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Lockdown leads to successful new cake business for home baker
Until she recently received her first orders to supply her wares for a new cafe, Megan Shaw had never sold a cake, brownie or cookie taller than 2.2cm.
That’s because Bakery Number Eight started as a business that sent sweet treats through the post, so all of her creations needed to fit in a box that could itself fit through a standard letterbox.
Those letterbox-sized bakes still make up the bulk of Megan’s business, but her creations can now also be found at the newly opened Architect cafe and bar on Narrow Quay.
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Pre-pandemic, Megan had a job in the travel industry specialising in South America, which often saw her spending weeks at a time in countries including Ecuador and Bolivia.
When she got made redundant, she began baking in the kitchen of her flat on Portland Square in St Paul’s and lockdown meant that she had plenty of orders to fulfil from people wanting to send surprises in the post to cheer up friends and family spending another day in lockdown.
Megan is a one-woman business, doing everything herself from her home in St Paul’s – photo: Bakery Number Eight
“We’ve been looking at new ways to get our name out there, so we were really pleased when we were contacted by The Architect,” said Megan, taking a break from baking to enjoy a coffee in Hidden Corner cafe just a few hundred yards away from her flat.
Megan said that being made redundant gave her the impetus to start doing something that she really wanted to do, despite little previous baking experience.
“People have been unanimously positive and encouraging so far. I’ve yet to receive a bad review although it might happen now!”
Some of those bakes yet to get any negative feedback include brownies with four different toppings: creamy white chocolate, Kinder Bueno, Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Lotus Biscoff; triple choc-chip, stem ginger and matcha cookies; and lemon and pistachio drizzle cake.
Bakery Number Eight’s brownies are baked with three types of chocolate and a fudgy, gooey texture – photo: Bakery Number Eight
So with a five-star hygiene rating just achieved, a first birthday celebrated and a new account with The Architect, where next for Bakery Number Eight?
“We would love to branch out into a few of the markets around Bristol, and a few more cafes hopefully,” answers Megan, who does everything at the business herself, from designing the packaging to recipe development.
“I’m not someone who enjoys the limelight or being the centre of attention, but I’m hopefully at the point where I’ll also be able to employ some other people.”
Main photo: Bakery Number Eight
Read more: ‘Cake innovation hub’ within new cafe and bakery
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