Expert baker's beautiful 'bouqcakes' are the icing on the cake
With their delicate petals and eye-catching colours these bouquets of fresh blooms wouldn't look out of place in a florist's shop window.
But these pretty flowers are not only beautiful, they are also edible - because they are all made of cake and buttercream icing.
From peonies, roses and tulips to lilies, chrysanthemums and sunflowers, these decorative cupcakes are the handiwork of baker Kathy Bremner.
"People are always shocked when they see them and they can't believe they aren't real flowers," says the mother of three, who lives in Swindon in South Staffordshire.
Like so many people looking to pass the time during the Covid lockdowns, she took up baking in her spare time, something she had rarely done since her three children were young.
"My mum was a pastry chef and we would have Thursday nights where we would bake together.
"When my children were little I baked cupcakes and the occasional birthday cake but I hadn't done much baking apart from that," Kathy said.
But she was inspired to start getting creative in the kitchen when she was shown an Instagram post of cakes looking like flowers by her daughter.
Kathy decided to try to replicating them and, with the help of a number of YouTube tutorials, she soon found she had a knack for making the floral decorations.
"There are a lot of videos on YouTube showing you how to do it. I've always been quite arty.
"There was a lot of trial and error but once I learned how to do it, I could make them quite quickly," explains Kathy, who previously ran a day nursery in Sedgley.
After impressing her family and friends with her edible flowers, she was encouraged to start a business and set up Little Bouqcakes in April 2021.
"Everybody was saying they were really good but I was still really nervous about selling them."
Since then her cupcakes, which are all made to order, have been in great demand and she also caters for special occasions such as weddings and baby showers.
She offers a range of styles and sizes of bouquets, ranging from three to 30 vanilla-flavoured sponge cupcakes and customers can choose the flowers and colours.
A lot of her orders have come from word of mouth, recommendations from friends and family or from people who have seen one of her social media posts.
Some weeks, particularly at busy times of the year such as the run-up to Mother's Day or Christmas, she may be baking every day so she can fulfil her orders.
The secret to creating the perfect edible flower is all in the vanilla-flavoured buttercream, says Kathy, who runs her business around looking after her grandson during the week. "The buttercream has to be the perfect consistency otherwise the flowers fall apart," she explains.
She has become faster at producing the cakes over time and says she enjoys the process of baking and creating the floral decorations.
"I love it, it's very therapeutic."
It can take her around 15 minutes to create a rose or peony and around 20 minutes to make a sunflower, which takes longer due to the complexity of the petals.
Kathy enjoys experimenting with new designs and says she has become skilled at replicating different flowers. "Once I've made one, it just comes naturally," she explains.
Each decorated cake is placed in a paper case and they are then gathered together and wrapped in tissue paper and cellophane.
Among her recent orders have been a spring tulips cupcake bouquet for a 60th birthday and a gold coloured bouquet featuring roses and dahlias for a 50th wedding anniversary.
Her Mother's Day specials included a rose cupcake flower pot, which was available in pink, lilac, orange, yellow and burgundy, and a floral vanilla sponge dome cake layered with raspberry jam and covered with vanilla buttercream flowers.
Kathy believes that one of the reasons her bouquets have been so well-received is that they provide people with the chance to give their loved ones an unusual gift.
"The price of flowers can be expensive. This is two birds with one stone - flowers and cake in one," she explains.
Kathy says receiving feedback on her bouquets is very rewarding. "All of the customers are really nice and it's lovely to see the cakes being enjoyed."
For more information, see littlebouqcakes.co.uk or facebook.com/littlebouqcakes.
