TASTE TALK: Doing it in loving memory of Mum

FOR someone who says she would have burned a pizza as a teenager, no one is more surprised than Shelly Baker that making and teaching how to make cakes is her life and love.

Shelly’s surname lends itself perfectly to her business, Mrs Baker’s Cake School, and her success, along with her cakes, is certainly on the rise.

The 37-year-old lives in Coleview, Swindon, with her husband David, 36, an electrical engineer, and three children - Benjamin, 11, Ryan, eight, and Erin, seven.

Born and brought up in Swindon, she comes from a close family and was devastated by the death of her mum, Lisa, eight years ago at the age of just 47.

Shelly, then 29, and her sister Samantha, then 24, became the guiding female presence in the life of their eight-year-old half-brother Ethan.

“That is what mum would have wanted,” says Shelly.

“Mum was the boss, she held the family together, and she was my friend. She was the life and soul of most things and very much in charge.

“She used to make us really ‘out there’ birthday cakes and would stay up all night making sure they were perfect.

“I remember a Button Moon birthday cake she made for me and she did a Darth Maul, from Star Wars, cake and couldn’t get the red food colouring off her hands for a week! She really loved doing it. I was the typical teenager and didn’t want to get involved, I was too busy – how I wish I had now.”

At school Shelly did her A-levels and studied travel and tourism but said she struggled to find a career direction.

“I’d always wanted to be a Bluecoat, so I became a children’s entertainer at Bunn Leisure holiday parks. I enjoyed it, but within a year I’d fulfilled that dream and didn’t know what to do next, nothing really fitted.”

After she married and had her children Shelly remembered her mum’s passion for baking and started designing and baking cakes for her youngsters.

“I started baking after mum died as a kind of comfort, it was an ongoing connection to her. I feel she is there with me, and approving. It’s like I finally grew up and took her advice.

“I love how I can make almost anything I can think of!” she smiles.

“I seemed to have a natural ability - I’ve never been on any courses and I’m completely self-taught.

“I was enjoying making cakes so much that I considered starting a business to give me a small income.

“In 2009, I posted some photos of my cakes on Facebook and the orders started coming in, then totally snowballed.

“Within 12 months I decided to start teaching others how to make and decorate cakes – I love it and thrive on it.”

These days, teaching baking and cake-decorating is Shelly’s main business, and running courses is her full-time job. From a beginners’ cupcake class to cupcake bouquet and shabby chic cake classes, her courses are packed.

In 2014 she wrote and published her book Basic Cake Decorating.

“It’s a really go-to book, a jam-packed encyclopedia of baking, it flew off the shelves,” says Shelly.

“Quintet Publishing contacted me to ask me to write it, and I nearly missed their e-mail because I thought it was spam – then I realised that this big publishing house was asking me to write a book for them!

“It’s the kind of book that a total beginner can pick up, follow, and make a cake. I get emails from people who use it all the time.

“If you are taught correctly, and it’s broken down into stages, you can do anything. The photos are really important, and I had a food stylist in to style the shots. There is nothing better than a visual step-by-step guide.”

The same year, 2013, Shelly moved house and built a studio for her classes in the garden.

“All with a two-year-old round my ankles!” Shelly grins.

She still makes birthday cakes for her three children and has produced all sorts of innovative designs including a bucket of popcorn cake, a 3D icecream, Angelina Ballerina mouse and many more. Her half-brother Ethan is now 16 and he’s an enthusiastic supporter of his sister’s business.

“He’s more than happy to help finish up any leftover cake, that’s for sure!” laughs Shelly.

“Making cakes is the perfect business to fit round your family – I say to my students, get out and go for it.

“It’s just crazy how successful my business is and, even now, it still feels surreal - the last eight years seem to have gone in a flash and I wonder, did it really happen?

“When I get on a roll I get by with very little sleep, I don’t let anything get in my way and I always persevere. I’ve never failed to achieve something I set my heart on.

“When my students arrive for a course they can be nervous – they look at the cakes they are about to make and are daunted, but there is nothing better than coaching them and seeing their faces at the end, how proud they are of what they have made – that’s brilliant and that’s what drives me.

“I just say to everyone, come in, make yourself at home, and you will learn.

“I tend to focus my classes on school hours, from 9am to 3pm, with the odd weekend class. It’s a good balance.

“I always say to students who, after a course, feel confident about making cupcakes that those skills transfer to a bigger cake, or anything else they may like to make. I don’t want them to make clones of what they are taught, the idea is to give them the confidence to design their own cakes.”

Shelly points out that her classes are not solely aimed at those who want to make a business out of cake-making, they are for those who might just want to make birthday cakes for their children.

“People don’t take the time to do it any more, they just buy a cake from a supermarket or order one, and I think they worry about being judged because pictures of it can end up on social media – something no one thought about back in the 1980s when you were just happy to get a cake!

“If you make a cake you are creating memories, and I want to give people the confidence to have a go. It’s all about the love and effort that goes into it, not that it’s a bit wonky – your kids will remember it anyway.”

Shelly has just launched a new course for those who are confident bakers and cake-decorators, giving them the know-how to brand and market their business.

“I am showing them how to turn what may be a hobby business into a profitable established brand,” she says.

The eight-week online course costs £147 and is broken down into manageable chunks which can be fitted around the family and commitments.

Shelly adds: “I feel my mum would approve of what I do, and it makes me really happy. I am a great believer in fate when it comes to how life pans out. I run my business in her memory and I hope I do her proud.”

Mrs Baker’s Cake School, www.mrsbakerscakes.co.uk.