Three-year-old’s TikTok cooking tutorials watched by millions as passion for food goes viral

A three-year-old boy with a passion for food and “making people smile” has become an overnight sensation on TikTok after his cooking tutorials amassed tens of millions of views.

Chay and Adam, both 35, from Dorset, said their son Carter has always loved cooking and enjoys teaching others, so they filmed him making a pizza one day and shared this with loved ones.

With friends and family encouraging the couple to post videos like this online, they created the TikTok account @cookingwithcarter in September and shared the clip of Carter making the pizza in his signature dinosaur apron.

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Just two months later his channel has had more than 20 million views.

The couple said Carter loves seeing himself online and being the “centre of attention”, so he asked to make more videos and now, after posting tutorials of him making cookies, cupcakes, sausage rolls, pancakes and more, he has amassed more than 200,000 followers.

With five million views his most popular video is his fruit salad walkthrough, a one-minute clip in which he teaches people how to cut bananas, grapes and strawberries, before finishing with the words: “Look at my massive bowl of fruit. Ta-da!”

Chay, a customer success manager, and Adam, a teaching assistant, who do not wish to disclose their surname for privacy reasons, said they have been “overwhelmed” by the positive reactions and popularity of the content and hope it encourages other parents to “let their kids do more in the kitchen”.

“Carter loves making people smile,” Chay told PA Real Life. “This was never about Carter becoming famous or us making money, we haven’t made a single penny, it was always about him discovering new hobbies with Adam and doing fun things together and expressing himself.

“He’ll say in a video, ‘Do it perfectly like me and you’re all set’, and if he feels like he’s teaching someone, then he’s happy.”

Adam added: “When I told him ‘So many people love seeing your cooking videos and they make people happy’, he said, ‘Oh, we can make one every day to make people happy’.

“I’ll tell him a few things to say and teach him how to cut something and then I’ll step outside of the frame, just out of view, and he just chats away – he loves it.”

Chay and Adam said Carter has “always loved cooking” and they bought him his first set of children’s plastic safety knives from Amazon when he was 17 months old, utensils he still uses in his TikTok videos.

With curiosity and a desire to help Adam, who is the main cook, in the kitchen, Carter has learned various culinary skills, including cutting, chopping, blending, cracking eggs and flipping pancakes.

The couple found that Carter was more likely to try new foods if he was involved in the process and, since he enjoys teaching others, they filmed him making a pizza and shared this with friends and family.

After the idea to share this video more widely was suggested, Carter’s TikTok channel @cookingwithcarter was born.

“It originally started because Carter wanted to teach Chay’s mum how to cook, so we made a pizza,” Adam said.

“I sent it to my family and it got sent around, and they said, ‘You should make more of those’.

“So we posted the pizza video and made one more, the fruit salad, and those two on TikTok just blew up.”

Adam said he and Chay will suggest different recipes to Carter, which are simple and take around 30 minutes in total, and he will choose his preferred option or suggest his own ideas.

Carter said he loves making ice cream, his favourite flavour is chocolate, and enjoys cracking eggs.

In his tutorials on TikTok he makes cookies, cupcakes, sausage rolls, pancakes, an omelette and a cheese and bean toastie, and he has even had companies such as Heinz commenting on his posts, saying: “Obsessed, such a chef.”

Sharing one of his tips, Carter said: “If egg shell goes in, you use the big egg shell and scoop it out.”

Since Adam is the main cook at home, he will supervise Carter and give him some guidance, but otherwise, he props his phone up in the kitchen with the front-facing camera and leaves Carter to “chat away”.

Chay said her role is the “taste tester” and Carter loves sharing the food he makes with her afterwards.

“He’s always excited to tell me after they finish a video and he comes running out, saying, ‘Mummy! You need to try this!'” she said.

Chay and Adam said they never expected his videos to become this popular, and Carter has even been sent some gifts, including an ice cream maker and a scooter.

They said the original intention was never fame or money and they will only continue sharing his videos as long as he is safe and happy.

“We’re never going to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do,” Adam said.

The couple said they believe his videos have been so successful because he is “relatable” and “you don’t see many toddlers talking like that”, and they have been overwhelmed with people’s kind comments.

One person wrote, “Am I the only one who loves this kid?”, while another commented “This is great parenting”.

Chay said: “It just acknowledges how hard we’ve worked to make sure that we have a happy and healthy child.”

Carter has some “top secret” tutorials coming up, which cannot be disclosed, but he said the reason he loves making these videos is because they “make (him) happy”.

With his “super contagious” personality and “outgoing” nature, Chay and Adam hope his videos bring joy to others and encourage parents to do more with their children.

Chay said: “Don’t be afraid to let your child get involved in day-to-day activities because they might surprise you more than you think.

“I think they want to be involved and it’s hard sometimes, when they’re so young, to grasp something like, ‘Oh, I’m going to let my two-year-old cut things’, but when there’s a will, there’s a way.

“Once you figure out that path together, they’ll be so happy that they’re involved in more adult activities.”

Adam added: “He’s always asking, ‘Are we going to make a video? What are we going to make next?’

“I love seeing him get involved in cooking.”

To find out more, search @cookingwithcarter on TikTok or @cookingwithcarterofficial on Instagram or YouTube.