Welly Good Cupcake Through to National Cupcake Week Championship Finals
National Cupcake Week Finalist talks to Cupcake Cavern about getting through to the finals of the prestigous cupcake industry award.
Sabrina Collins started baking just four years ago to give work colleagues a pick-me-up during a 12 hour shift, taking a different cake in each week. Alongside her job and weekly cake-baking habit she’d make birthday cakes for friends too and it was her friends and family that encouraged her to start selling her creations. The opportunity arose when she was made redundant from her job. Sabrina said: “I suddenly had a lot of spare time on my hands so I decided to throw myself into it. I went on a food hygiene course at college, enrolled on a few decorating courses ran by Lindy Smith, bough lots of books and started giving it a go!”
CC: When did you start your business Lady Jayne’s Cakes?
SC: The business is officially 2 years old next week and it is going strong. I have made cakes for the BBC, Heart FM, Primark and even the wedding of a well known big brother contestant! I work from home out of my kitchen – which is great as it keeps my costs low.
CC: Is this the first time you’ve entered the National Cupcake Week Championships?
SC: I did enter the National Cupcake Week competition last year with my ‘ice-cream cupcake’ but the standards were so high I realised I needed to step-up my game. The cake that has made it though this year is my ‘Glastonboozy’ Cupcake. It was invented for one of my best friends who is having a Glastonbury Festival themed wedding. She wanted me to explore the idea of a cider cupcake, so I did! It took a lot of research and trial and error with various ciders but finally I found a combination that worked. The cake then has just a touch of cinnamon added and is topped with toffee buttercream. The decoration idea came from a picture in Lindy Smith’s Cupcake book and using her wellington cutter, stencil and flower mould I created the eye catching decoration.
CC: How do you feel about reaching the finals of National Cupcake Week Championships?
SC: I am so excited to have reached the final! I am nervous about watching a panel of judges taste and analyse my cake but I imagine the atmosphere at the final in London will be great! I am also looking forward to meeting lots of other bakers and seeing what else is being tasted that day. I run this business alone, it’s just me and my ingredients (with a lot of support from Friends and Family) so to have made it to the finals alongside bigger shops and teams of bakers is quite an achievement.
CC: What is your secret weapon?
SC: Hopefully a cake that looks amazing with a taste that will enchant the judges. As soon as I made this cake the first time I knew it was a bit a bit special – it’s fun which is what cupcakes are all about about. Who knows, maybe next year year I will be selling them at Glastonbury?!
