If you stumbled across Rachel Chin’s blog, the Nerdie Baker (@thenerdiebaker), on Instagram, you might assume she was a professionally trained food photographer.
Her feed is filled with light and airy images of drool-worthy desserts—even some funny ones, like a corgi butt pastry!
Considering the quality of her content, you might be surprised to learn that Chin is a self-taught hobby photographer, working out of her home in Fort Wayne. As digital media rises in popularity and cooped up creatives fight cabin fever, she's part of a growing network of global innovators taking to Instagram to advance their skills, build connections, and share their passions. 
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Rachel Chin
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Instagram has become one of the fastest-growing social media platforms globally, seeing a 40 percent increase in use since 2019. And creators like Chin are ahead of the game.
After starting the Nerdie Baker on Instagram about two years ago, she has utilized online tutorials and connections to sharpen her skills and create content that’s getting the attention of foodies and brands everywhere.
Now, as baking increases in popularity during the pandemic, Chin is seeing even greater interest in her work.
So what’s it like turning your passion into an Instagram following, and who is the Fort Wayne woman behind the Nerdie Baker’s beautiful posts?
We sat down with Chin (virtually) to find out.
IFW: How did you start your Instagram food blog, the Nerdie Baker?
RC: I work full-time as an actuary in Fort Wayne, so I deal with lots of numbers in my day job. On weekends, I like to play around in the kitchen—whether I’m baking or doing photography. That’s how the idea for the Nerdie Baker (@thenerdiebaker) started.
The name really goes back to my love of math. Math is what keeps me rooted in me, and most people say math relates to nerds, so my husband suggested the name, the Nerdie Baker, and it stuck!
IFW: Tell us about your background and how long you’ve lived in Fort Wayne.
RC: I’ve been in Fort Wayne for about five and a half years. I’m originally from Malaysia, which is on the other side of the world. I came to the U.S. to get my education at the University of Michigan, and that’s where I met my husband. We worked in Michigan for a few years after college, too, and we initially came to Fort Wayne for my job.
The funny story is: About seven years ago, I got offered a job here, but I turned it down because the first time I visited Fort Wayne for the job interview, I didn’t like it. Then, two years later, I decided to give it a try.
My husband (who is also an actuary) moved to Fort Wayne with me about five years ago, and we’ve been here ever since. Now, I think Fort Wayne is definitely a neat town with a great community. A lot of my friends in Michigan had never heard of Fort Wayne when I moved here. But when I told them about the price of housing here and the cost of living, they were shocked. It’s a great place to be!
IFW: How did you start baking?
RC: I started baking during my college years. Baking is my way of de-stressing, so a lot of times, my college roommates would end up looking forward to me being stressed out and going to the kitchen to bake something for them.
My baking is also influenced by my family. My mom and sister back in Malaysia are good bakers, so it’s really their hobby. I started getting serious about it two years ago—and even more so in 2020, since I couldn’t really go anywhere. My husband and I usually try to travel on the weekends, but now, during COVID, I spend most of my weekends in the kitchen, and use that time to bake and photograph my food.
IFW: What made you want to take your baking talents to Instagram?
RC: My sister was the one who initially said: You really like baking, and your stuff is pretty good. Why don’t you try learning how to photograph your food and start an Instagram-based food blog?
At the time, I didn’t know anything about photography, and I only had the camera on my phone, so I thought: We’ll see how this goes. But it’s been two years since then, and I’ve really enjoyed doing it.
If you would have asked me two years ago, I would have never thought this was going to be my hobby. I’m a numbers person, so I never associated myself with being a creative before. But one of the food bloggers I follow said something that really stuck with me. She said: “Creativity can be practiced.”
Before I did this project, I didn’t think that was true. I thought creativity was something you were born with. Now, it does seem like you can actually practice creativity. I want to keep learning and improving with every post.
IFW: Tell us more about how you taught yourself to be a food photographer?
RC: I learned most of what I know about food photography from online tutorials and courses, as well as other Instagrammers. I made some virtual friends by reaching out on Instagram, and so many of them are willing to share their experiences and how they photograph things, so you can really get a lot of inspiration there, as well.
I also think it’s important to say that I started doing my photography with natural light and not much equipment—other than a DSLR camera that I eventually purchased on a Black Friday sale.
All that’s to say: You don’t need a ton of expensive gear to take good photos. What I learned from other photographers in online tutorials is: You want to learn the most you can while your equipment is limited because that’s when you really learn.
