A Norfolk teenager is hoping to capitalise on a boom in online cup cake sales by launching her own bakery.
Isabel Powley, 18, from Runham, near Great Yarmouth, has been making cakes since she was a child and has now set up Oh.Bakey in a specially-built commercial kitchen in a studio in her parents’ home.
Other cake firms have also sprung up with more people working from home. And social media sites including Instagram and Facebook are awash with beautiful creations.
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Mum-of-two Kirsty Penfold, from Poringland, set up Kirsty’s Cupcake Corner specialising in cakes decorated with hand-made icing flowers.
And Madeleine Massingham, from King’s Lynn has set up The_Fat_Fairy specialising in butter cream cakes with personalised messages.
Ms Powley has enjoyed success with her ‘cakesicles’ which are mini sponges iced and put on a lolly pop stick which can be decorated and delivered to homes or offices.
She had only just started the business when she had to close down because of coronavirus but was up and running again by mid May after the go ahead from the government.
She said: “Since I was little I was always in the kitchen and making cakes for my family and over the past couple of years friends started to ask me to make them. I always wanted this to be my future job so I decided to officially create a name for myself.
“I now have my own purpose-built kitchen. I didn’t train at college, I am self-taught.”
Mrs Penfold set up Kirsty’s Cupcake Corner so she could work from home, around her two young children. She started making cupcakes with flower decorations as a special request from her uncle and they have proved really popular since. Food technology technician Mrs Penfold creates intricate petals and makes ‘bouquets’ of little cakes that actually resemble real flowers.
“It was easy to set up the business,” she said. “I made it first for friends and family and then started charging once I was registered with South Norfolk Council and HMRC.”
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