She studied classical piano in her native South Korea and earned a master’s degree in Worship Leadership at Dallas Baptist University in Texas. Now she plays the piano and organ during worship services at the United Church of Christ Boxborough, and she teaches piano. So how did the musical Esther Kim get involved with baking?
“I felt that I needed to do something else, something in addition to teaching piano,” explained Kim. “I found that baking allows me to use a different part of my brain. It allows me to be creative.”
Kim moved to Acton in 2023 from Michigan, where she owned her own baking business in addition to teaching piano, while also serving as choir conductor, pianist/organist, and soprano soloist at her church. Her focus as a baker is on Korean breads and desserts, which she characterizes as “fluffy, soft and not too sweet.”
“For example, sponge cake is very fluffy and soft, and we use whipped cream instead of buttercream frosting,” noted Kim.
Kim has assembled some of her favorite recipes for Korean-style baked goods into a book: “Esther’s Korean Baking at Home: 30 Most Beloved Recipes for K-style Baking”. The recipes in her book have been crafted by Kim to help the home baker successfully recreate these light, delicious treats. She tried many different products before choosing the right ones that appear in her recipes. She explains, “I help the home baker by naming the best, correct ingredients so that mistakes are not made when preparing breads and desserts.”
Kim’s recipes show the more accurate measurement of ingredients by weight, not by volume. Artificial Intelligence explains it this way:
“Measuring ingredients by weight is significantly more accurate, consistent, and efficient than measuring by volume with cups and spoons. Weighing eliminates human error, such as how heavily flour is packed, reduces dish cleanup by letting you measure everything into one bowl, and makes it incredibly easy to scale recipes up or down.While volume measures how much space an ingredient occupies, weight measures its actual mass.”
In Michigan, Kim had given her baked goods as treats to parents of piano students and as gifts to students who successfully performed in recitals or competitions. Soon she was being asked to bake so frequently that she opened her own business there, a bakery and cafe.
Interestingly, Kim combines her love of music with her talent in the kitchen. “Sometimes when I am teaching piano and students can’t seem to master a certain style of playing, I give them some bread that I have made and ask them to describe it. The students always describe the bread as ‘fluffy,’ and I tell them to play the piano that way.” Using mouthfeel during a piano lesson is a unique teaching strategy, one which Kim said works.
Esther Kim lives in Acton with her three musically-talented children who play cello, viola and violin. She works as a cake decorator at Whole Foods Market. Her dream is to open her own bakery and cafe, one that features a piano that can be played by anyone who comes in. It sounds like the perfect business for Esther Kim, one that combines her passion for K-style baking with her talents as a musician.
Below is a recipe that Kim shared for this article. She teaches K-style baking of desserts, cakes and breads on Zoom and in person at UCCBoxborough. She will be teaching a 90-minute class at the Acton Memorial Library on September 3, 6-7:30 p.m.
Joan Milnes is a former food columnist for the Beverly Citizen and a retired director of college internships and career services on the North Shore. She lives with her husband in Acton.
