STRONG PLATFORM: Rachel Fong is a bona fide YouTube star with over 1 million global subscribers to her channel, Kawaii Sweet World. Thanks to her channel’s popularity and success with its 4 million monthly views and 138 million lifetime views, Rachel has amassed a social following of more than 2 million Internet-savvy fans, ages 18 to 34, from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia (in addition to her subscriptions). She has been featured online on Tastemade, Refinery29, and the Washington Post, among others, and has collaborated on videos with big name brands like Williams-Sonoma.
KIDS IN THE KITCHEN: Young and a self-taught baker, Rachel appeals to a youthful audience beyond her core Gen-Z and millennial followers. From shows such as Chopped Junior and MasterChef Junior, the popularity of kid chefs and kid-focused cookbooks is only getting bigger and this cookbook will ride that wave with its cute package and even cuter, fun-to-make goodies. This book is perfect for parents looking for fun projects to do with their kids: the recipes are engaging and easy-to-follow and yield impressive results. Any beginning baker—from kids, teens, parents, and everyone in-between—will be obsessesed with this cookbook.
TRENDING TOPIC: Kawaii style is not just limited to Japan. The style (ever hear of Hello Kitty?) is making its way to the West in fast-fashion stores like Forever21, in popular video games, on social media, and even on people’s cell phone cases. Over the past two years, “Kawaii” has increased in Google searches by 8 percent annually.
“In this delightful debut cookbook, Fong, creator of the YouTube channel of the book’s title, transforms several classic, tasty desserts into kawaii (the Japanese word for cute) creations. . . . Committed to making sure that the desserts ‘taste just as good as they look,’ Fong provides baking techniques and tricks. . . . Readers won’t be able to resist Fong’s invitation to bake cute creations.”—Publishers Weekly