The family behind Scrumptons Cakes, Dan & Anne and their three children

1. Tell us more about the team behind ‘Scrumptons Cakes.’

Dan and I met in 2004 in London where I worked as Cabin Crew and Dan worked as an Aircraft Engineer. We soon moved back to the countryside to start a family and had three little girls two Dogs, two Cats a Hamster and a garden full of Ducks. Dan continued to work as an Aircraft Engineer in different locations all over the world as it was all he had ever done. To begin with, this was fine, but it was becoming a problem as Dan was missing the children growing up.

2. Tell us about your first cake.

Our first cake opportunity came when our eldest daughter Tilly had her first birthday party at age 4 and requested a nine turret Disney princess castle cake. Keen to compensate her for Dad working away it was built for her and took 62 hours in labour and seventy pounds in materials but Tilly had a princess castle cake for her birthday.

The first cake! A Princess Castle cake for their daughter’s birthday.

3. How did that first cake lead to the idea of setting up a cake-making business?

Tilly’s birthday cake set a precedent as we have two other daughters who expected equally elaborate cakes for their birthdays. This escalated every year as the children tried to ‘out do’ each other’s cake!

Before long, the guests at the parties started to order cakes from us as they assumed that we were already bakers. The more people who asked for cakes, the more confidence it gave us to believe Dan had a route out of aircraft work and a way for the family to be together doing something people appreciated.

4. How did your dream of starting a cake making business become a reality?

We embraced the new business with everything we had, including selling a rental property that was planned to fund our lives in old age. This gave us the start-up capital to learn our new trade properly. We both attended many courses and decorating workshops before we finally started advertising and taking orders as home bakers.

The business grew well with many inquiries and orders. Unfortunately, although many people loved what we produced they didn’t have the budget to cover the amount of time that a bespoke cake can take.

This is a common problem around the country where people have a choice between a £10 supermarket cake or a bespoke baker who can charge up to £100.

5. How did you manage to cut the costs of the cake-making process, without affecting quality?

Determined to solve the problem [of the time taken to make a cake] and allow us to expand the business, we turned to technology to try and create a  more efficient process.

Dan’s engineering background led him to destroy a twenty thousand pound 3D printer! Then after four months of tinkering and rebuilding it, we had the ability to print fondant/icing directly onto the cake with amazing levels of detail. This was our ‘eureka’ moment.

We’d invented a digital cake decorating process and cut the decorating time down by 80%. Dan said he felt like Henry Ford and it meant that we could produce beautiful cakes to fit within everyone’s budget.

6. Once you developed a faster cake-making process, how did you grow your business?

Now we had a mountain to climb! We sold our family home and moved into rented accommodation and began perfecting our new digital process. Once we were sure our new technology was reliable, we moved closer to Cardiff, where we both grew up, to have family support.

7. What’s the most interesting/unusual cake you’ve been asked to make?

We were asked to make a cake of the Church of Scientology, in Manchester.

8. What’s your most popular cake?

Probably the cat cake and the Star Wars themed cakes.

9. What’s your favourite cake design?

I think my personal favourite is the cat cake.

10. What’s the most difficult cake you’ve had to make?

Probably and At-At Walker from Star Wars. It was 2 feet high and in a walking pose!

11. What’s next for Scrumptons Cakes?

We are now developing our range of cakes and flavours in as many styles as possible which can be personalised. We are also developing a delivery system to allow us to post nationwide, without risk. We’ve also approached major retailers and are currently developing a range for Harrods.

We are also planning to open a factory and our goal is to produce a huge range of cakes which can be personalised and delivered for free Nationwide for under £40.

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to have a centrepiece cake at their birthday or occasion.

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