From Home Kitchen to Ocean Grove: Meet Gabi Pahan of My Bellarine Kitchen
Gabi (second from the left) and her family were coming down to the Bellarine Peninsula almost every year to rent a holiday house over Christmas before driving back to Melbourne.
About eight years ago they decided to stay and moved their life down the highway, past Geelong to the Peninsula.
The pastry chef with decades of experience was working at local cafes and wineries, but she really missed baking.
Fewer people were able to make the style of cakes she wanted to bake, for better or worse. Packet mix, supermarket cakes and lack of time meant the more traditional and high-quality methods were inconvenient or out of reach.
“So many cakes look great, but they just taste sweet and really not very memorable,” Gabi said.
Gabi decided to start a business, My Bellarine Kitchen, and quickly gained a following.
Wedding cake. Supplied by My Bellarine Kitchen
Working from home
“I outgrew my home kitchen and my home fridges and storage. And this space came up in Ocean Grove.”
The space, a kitchen and shop, is just north of Ocean Grove’s centre in a commercial hub away from the main streets.
My Bellarine Kitchen is baking items like the lemon, blueberry and yoghurt bundt cake (bundt being the recognisable peaked doughnut shape, originating in Germany), AFL Grand Final cupcakes last month, and Spring wedding season has just kicked in.
“There’s always sort of something throughout the year that we are preparing for, and trying to keep things interesting for as well,” Gabi said.
The focus continues to be on making memorable cakes. Customers from years ago when Gabi was baking at home are still ordering today. Though now they pick up their orders from the shop, rather than her home.
“People have tried our cakes at a party or even purchased themselves often think, ‘Wow, this is really amazing.’
“You can walk into the supermarket and get a $5 sponge, whereas our sponges are $60.”
“People really do appreciate the quality, they really value the effort and skill that we put in.”
Gabi’s Bellarine
“It’s an amazing place. There are all the facilities that you need and you are minutes from the beach in any direction – it’s always beautiful!
Part of the lifestyle on the Peninsula means going with the seasons as people turn up for holidays, then head home.
“If you’re local you know where to go when it gets very busy through summertime,” Gabi said.
“I’m always a little bit like excited when summer’s over and tourist season’s done and then you get it back to yourself again, it’s just the most ideal place to live.”
Baking workshops
While working in Melbourne Gabi was running chocolate making workshops and thoroughly enjoyed the experience with people keen to learn the craft.
Now, being a business owner, she’s constantly training staff and routinely passing on her knowledge.
On the Peninsula she found a little bit of a gap in the market for workshops, when looking for an educational activity to do with her staff.
“There was nothing in the area, so we decided to start up different workshops – we do chocolate making, chocolate appreciation, a basic buttercream workshop where we teach people how to make buttercream and how to pipe.”
At the semi-naked cake decorating workshop participants will be assembling their own cake, adding the icing then learn how to do attach fresh flowers.
“They also get to take home what they’ve made! So that’s a little bonus as well.”
QUICK QUESTIONS
What’s your favourite type of cake?
I love a good tiramisu. Yeah, it’s got to be a good one and we make a good one.
How much cake do you eat each week?
I have something every day.
What sort of cake is very fashionable at the moment?
The Basque Cheesecake is really having a moment, the crustless one that’s kind of burnt a little bit.
Somewhere nice on the Peninsula you’ve eaten recently?
The Dunes Ocean Grove. I remember the porridge was amazing. And the restaurant overlooks Ocean Grove main beach.
What’s popular at My Bellarine Kitchen?
Brown butter chocolate chunk biscuits. We’ve got a little variation on it, where we give them a Nutella centre.
Our passion fruit vanilla slice has a bit of a following. We tend to have it out almost every day. But if it’s not every day then it’s definitely out on Saturdays.
About
Website: Mybellarinekitchen.com.au
Instagram: @mybellarinekitchen
Phone: 0491 757 647
3/7 Smithton Grove, Ocean Grove
Shop Hours
9 AM to 2 PM Tuesday to Friday
9 AM to 3 PM Saturday
Check out their Christmas goods from 2024 on Instagram.