A Year 10 student from Wellington, NSW, has been encouraged to keep her cake-making business going while boarding at PLC Sydney.
Story Ken Eastwood Photo courtesy PLC
Staff at PLC Sydney were so impressed with Bronte Runciman’s cake-making business they installed an oven in the boarding house this year to ensure the year 10 boarder could continue baking. Bronte, from a fat lamb and cropping property near Wellington, NSW, has been baking since she was in year 7, and has built up a business (Baking Bronte) making up to three cakes a weekend.
“The staff in the boarding house are all really supportive,” Bronte says. And although Bronte, a perfectionist, isn’t inclined to let her boarding friends do much more than help her wash up, she says, “They’re all very happy to taste test”.
Along with cupcakes and colourful macaroons, Bronte’s speciality is making large vanilla and chocolate occasion cakes, with chocolate ganache, painstakingly decorated according to various themes.
“I started cooking when I was in year 7, but I wasn’t taking it too seriously until about halfway through year 7,” she says. She began boarding at PLC Sydney in year 8, and displayed her cake-making skill at a school business day. She was then given the opportunity to access the school caterer’s ovens, but is now able to make cakes much more easily on weekends with the mini commercial oven in the boarding house.
During holidays, and COVID-forced stays at home during term time, Bronte sells cakes mainly in the Dubbo and Wellington areas, and then when boarding can access the Sydney market. She is aiming to become a vet, but knows that the cake-making business will be a great way to continue earning money, and she is currently saving the profits to buy a car.
This story excerpt is from Issue #140
Outback Magazine: December/January 2022
