My names are Miriam Meli Nwokoro, I am the Chief Executive Officer of Mel Cakes Training Centre, Center for Sugar Craft Studies. We are situated at No 25 Ado Road Ajah-Lagos. Our craft shop is at 29 Ado Road Ajah Lagos Nigeria. I learnt the art of cake making and decoration from my mom. I actually started baking at age 10. For me it was fun watching and helping mom make cakes for her clients. At that age I never took baking seriously, it ... Read Full Bio »

My names are Miriam Meli Nwokoro, I am the Chief Executive Officer of Mel Cakes Training Centre, Center for Sugar Craft Studies. We are situated at No 25 Ado Road Ajah-Lagos. Our craft shop is at 29 Ado Road Ajah Lagos Nigeria. I learnt the art of cake making and decoration from my mom. I actually started baking at age 10. For me it was fun watching and helping mom make cakes for her clients. At that age I never took baking seriously, it was more or less a hobby. My career in cake making started in Abuja 1998 when I was working at the Nigerian Communications Commission. I used to make cakes for my colleagues and friends for a token. Eventually when I resigned my appointment in late 2002, I set up a cake shop where cake items and accessories were sold. The name MEL was actually coined from my native name meli which means victory. Over time, I enhanced my baking skills and became fully focused on cake making and decoration. I have attended various decorating courses locally and abroad. I firmly believe that there is no end to learning and so I continually look out for new innovations and developments in cake making and decoration We progressed from selling cake items and accessories to establishing our Training Centre and to our satisfaction, the Centre has trained many cake makers/sugar artists. Recently, we saw the need to stimulate the involvement of children in cake making and decoration, and so initiated our "Groom them Young Programme" where basic skills are taught children from age 5 up to the age of sixteen. I initiated the Lekki Ajah International Cake Fair and in April 2007, I in partnership with Just cakes by Somsez organized the first Lekki Ajah International Cake fair. The event keeps on growing and has become very popular with the cake decorating industry in Nigeria and West Africa. A primary aim of the exhibition is to empower the unemployed and also to create awareness for the industry. I love to impart knowledge and I see it as a sin for one to die without transferring the knowledge God has given freely unto others. I enjoy what I am doing and this has inspired me to author two books and also to put together two DVDs on caking making :BAKING MADE EASY Vol 1 and ICING FUN Vol 2, I hope to produce more teaching aids in future. I enjoy making handcrafted sugar flowers, figurines, toppers and also working with cold porcelain. Since I learnt how to work with cold porcelain in 2007, I have been able to use it to create toppers. It is interesting to know that cold porcelain can withstand wet weather and also can stay forever , It is very convinent to work with. I have had some rough and good times in the cake making business. It makes me happy when ever my client calls to say"Thank you,Mel, I really love the cake."It motivates me the more. I am very passionate about what am doing and hope that in the future my children will get Involved.