men’s suit that took 8 hours just to design, minus baking and prep time.
What drives Lauretta Krah in her sweet pursuits
“But it is all joy,” she said, continuing to note “when the end product comes out not only tasty but very pleasing to look at, especially for the client.”
“My customers and clients fuel my passion, they give me a reason to challenge myself and to put smiles on their faces and that of their loved ones so I cherish them dearly. I’ve been blessed to have some really notable persons and firms to work with. One of them is Lawyer James Enu, who we made a wedding cake for in 2018. The lawyer is the former aspiring Member of Parliament for Tema West constituency of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.”
CEO of DLaurel Cakes is inspired by the everyday young and old Ghanaian pastry and food makers as well as sellers who posses a chunk of perseverance as entrepreneurs. Their spirits resonate across the continent, a spirit she positively share.
When asked to specifically name businesses she aspires to emulate in the future, Lauretta said to TheAfricanDream.net that they include Nigeria-based firms like Lizzie’s Cakes and Crafts Limited run by Lizzy Okon, Dewdrops Cakes, and TL Cake Boulevard all respectively of Nigeria. “Beyond Africa, I admire the work of RBI Cakes of New York in the US and VD Cake in the UK too.”
“I have experienced a lot of stress that made me want to give up but great feedback, getting to make people happy and knowing that I have a gift of creativity that needs to be expressed or made use of is what encourage me to keep on. In the future I want to pass on this talent and play a pivotal role in taking this industry in Ghana and Africa to a global audience,” Lauretta said about the
Feast your eyes on some of the intricately designed cakes by searching Lauretta Krah as DLaurelcakes on Instagram or DLaurel Cakes on Facebook. If you are in Ghana, tell them TheAfricanDream.net sent you for a cool surprise.
Written by Oral Ofori
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
