Meet Amirah Kassem: The Incredibly Talented Pastry Chef Behind Flour Shop

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

Over the past several years, one cake has completely dominated our Instagram feeds, with each post being more exciting than the last: the Flour Shop Explosion Cake. Founder, pastry chef, entrepreneur, and author Amirah Kassem sits at the helm of the vibrant pastry brand and has globally gained the attention of millions—including celebrities such as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Sarah Jessica Parker—for her one-of-a-kind creations. Kassem has been featured in notable publications such as The New York Times, Bon Appetite, and Forbes and on iconic talk shows such as Late Night With Seth Meyers and the Rachael Ray Show, proving that the industry was in need of a feel-good pastry brand.

In addition to running Flour Shop, Kassem has written several books—The Power of Sprinkles: A Cake Book and two children's books—and has product collections with Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Vans. Kassem has become a thought-leader in the food industry and is an artist at heart, with cake as her medium. She has gone on to headline food festivals such as Bottle Rock and Food and Wine Festival, and her food-based installations have been exhibited in museums around the world. This December, she joined the Disney+ series Foodtastic as a judge, where her passion for food art shines.

Kassem has, undoubtedly, brought a tremendous amount of joy to the food industry with her fresh and incredibly fun perspective. But before she began paving her own pastry path, she surprisingly worked in a different industry: fashion. After making her way to Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, she was tapped by Johan Lindeberg himself to work for denim and leather label Blk Dnm in its early days. Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Kassem found her way from clothes to cakes and found herself on her own entrepreneurial journey. 

Keep scrolling to shop some of Flour Shop's best sellers.