Choosing your wedding cake can be one of the exciting parts of wedding planning. But before you start cake tasting and deciding on those all important flavours, you must choose your wedding cake designer! If you are looking a talented cake designer within the London area look no further than Barney’s Bakery!
1. Hi Sarah, tell us, how did Barney’s Bakery begin?
Barney’s Bakery officially started in May 2012 but it had been a dream for a long time. I fell in love with baking back in 2007 when I made a cake for my now fiancé. It was far from a visual masterpiece but it tasted great and I was hooked. I spent the following years perfecting cake recipes and cake decorating whilst doing my day job. It’s a hard leap to give up a career that I had successfully done for 7 years but for a number of reasons the time was right and my heart was telling me give it a go. It is also difficult because it has been the largest start up business over the last three years, but I honestly believed in myself and so did a lot of people very close to me which made the choice easier.
2. Where did the name come from?
The name came from my nickname. My surname is Barnard and I was known as Barney throughout school and my previous work life. I tested a number of business names but it was unanimous that it should be Barney’s Bakery. It’s personal to me and people do remember it which has to be a good thing. I will also be losing my surname this year so it is nice that part of it will live on for me.
3. What type of wedding cakes do you make?
I make a wide variety of wedding cakes although my signature style is romantic and elegant with a vintage twist. Through specialising in a number of techniques such as sugar flowers, royal icing and edible lace work, I love creating a wedding cake that is personal to the bride and groom by incorporating different elements of their day. Attention to detail is something that I am obsessive about, and that also follows through into the actual cake. I love baking and I have spent years perfecting recipes as well as using only the finest ingredients to make sure the cake tastes as good as it looks, which is so important. Baking ‘free from’ cakes is also something I specialise in, with all wedding cake flavours available without gluten and the majority of flavours available without dairy and eggs, and I guarantee the guests would not be able to tell the difference.
4. Do you offer wedding favours also?
I do yes, for me cookies are the most popular wedding favours and they are lovely to match in with the colours of the cake and wedding day. They can be easily personalised to the bride and groom and they can also double up as name plates for the tables for example.
5. What is your personal favourite type of cake?
I find it surprising that I still love cake with the amount that I eat! It’s a tough choice but I think I have to go for chocolate caramel cake.
6. Where is your favourite place you have travelled to?
I have been so lucky to have travelled to some amazing places over the years. I think my favourite place has to be Phi Phi Island in Thailand. It is the ultimate place for total relaxation and I could live forever on Thai food. I do find it difficult to switch off even on holiday, but when you do something that you love not switching off really isn’t an issue.
7. Cupcakes or cookies?
I have to go for cupcakes. From time to time you see reports that the cupcake fad is dying, for example whoopie pies are the new cupcake. I think we all know that the cupcake will definitely live on, how could individual cakes ever be a fad!
8. What one piece of advice would you give to a bride when she is wedding cake tasting?
Make sure that you pick a cake flavour that you both love. So many brides go for a cake flavour because they think it’s what someone else in the family would want/expect. The trend now is definitely for a number of different flavours, usually two or three so make sure that one is your favourite, not someone else’s favourite.
Sarah from Barney’s Bakery is a top wedding cake designer based in London. She specialises in making beautiful and bespoke wedding cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Through a real passion for cakes and attention to detail, the cakes not only look fabulous but taste amazing too.
