Welcome back to How I Made It, Metro.co.uk's weekly career journey series.
This week we're chatting with someone in the food industry - and you've probably drooled over the videos of her baked goods.
Eloise Head, 29, from Surrey, is the founder of Fitwaffle, a viral baking account dedicated to making recipes easy for everyone.
The baking sensation hasn't always had an easy relationship with food, and so began to use social media as a way to share what she was making as her experience of food shifted.
Now the author of Baked In One, and a well-known baker of sweet goods, she's telling us how she made it happen.
Hey Eloise. How did you get into the food industry?
I always enjoyed baking and cooking when I was little, my great Auntie taught me to bake.
When I was 18 years old, I enrolled in a personal training course, where I started to learn about nutrition and I took a really keen interest in it.
It also helped to improve my previously poor relationship with food.
I learnt that all foods were okay in moderation, which helped me overcome my 'fear foods'.
How did Fitwaffle come about?
I started Fitwaffle on Instagram as a place to share all the amazing foods I was experiencing in and around London.
The food photos I was posting were gaining popularity and my page was growing as almost a 'guide to London food'.
I also started to run social media pages for restaurants.
When the UK went into lockdown, I started to post my simple, easy to follow recipes to social media and they quickly became popular.
I wanted to give people something to do while we were at home.
I wanted to make baking non-intimidating and accessible for people of all ages and baking ability.
Before your TikTok and Insta success, were you in food, or doing something else? If you had to career change, what was that like?
Before I started on social media, I was working full-time as a personal trainer and gym manager.
I started Fitwaffle as a side hustle in 2015 and I quit my job in the summer of 2019.
Running social media accounts for restaurants allowed me to leave my full-time job, but this came to a halt when the UK went into lockdown in March 2020.
It was a bit scary at first, as I wasn't sure what was going to happen.
Restaurants closed and I lost over half my clients, but my social media following was growing quickly, I went from 400k followers across platforms to millions, so I felt hopeful that I was headed in the right direction.
What made you decide to get on social media?
I was improving my relationship with food and I wanted to share all the amazing foods I was trying.
I loved taking photos of food. I used to take photos of the meals I had made while I was at college and people used to make fun of me for it.
It started as a hobby, going out and doing something fun with my now husband.
I never expected my social media to turn into what it is today with almost 12 million followers.
How has social media changed your job?
I wouldn't say social media has changed my job, I would just say it has evolved over time. I try my best to adapt and keep up with the platforms.
For example, the transition from photo to video content, then onto TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Snapchat etc.
What's the hardest thing you've made?
I try to keep my recipes as simple as possible, but there's definitely things that have gone wrong along the way though, such as overcooked caramel, burnt fudge, and collapsing cheesecakes.
One of the more challenging things I have made are lemon and raspberry rolls, which are in my second book 'Fitwaffle's Baked In One'.
They're not really difficult, they just take a bit more patience.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/350°F/Gas mark 4 and
line a 20cm (8in) square baking tin with nonstick baking paper.
Put the whole cookies into a food processor and process until
finely crushed. Alternatively, put them into a plastic bag and
crush finely with a rolling pin. Tip into a medium bowl, then
pour in the melted butter and mix together with a spoon until
fully combined.
Scoop the mixture into your prepared tin and press down
firmly with the back of a spoon. Pour over the condensed milk,
then sprinkle over the chocolate chips and remaining broken
cookies and press down with the back of a fork.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are crisp. Leave to cool
completely in the tin, then cut into 16 squares.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at room
temperature for up to 5 days.
Extracted from Fitwaffle's Baked In One by Eloise Head (Ebury Press, £22)
What's your favourite?
My favourite recipe of all time is my cinnamon apple cake.
It's a large traybake cake and it's packed with juicy apples, a buttery cinnamon swirl, and a sweet glaze on top.
It's unbelievably moist and it has so many textures and flavours going on.
I absolutely love it. You can find it on my social media and in my first book 'Fitwaffle's Baking It Easy'.
9am - 1pm: Baking (on a 'baking day' she usually aims to make two recipes)
10:30am: Time for a quick breakfast break.
1pm: Checking over emails
2pm: Lunch break
2:15pm: Editing short videos, photos, and doing voiceovers
4pm: Posting to all social media accounts
9pm - 1am: Editing long form YouTube videos.
'Within the day I'll also do stories for Instagram and Snapchat, reply to comments and messages etc. I also find myself at Sainsbury's regularly picking up ingredients or in a Zoom meeting,' she says.
What's the best thing about your job?
The freedom to be creative and create a community online.
I also absolutely love meeting other creators in the industry that do similar things to myself.
What's the worst thing?
It can be quite a lonely job. I'm so glad I have my husband who works with me.
It's also non-stop, because social media can be accessed from almost anywhere, it's very difficult to switch off and take a break.
Do you have an interesting job or career journey?
Email tanyel.mustafa@metro.co.uk to share your story for How I Made It.
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