From a TikTok Scroll to a Crystal Candy Empire
Okay… this is a pretty surreal one.
Bak’d has officially been featured in Take 5 Magazine!
Seeing my face and our crystal candy printed across a full page of a national magazine is one of those moments that makes you stop and think, how did we actually get here?
The feature, titled “It’s Crunch Time – People Won’t Stop Eating My Crystals!”, shares the story of how a random late-night scroll led me to discover crystal candy for the very first time.
At the time, Bak’d looked very different to the business you see today.
Where it all started
Back in 2020, Bak’d was primarily a cake business. I was creating cakes and desserts for birthdays and weddings when I came across a video of these beautiful, gemstone-looking sweets.
Naturally, I needed to know what they were.
I discovered they were crystal candy a Japanese sweet made using agar agar that develops a crispy exterior while keeping its jelly-like centre. I found a recipe, started experimenting at home and made my first little batch of crystal candy.
At that point, I had absolutely no idea how important those little crystals would eventually become to our family.
Then TikTok changed everything
Fast-forward to 2022 and crystal candy started appearing all over TikTok.
I decided to start sharing my own creations, including videos of the making process and, of course, that ridiculously satisfying crunch.
Videos started receiving thousands of views and one of my step-by-step crystal candy videos eventually reached more than one million views.
That was the moment I realised there might be something much bigger here.
In April 2023, we officially began selling crystal candy through Etsy.
Orders flooded in, Ben started helping me cook at night, our spare room became crystal candy storage, and eventually I made the decision to stop making cakes altogether and put everything into candy.
From our spare room to Bak’d HQ
Things continued to grow.
By April 2024, our Instagram community had grown to more than 36,000 followers and our online store was continually selling out.
The following month, we moved into our first factory and suddenly this little idea that had started in our home had become a real manufacturing business, with Ben heading up production, me focusing on marketing and an incredible team helping us bring it all to life.
And somehow, we're still only getting started.
A little pinch-me moment
There are so many days when you're running a business that you're focused entirely on what's next.
The next launch.
The next product.
The next problem to solve.
The next crazy idea we want to bring to life.
So moments like this are a really nice reminder to stop and look backwards for a second.
From experimenting with crystal candy at home, to Ben and I cooking together at night, to filling our spare room with stock, moving into a factory, building our team and now sending Bak’d orders around the world.. it has been one seriously unexpected ride.
Seeing our story in Take 5 Magazine feels incredibly special.
And the final line of the article probably sums it up better than anything:
When I first heard that crystal crunch, I never dreamed I’d be building an empire out of candy.
But here we are. 💎
A huge thank you to Take 5 Magazine and Jasmine Lopez for sharing our story and an even bigger thank you to every single person who has ordered, followed, shared, commented, watched one of our ridiculously crunchy videos or told a friend about Bak’d.
You guys are a huge part of how we got here.
And trust me… there is so much more to come.
Sarah x
Founder, Bak’d
