Many university students feel the pressure of studying full-time with the added weight of unstable job prospects when they finish their degrees. Lauren Tran was one such student who turned to baking as a stress relief when studying law, and now has a fledging celebration good cakes business.

Now she’s studying criminology, but with a part-time business on the side, Lozbakes, which she aims to pursue full-time when she graduates.

Working out of her family kitchen, Lauren makes about $500-$600 a week making her good cakes – a customer base she originally built on Instagram.

“Lozbakes actually came about by accident almost two years ago when I posted my first cake picture on Instagram and Facebook,” she says.

“Before that, everything was just experiments and making desserts to satisfy my own sweet tooth.

“I didn’t realise how many other people would love what I made until the first order came through from a friend and word started spreading.

“It’s surprising how far a well-placed hashtag can go.”

Lauren says that a lot of people have encouraged her to keep her business as a hobby and get a “proper” job using her degree instead, because of their concern that a degree can begin to lose value if corporate experience isn’t obtained straight away.

“As stable orders started coming in, I knew I’d rather have my cake business or work in the baking field than to ever go back to pretending I could live with something that made me vicariously unhappy,” Lauren says.

Instagram was the springboard for Lauren’s business, acting as a free online portfolio for potential customers to follow.

According to Lauren, her cakes are special because they are completely customisable, focusing on bespoke buttercream cakes and working with client visions and colour schemes, incorporating fresh flowers, hand-made fondant figurines and sugar cookies.

“Taste-wise, more work is gone into making separate mousse fillings using fresh cream for my cakes in a variety of flavours instead of buttercream or ganache, which many find too rich and overpowering,” Lauren says.

“I also pride my good cakes on their freshness – no pre-mixes, no month-old frozen slabs of mud cake, no cutting corners.”

Lozbakes also offers more flavours beyond vanilla and chocolate including matcha green tea, Thai milk tea, strawberry lamington, ispahan and many more.

While Lozbakes is a success story on the up, Lauren’s entrepreneurial journey hasn’t been without its challenges, and that includes doing everything on her own.

“I do all the research, baking, shopping, ordering, emails, stacking, filing, decorating and cleaning by myself so it does take a lot out of me to juggle everything,” Lauren says.

“I’ve found the downside of the technological age is impatience and the speed at which customers can find someone else. If I’m decorating all weekend and unable to respond to emails until Monday, I potentially lose out on several customers who have decided not to wait.”

When Lauren finishes her degree this year she plans to focus on setting up her own studio and workshop where she can increase her workload, and take on employees one day.

“The fear of failure comes with anything, and I’d rather fall and get back up while attempting something I love than to continue with a monotonous career for the rest of my life.

“Don’t let society’s expectations of you slow you down – use it as fuel to show them you can be even better.”

Check out Lozbakes on Facebook or Instagram @lozbakes_.