Baking with kindness

Bittern baker Georgia Irwin is an international social media star and a local baking icon. Working from her registered home kitchen near the shores of Western Port, she produces a range of astonishingly beautiful cakes, buns, biscuits and other baked treats that she delivers from Portsea to Patterson River. Her work with vegan home cooking has seen the home baker, author and content-producer attract more than 300,000 followers on social media, with that number growing daily. Her Instagram account @thekindnessechoes has more than 120,000 followers. Her first book, The Vegan Home Baker, was published in September to critical acclaim. She and her partner, Aaron, moved to Bittern from Melbourne during lockdown.

“When I started looking around here, I saw the big blocks, the beach lifestyle and beautiful birds, and I fell in love with the place,” Georgia said. “Aaron grew up in Mornington. I grew up in Gippsland, so I just love the green, the wildlife – we even have owls fly through the garden at night.” She grows her own citrus and has an organic vegetable garden in which she grows her herbs and greens. She sources much of her fruit and veg from Torello Farm, uses Tuerong Farm flour in her baking, and decorates her cakes with edible flowers from Norwood Farm in Merricks.

Georgia turned her back on food from animals six years ago after a deep dive into the food industry. She and Aaron wanted to have a lighter impact on the planet, starting with ditching plastics. “We started to carefully choose what we were purchasing. For us, veganism is a personal thing. We don’t judge. We don’t preach. It was a decision we feel great about. Eating the right food makes me feel good.”

Then came baking. Georgia wasn’t feeling well mentally. She felt anxious and disconnected. “I don’t come from a family of great bakers or foodies. It started as a form of art therapy,” she said with a smile. “I did not mean to start a business.” She started baking beautiful cakes and posting the results online. Within two weeks, cafes in her suburb started contacting her, asking her to supply them with her gorgeous and delicious vegan cakes and buns. She has baked every day since. “When you bake for someone and give food to someone, there is a massive power in that. I was connecting with other people. It was an amazing experience.”

One of the dishes she is most proud of is her sausage roll. “I was selling these at a market, and this big tough bloke took a bite out of one and bought the lot.” Her recipe blends oats, pecans for crunch, tofu for succulence, breadcrumbs to bind, and sun-dried tomatoes for tang and that delicious hit of umami. Another of her bestsellers is a lemon tart using cornflour to bind the custard instead of eggs, and vegan butter for a luscious mouthfeel. She continues to bake every day, working on the vegan bakehouse boxes she delivers around the Peninsula, and is looking at doing some local market stalls. “There is a real sense of community here that I just love,” she said. “I have found my home.”

Follow Georgia @thekindnessechoes