That said, this winter I invested in some artificial lights for my photos because during the winter months (and since I have my day job), my light source is very limited.
IFW: As a baker, how do you find recipes?
RC: Google searching, for sure. Sometimes I have something in mind, like a specific flavor or ingredient I’m thinking about, so I search for that.
Also, even though I’m a baker, and I have a sweet tooth, I’m not a big fan of things that are extremely sweet, so I try to shy away from using lots of sugar. With most recipes, I’ll cut the sugar content in half because it’s healthier, and if you have a lot of sweetness in a dessert, you can’t taste the real flavor of it.
Overall, I shy away from recipes that have artificial flavors. My food is all about focusing on real flavors. Also, sticking with the light and airy nature of my photos, I like my pastries and breads to be fluffy and airy—not too dense.
I usually start off by trying out someone else’s recipe, and as I make it, I tweak it to my tastes.
IFW: How did you come up with the adorable corgi butt pastry?
RC: My husband is a huge fan of corgis, and they have cute butts! We were at the point earlier this year where we were thinking about getting a dog. Then when we found out that corgis shed a lot, we decided to wait.
But even though we’re not going to get a real corgi, I thought I could at least bake something that looks like a corgi. I stumbled onto a video online that gave me the inspiration to create the corgi butt pastry, and I used my own bread recipe to recreate it.
IFW: Do you do any collaborations with brands?
RC: I started to work with a few brands who noticed my work, like a vanilla brand and matcha brand. I’ve also had a linen company reach out to me because a lot of my food photos have props in them, so now I use their linens in my posts.
I’m looking forward to more collaborations in the future! Overall, I’m just gradually creating content and trying to make genuine connections.
There are a lot of people you can meet in the baking culture on Instagram, and people often post different challenges, like “This month is all about chocolate or all about citrus foods.” Then you each share a post related to that. Participating in those challenges is one way I’ve built a community and met people who have similar interests.
IFW: What’s it like growing an Instagram following in Fort Wayne?
RC: I’ve found that Fort Wayne is a small enough city that you’re able to actually meet the local people you find on Instagram, so it can lead to real collaborations and relationships. For example, I use #fortwayne on a lot of my posts, and a lot of local creative people use that hashtag, too, so I often scroll through the posts to see who’s doing what.
I started a collaboration with a local florist, Patti Nix of Anne-Grey Flowers (@annegreyflowers), by reaching out on Instagram. So it seems like Fort Wayne creatives often feel comfortable working together and sharing their projects. I really enjoy that.
On the con side, I’m not sure if local people are fully invested in using Instagram to promote their work yet. Since the lockdown last year, I’ve seen so many people becoming more dependent on social media to reach others and to know what’s going on, so I wish we could ramp up a little more with local businesses and creatives using social media here to reach others.
That was one of the things I tried to help local businesses with during the pandemic. I said, “If there’s a way I can help you promote things, I’ll be sure to do that.” I don’t see a ton of people in Fort Wayne using Instagram yet, but there has been a lot of recent growth.
IFW: What is your all-time favorite recipe?
RC: My all-time favorite is one I’ve tried to make for many years, and I couldn’t get it right until recently. It’s a Japanese cheesecake, called a cotton cheesecake, and it’s very different from a regular cheesecake. It’s a lot lighter and fluffier, and it doesn’t have a crust. A lot of my followers have been asking about it, and I’m excited to finally share it.
IFW: Can you share a recipe with us?
RC: Sure! My favorite Japanese cheesecake can be a little tough, but one recipe I’d like to share is my Basque cheesecake, or burnt cheesecake, originating in Spain. It’s been really popular these past few years, and it’s probably the easiest cheesecake to make. You don’t need any special equipment, and you don’t have to worry about cracks.
The one I have is a vanilla cheesecake, made with vanilla bean paste, but you could add chocolate, green tea, or earl grey flavors to the batter to make it any flavor you want. I like plain vanilla. It has a creamy texture, and it’s pretty smooth.
Also, it doesn’t have a base, so there’s no crust, and depending on how long you refrigerate it after baking, you can create different textures with it. If you refrigerate it overnight, it will be more solid, but if you only refrigerate it 3-5 hours, it tastes more like a molten lava cake—solid on the sides, but soft in the middle.
One of my friends tasted it, and she was so surprised by the variance in textures, so it’s really fun!
Here's the recipe:
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A Basque cheesecake by the Nerdie Baker.
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