Kamilah Cannonier has a dream to one day open a bakery full-time.

Her passion for baking and a love of artistic decorating has already led Kamilah to follow her dreams and open a bakery, but only part-time.

Kamilah opened Sweet SAAK, a homestyle bakery and she is now looking to expand her cliental and generate more business. The name represents her family, particularly her siblings Shree, Ankoma, Angelo and Kamilah.

The mother-of-two went to the Berkeley Institute and Bermuda College where she received an Associates in culinary arts. She in currently working towards a Bachelor's in hotel management.

After Bermuda College, Kamilah did an intensive six-month programme at the Insitute of Culinary Education in New York and then was accepted to a prestigious internship at Restaurant Danielle in New York where she worked in the pastry kitchen for 14 hours a day.

"I started baking, well I've always baked my whole life. Me and my mom always baked but I didn't really get into baking professionally until after I finished my degree.

"As for decorating, I found my love after I had my son. Every month he had a new birthday cake. Monster trucks, a cricket pitch. Where I was in my culinary arts, I started to focus on pastry."

Asked why she decided to make baking her career, the 26-year-old said: "Because I was never clear on what I wanted to do professionally. I know I didn't want an office job. I do tend to like being under pressure even if I have to make two pound cakes every day.

"It could be a rainy day. It might not rise as much as it usually would. It's very interesting for me to do something different every day. My final product is the main reason for me wanting to cook and bake."

While Kamilah would love to one day have to operate the bakery full time, she works part-time at American Airlines and bakes everything in her St. David's home.

Cakes by Lah comes under Sweet SAAK and Kamilah said the main difference is that the cakes and cookies are hand decorated with her design aspects.

When it comes to her favourite cake, Kamilah said: "My favourite cake is a cake that I have developed myself that's milk chocolate. My favourite thing to do, I don't know if my favourite would be decorating. I think my favourite is cupcakes."

On her cakes, Kamilah uses various techniques including rolled fondant, gum paste for flowers and other decorations, piping, hand carved cakes and more.

While she rarely does sugar flowers, Kamilah said: "I know how to do it and I appreciate that art but you would have to pay me and convince me to do sugar flowers."

Kamilah explained baking in Bermuda can be difficult because of the weather conditions.

"Humidity definitely has an affect on your final product. You kind of have to be ingenious in a way. Plus you have to have a very strong air conditioner. It affects your recipes with your flour quantities. It's not that bad with the baking but with the decorating, your drying time is a lot longer. The consistency of your icing has to be to a tee."

Kamilah uses local vendors such as International Imports and Butterfield and Vallis.

Speaking about her experience at Restaurant Danielle, Kamilah said: "It was very gruelling with 14 hour days, on your feet the whole time.

"No pay, no appreciation, no thank you, but it was a good experience just to be able to see how a restaurant of that calibre runs its kitchen. I prefer to work for myself. I am a person that's going to give 100 percent. If I'm going to be working that hard, I want that final product to bear my name."

As for advice for future bakers and cake decorators, Kamilah said: "A lot of people like to get into it because they like to bake at home.

"They like watching people on TV but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. You have to be super organised and disciplined. You have no social life because people have parties on Saturdays or Sundays. It's not an industry where you will get instant gratification. It's definitely something that you have to love."

Kamilah can be contacted on sweetsaakbakeryyahoo.com, 335-CAKE (2253) or her Facebook page, Cakes By Lah.