Aulbright Nyih - ‘a dentist with a sweet tooth’ - bakes up a storm to bring the NYC ‘home cafe’ trend from her TikTok feed to friends in DublinAulbright Nyih hosts a home cafe event from her house in Swords, Co Dublin, preparing and serving home-made food to guests. All photographs: Natalia Campos Mon Jun 08 2026 - 05:00 • 4 MIN READIt is a sunny Saturday morning in late spring and Aulbright Nyih is elbow-deep in dough at her home in Swords, Co Dublin. Sweet smells of baking waft through the kitchen which has been a hub of activity since dawn. This time tomorrow, the room will be filled with friends, having transformed into a “home cafe”: the Gen Z food trend to sweeping TikTok.The 23-year-old dentist and part-time content creator describes the planning and execution of what she has dubbed Aulbright’s Coffee Club as “a labour of love”. Nyih was inspired by Ryan Nordheimer, a self-taught cook and baker whose NYC apartment cafe concept has gained him millions of views on the app. This gathering is the second iteration of Nyih’s take on the trend, and she puts on quite the spread; think croissants the size of your head, chocolate muffins, cookies, lemon loaves, focaccia and cinnamon rolls neatly lined across sheets of brown baking paper, labelled with black marker. So what does it say about how members of the digital generation consume their food? For Nyih, the main appeal of curating and hosting events like this comes from cutting through the mundane. “Just doing things outside of work that aren’t, you know, doom scrolling. I need to do something that’s mentally enriching out of my comfort zone. I think it’s so easy to be stuck in the nine to five, like I always try to do something after work or on the weekends.”“There is some element of performing, and that’s okay to admit,” says Nyih. Documenting it on social media is part of the fun, too.“I’ve gone through so many recipes to find the ones I’m going to use for today, setting it up and having a vision and bringing it to life. [It’s] the same reason why I make videos – I have a thought in my head and I want to lay it out.”Nyih’s journey to creating her home cafe started with a social media detox in January. “I wanted a break from everything, so I deleted all my apps,” she says. Left with “hours and hours of free time”, Nyih decided to learn how to make croissants. “It was really fun. I was like, I could just do the coffee club then, like, this isn’t the hardest thing ever, you know?”Nyih, who graduated from university last year, already runs a book club that meets monthly in coffee shops around Dublin. “Community is such a buzzword right now,” she says, adding that people are really craving social outlets such as these. Aulbright Nyih prepares to host her home cafe. All photographs: Natalia Campos Attendees take their pick of goods at Aulbright Nyih’s cafe. Photo: Natalia Campos/ The Irish Times Aulbright Nyih prepares strawberries for her event. Photo: Natalia Campos/ The Irish Times “I use different events that I host as a way to rekindle friendships, or to start new ones,” she says.Nyih’s cafe is free to enter, and she doesn’t charge for her baked goods, which is part of the point. With an estimated spend of about €150 on ingredients, and plenty of time invested too, she sees it as a way of treating those closest to her. “Third spaces where people feel like maybe they have to spend money to stay there could be a big factor why it appeals to people so much,” she says.“I don’t expect anything from my friends, because I think my friends are the type that would do something similar.” This time, one friend who works as a barista is chipping in; another hosts an annual summer barbecue, which Nyih is looking forward to. The invite list has almost doubled – from 10 to 17 – since she first hosted the cafe in her kitchen. While it all looks picture perfect, baking on this scale is a process of trial and error. A soggy cinnamon bun fiasco “was the one kind of flop” the first time around. “I’m making them again to redeem myself,” says Nyih, who baked everything from scratch.“I can’t believe the amount of sugar and butter that goes into pastries. I’m a dentist with a sweet tooth,” she says, laughing.On TikTok, there is an element of the “sweeter and crazier” the better, with the most absurdly mesmerising desserts being pushed out by the algorithm. “And, you know, there is a bit of, I suppose, voyeurism with [the trend] as well.”Looking at the beautiful presentation of Nyih’s baking extravaganza, you can see how she’s inspired by cafes such as Bread 41 which are booming in the capital at the moment.[ Inside Ireland’s coffee culture: ‘When I said I was a barista, people thought I worked in the Four Courts’Opens in new window ]“I love the pastries there. I think Ireland’s artisanal bakery scene has really picked up ... even our coffee scene, as well, has grown so much.”“[With Bread 41] you see where it’s baked, all next door. The staff are super nice. It’s laid out super pretty. You enjoy what you get,” she says.The “really great quality” of Irish ingredients shouldn’t be taken for granted either.Aulbright Nyih hosting her home cafe in Swords. Photo: Natalia Campos/ The Irish Times Aulbright Nyih is inspired by Dublin bakeries such as Bread 41. Photo: Natalia Campos/ The Irish Times Aulbright Nyih's baked goods, neatly arranged and labelled. Photo: Natalia Campos/ The Irish Times “Our flour is so great, our butter is amazing. I think people really take that for granted, living in Ireland, that all our fresh base goods are really great quality.” Kerrygold’s newfound chicness abroad is case in point. Nyih now has her sights set on a pot-luck of sorts, this time inspired by Cake Picnic, which describes itself as a “globally recognised gathering rooted in generosity, participation and joy”. Starting in 2024, the official picnic has toured cities around the world, requiring attendees to come bearing their most decadent cake creation. San Francisco’s event last year captivated the masses online after it was featured in The New York Times. Gathering 1,387 cakes in one place? Say no more. IN THIS SECTION