From chambers to cupcakes (From Worcester News)

From chambers to cupcakes

4:40pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in Biz

WHEN a working mother of four swapped the commute for the kitchen she never dreamt she would be tasting the sweet success of baking for the stars.

Michelle Guarini, of Britannia Gardens, Stourport was a legal executive in Birmingham until she caved in to her cupcake calling 18 months ago.

“If you said to me 10 years ago you’ll have a cake-making business I would have laughed at you,” said Mrs Guarini. The icing on the cake is that since starting up Bella’s Cupcakes from home, she has catered for sweet-toothed pop stars including Olly Murs, Pixie Lott and The Wanted.

The business, named after her eldest daughter, was cooked up when orders from friends and family began to take over the kitchen – and all her free time. She put down her law books and split time between baking and working as a lunchtime supervisor at Hartlebury School, which her children Isabella, aged 12, Leo, eight, Max, seven, and Eva, five, attend.

As things started hotting up, orders came flying in for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and all types of occasions. In a bid to raise her business profile, Mrs Guarini plucked up the courage to turn up at a local radio station armed with cakes. “I just said these are the cakes, would you be interested?” she said. “I think sometimes you’ve just got to be a bit brave. I was dying inside but I work on the basis of if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

Her bravery paid off, as the station asked her to make more than 100 cakes for corporate hospitality at a music event, with further boxes as gifts for famous artists. She shut herself in the kitchen, working until 3am, three nights in a row to fulfil the order, including a giant cupcake decorated with Manchester United football shirts and a trilby hat especially for Olly Murs.

“He walked in and the cakes were all there with his name on and he said ‘It’s not my birthday’ and we said ‘No, they are to say thank you for performing’ and he was really chuffed. I thought he would just leave them there but he took them home and his mum tweeted later, saying they really enjoyed them,” said Mrs Guarini.

Cheeky Jay from The Wanted also tweeted to say he “commended her whipping and beating”, while Pixie Lott thanked her for the “lovely surprise”. The entrepreneur, who is currently busy creating Valentine’s and Mother’s Day cupcake bouquets, says she is not fazed by her celebrity clients. “You just have to look at them the same as any other customer, otherwise, if you over analyse it by thinking who it’s for it would spoil the cake,” she said.

Now the next step for her brand is to branch out into cupcake decorating classes. “I just want to be able to teach people because I know when they finish that box they’ll feel really pleased with themselves and I like looking at people’s faces and seeing them happy,” she said.

The baker, whose chocolate fudge cake and butter cream recipes are closely guarded secrets, has full support from car trader husband Gerome. “He’s been brilliant,” she said. “He is always happy to try my cakes. It was him who suggested I teach. The school are my main guinea pigs for new flavours like banoffee and Bailey’s and they never complain about helping me.”

She said turning her hobby into a business had not extinguished her passion for it. “For some ladies, its handbags and shoes – but for me its cake stands and cookbooks,” she said.