In the Spoon series Buttered Up, we interview content creators in the food space about what their job is like. This month, we chatted with Bianca Fernandez of @bitesbybianca, who was recently named the 2024 InfluenceHer Collective Food & Beverage Influencer of the Year.
If you’ve ever come across Bianca Fernandez’s Instagram page, you probably stopped scrolling immediately. If the adorable matcha cake that looks like a frog didn’t stop you in your digital tracks, the steamed buns that look like tiny chickens will. The food blogger incorporates fairytale elements into her whimsical baking to spread joy and positivity through cheerful animal characters, an aspect that makes her page so much fun to watch. Her Instagram page, @bitesbybianca, is both for the aspiring baker looking to recreate her cute design and the person with a sweet tooth just watching for entertainment.
But Fernandez’s journey to professional baker and content creator wasn’t always a clear path. After enduring two grueling application seasons applying to medical school and receiving less than ideal outcomes, she decided to go all in on her baking blog. Now, the 27-year-old Filipina American has close to 80K followers on Instagram and almost 25K followers on her TikTok account, @bitesbybianca. She is passionate about sharing the joy of baking, but also sharing the wealth and helping other content creators succeed in their goals by offering advice and being available to talk about her career. Spoon University chatted with Fernandez to learn more about her life as a professional baker and content creator.
Spoon University: What inspired you to become a food blogger?
Bianca Fernandez: When I was in high school, I actually had a baking page called Macarons by Bianca, and I would sell locally and to friends in school, but that was just more of a side hobby. Then I went to college for biology and chemistry. And after college, I didn’t really have any time to do after work besides just hang out or walk around Boston. So I decided that I’d start baking again and record that journey. I started Bites by Bianca in 2020 and it just kept going from there.
SU: Was it a hard decision for you to decide to do that full time?
BF: Yes. The only reason I did it full time is because it was my last resort. I applied to medical school twice, and I didn’t get in, and I knew I didn’t want to get my PhD or go to graduate school. I had my baking blog at the time, and I thought, maybe I want to open a bakery. But I never worked in the kitchen, so I knew that was kind of naive to jump in on that. So while I was doing full time research, I started part time baking on the weekends. Then, after about half a year, I made the jump to full time baking. Then, I had health issues from working in the kitchen. I had Achilles tendinitis in both ankles, and then I had a breakup, so I moved back home with my parents. I didn’t have a car, so I couldn’t commute to any job. So I thought, let me just try my blog for about half a year. I’ve been doing it full time since January 2023.
SU: Do you feel that your training in biology and chemistry helps you with the science of baking?
BF: Yes, when I lived in Boston, I used to go to free classes for food science every fall at Harvard. It was open to the public, so I went with my friends after work and we would attend these lectures. But I think working in the lab and kind of managing any high school interns or other undergraduates under me helped me learn how to delegate and figure out what to prioritize and how to manage everything at once. I think learning about food science and having a background in biochemistry and chemistry and biology helps me understand what’s happening and why some ratios are important, and how you can tweak things here and there.
SU: What is your favorite ingredient to work with? And what is your favorite thing to bake?
BF: I would say my favorite ingredient to work with is probably brown butter. I think it’s so easy to make — it only takes five minutes, but it changes the flavor profile a lot. It makes things more intense, nuttier and bolder. My favorite things to bake are probably cookies, just because they’re so versatile. I have a lot of cookie recipes on my page, and I just love how I can make them cute or basic, or add design if I want.
SU: What has been the most rewarding part of your career as a food blogger?
BF: I would say the most rewarding part is probably knowing that I got to where I am so short in my career. I didn’t think I’d be part of Raptive, which is like an ad agency on my blog, for a few years, but I got into that this year. And just meeting other women who kind of made an entire career for themselves from the internet with blogging was really inspirational. To know that I’m part of that group is really cool.
SU: Is there a conscious effort in your work to promote a kind of positivity through food?
BF: Yeah, I definitely love the whole idea. You know, you can’t play with your food, but now as an adult, I can do whatever I want, so why not turn my cookies into bear cookies? I think it’s nice to see some playful things online like this, that just brings people joy out of just a 10 second cookie video.
SU: As someone who bakes a lot and has as much experience as you do, why do you focus on easy recipes and easy baking?
BF: I actually started with more difficult things on my website. I didn’t post them on my blog yet, but it was like really intense macaron designs or painted sourdough, and I realized that people probably won’t replicate this at home. If anything, they just watch the content and get joy from it. But I love baking, and I know that other people love baking. I thought maybe other people want to try it, but are too intimidated by it, so I decided to go towards the easy baking route. And I get tons of messages every month from people saying, “this is my first time baking, and I’m so happy how it turned out.” Or, “I’m really bad at baking, but the cookies came out great, and they were so tasty.” And that just makes me really happy.
SU: As a Filipina American, do you feel you’re able to express and connect to your culture through the creativity that you bring to your baking?
BF: Yes. A lot of my recipes on my website are Filipino inspired. The reason I started that was because years ago, maybe 2018 or 2019, I was googling Ube cookie recipes, and only one type of cookie showed up. It was Ube crinkle cookies. And I was like, there is no way no one else hasn’t posted other Ube cookie recipes. Maybe they did and the Google ranking just wasn’t strong, but I couldn’t find any so I decided that I would start making Ube cookies myself, and then other people would see them, and they started replicating them too.
SU: Where do you see yourself a few years from now in regards to your career?
BF: My dreams would be to blog forever and continue to make cute recipes. I would love to publish a cookbook. I’m actually thinking about doing it myself, like self publishing. But other than that, I’ve always talked with a friend about starting our own baking mix line, like a cute cookie baking mix or a cute kitchenware line. I think that would be awesome.
SU: What would be one piece of advice you have to someone looking to get into food blogging?
BF: This career path, food blogging and having your own website, isn’t really talked about outside the food blogging community. I learned a lot of what I know from Facebook groups and reaching out to other bloggers. So I would definitely say to join those Facebook groups and talk to other people in this field, because there isn’t really a school for it. I guess there are a bunch of courses, but they are hundreds or thousands of dollars. And to get a grasp or an initial understanding of the industry, I think those Facebook groups are really beneficial. If anyone has any questions and wants to get into this field, they can definitely email me or reach out on Instagram. I’m always happy to talk about it and the money behind it.