Ann Reardon

How To Cook That is a website and YouTube baking channel that provides video recipes on baking and decorating themed cakes, desserts, chocolate creations and other confectionery. Launched as a website in 2011, it later gained more than 4 million followers on YouTube, surpassing more than 15.3 million video views per month. Hosted by founder Ann Reardon, the channel has been featured in major publications, including ''Forbes'', ''The Huffington Post'', and ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.

History

How To Cook That was founded by Ann Reardon in 2011. Prior to becoming a YouTube personality, she worked as a qualified food scientist and dietitian. She left the field of food to work with youth as a youth pastor in a low socioeconomic area in Western Australia. She self-catered for various events. During that time, Reardon taught many of the young people how to cook in her own kitchen.

In 2009, Reardon moved to Sydney, Australia, with her family and initially launched How To Cook That as a website that contained both video recipes and an online shop. The site was launched after she had her third son as something to keep her mind active during night feeds. Reardon wrote a single recipe post each week and made occasional videos to complement the recipes. The videos were too large for the site so she uploaded them to YouTube and embedded them into the website. As the popularity of the videos grew, Reardon started uploading them more frequently.

Views started in the thousands and grew to millions, attracting media attention. In 2013, Reardon was contacted by the BBC to produce a cake for the 50th anniversary of ''Doctor Who''. She made a chocolate Dalek cake that was later featured on the BBC as well as ''Variety''. The same year, Reardon signed an agreement with DECA, a YouTube multi-channel network based in the United States. She also began a brand partnership in December 2013, using appliances by Breville. By February 2015, the channel was attracting 14 million views in a single month.

Content

Recipes on How To Cook That feature mainly desserts, including cakes decorated as cartoon characters, social media logos, and giant classic candy bars. Some of the most popular include a 5 lb Snickers bar, an Instagram cake, and a giant Kit Kat chocolate. The Instagram cake was featured in ''The Huffington Post'' as well as over 500 websites. The recipe for an Avengers cake was featured in an article on CNET, and Reardon also developed a recipe for a YouTube cake. The website sells its own products, including cake templates.

She also built a fully functioning kitchen using a dollhouse, and used it to bake miniature cakes. Her miniature baking includes making tiny eggs using sodium alginate.

In addition to the website and YouTube channel, Reardon released a mobile app called ''Surprise Cakes'' in the Apple Store and on Google Play. It is considered the world's first augmented reality app for cakes and was inspired by a gaming app. The app allows users to make a cake come to life with 3D moving dragons, unicorns, rainbows and fireworks.

In more recent years, Reardon has shifted to disproving false/misleading viral claims, often testing "food hacks" (recipes that supposedly show an easy way to make an existing dish or a new one) to show their impossibility and warning viewers of more dangerous trends.

See also

* List of YouTube personalities

References

{{reflist

External links

How To Cook That official website

How To Cook That YouTube channel

Internet properties established in 2011
Australian YouTubers
YouTube channels launched in 2011
Cooking websites
Food and cooking YouTube channels
English-language YouTube channels