Māori entrepreneur’s sweet taste of success adds to growing cupcake business

Kadison Harris and her team. Photo / Supplied

Kadison Harris started making cupcakes from Tiktok recipes during the first lockdown two years ago.

Fast forward to today and she has a thriving business, Kaadsbakes - set up with a shop and a mobile trailer.

“I was just posting my cupcakes on my Instagram and people were like ‘Can you make me some?’.

“So I did that for about a year and a half out of my mum’s kitchen, and then, when lockdown finished, I decided not to go back to work, and just do this fulltime instead,” Harris says.

Mouth watering cup cakes made by Kadison Harris. Photo / Supplied

The Hamilton-based 26-year-old says, although she isn’t “the best” at the admin side of things, it’s her frosting that separates her cupcakes from the competitors.

“Most people use a buttermilk frosting but I use a cream cheese frosting, so I feel like that’s the main difference between mine and others.

“In terms of the business side, I don’t really know what I’m doing, to be honest. I just like making cupcakes.”

Harris says one of her long-term goals is to create a dry mix and sell them at supermarkets.

“Like how Edmonds does it,” she says.

“I want to be able to send frozen cookie dough out to large retailers. That’s the goal.”