www.thelushcakecompany.co.uk
Well, we've done it, opened a designer cake boutique. Wedding cakes to die for ...oh and daily cakes, yes we need to give customers a reason to come in on a daily basis, oh and sweets - the old fashioned kind, just in case they don't want a wedding cake, or any other kind of cake....oh yes and pasties, yes that's right, in the first week, we were asked for pasties, and bread, bread BREAD! 


So you see, the beautifully crafted business plan has been turned on its head really. Fortunately, we are bakers - well I am, fifth generation actually, with time served skills held at bay. You see, this was just a gentle dip in the business water. Phase 2 - well that might have included bread, after all, it's a tiny shop, with clean lines, spotlights - I've only got a small convection oven - a good one mind, no rubbish, but small just the same. 

Having accepted that our lovely customers had a major need for gluten, I got on the phone to the supplier, ordering yeast and good strong bread flour. No improvers or any rubbish like that. I sat down at the one table I have to work from and converted ancient scripted recipes into a more manageable format. The smallest one was 72 lb - a bit much for our first Saturday - oh, and did I add, we don't have a bread mixer, we have to do this by hand, so it had better be manageable. The flour arrived towards the end of the week. My other half made the starter - a pre ferment and then on the Saturday came the first batch. It was a bit of a shock to the system at first, but we got going and stood back waiting for the bread to prove, into the oven and blast off- it came up lovely. Just a few lines to begin with, crusty crowns, split tins - that would do for our first batch. 


Three months later and we are now baking bread every day - a white and a brown. We change the brown during the week, but on Saturdays we go the whole hog, so much so that it looks like we'll have to go to two batches of white. We now sell : White sour doughs, wholemeal, spelt and honey, granary, rye, olive, sun dried tomato, garlic. Oh and there's the buns, delicious chelsea , but the cinnamon buns are a major hit! 


3 months down the line and the business is called: The Lush Cake Company...and we are a full on bakery. Despite a few jealous rumours, we do make bake it on the premises - any doubt,  come and see for yourself - we can be found 30 High Street, Barry, CF62 7EB. Still working away at the tiny table - still no mixer (got my eye on one on ebay - coming up in the next 27 mins)