I’m Michele Farrow and am the proud owner of Craftycakehole. I was absolutely delighted to win the CakeFlix Cake of the Month competition for July 2021, and David asked me to share my cake story to this point.
As the theme of my winning cake was Sugar Flowers (see below), I popped one of my most recent wedding cake photos into the competition and was totally blown away when I received a message from Paul to say that I’d won. Thank you so much to everyone that voted!
My cake story started, like so many, making cakes for family and friends. Then, whilst living abroad in Cyprus where my husband was stationed with the British Army, I decided cakes would be a good way to start a little business and earn some extra pennies. That’s when I found Paul Bradford Sugarcraft School online. Having video lessons online was
an absolute godsend as travelling from Cyprus to attend in person classes wasn’t possible. So, I’m very glad to say I learned my craft through Paul! Back in the days when I made novelty cakes, Paul’s football team huddle cake was a winner with my customers.
Over the years (when we were in the UK) I grabbed the opportunity to attend Cake International (CI). That’s where I met Paul in person (the year he published the Christmas Cake book. I treasure my signed copy!) and Michelle Pattison (Mish), who was demonstrating on the Paul Bradford stand. I’m glad to say that Mish and I are firm cake friends, in regular Facebook contact and looking forward to a meet up at CI in November!
Fast forwarding more than 10 years to recent times, my husband has now retired from the military and we’re back home, living in Cornwall. I run my cake business Craftycakehole from home and now my focus is Wedding Cakes. The decision to focus on wedding cakes was made in 2019 so my first full wedding season was a baptism by fire to say the least! Attending a couple of West Country wedding fairs had filled my diary up nicely, however when Covid struck in March 2020, all my time was spent rearranging bookings. Frantically trying to fit all the 2020 clients into an already busy 2021 diary was a real juggling act.
During Covid lockdowns, I decided to focus on upgrading my sugar flower skills, taking online courses with Suzanne Esper and Natalie Porter. In fact, my lockdown time was quite a pleasant one learning new skills, having the time to watch all the new material on CakeFlix and of course the Online virtual versions of Cake International!
In March 2021 I put on my big girl pants, plucked up the courage and entered the Virtual CI Competition and won a Merit in the Wedding Cake category. A mind-blowing moment considering I’d only really just started my journey into Sugar Flowers!
So, what does the future hold?….. Getting to the end of a very manic 2021 wedding season is my first goal!
Then I’m looking forward to rewarding myself with a 4 day road trip to Cake International in November, with two wonderful South West Cake Girls. I’m entering the Wedding Cake category again! Lets see if I can turn the Virtual Merit into a Live Show Merit (or maybe even a Bronze) Fingers crossed!!!
I’m also contributing to the Immaculate Confections Flower Arch Project, that will be on display at Cake International in Birmingham. I can’t wait to see that in all its glory. A floral Arch the size of a bus stop I’m reliably told!
I’ll also be attending a couple of South West wedding shows and then kicking off the 2022 wedding season as early as February with many months already full!!
As a CakeFlix Cake of the Month Winner, I am now entered into the CakeFlix Cake of the Year competition where the winner gets a trip to film a tutorial with Paul at CakeFlix HQ. That would be an amazing end to an amazing year.
Here are a few Craftycakehole 2021 Wedding Cakes (Cake of the Month Winner on the right)…
Michele Farrow
Craftycakehole
