AMERICAN singer, Eileen Barton is famous for her rendition of the song ”If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake.”

Many of us cannot bake a cake to save our lives, many can do something tasty and simple, while others take eggs, flour, butter, sugar and milk and turn it into a mouthwatering creation of delight.

One of the people who ‘can bake’ is Sarah Broomfield and she is starting out on her road to what she hopes will be a successful business.

Somerset County Gazette:

Like many cake makers, Sarah took a keen interest in baking when she was at school.

And she was so talented, one of the teachers asked her to make their wedding cake.

After school, Sarah, went to Petroc College in Barnstaple where she did a two year BTEC in hospitality and catering.

This trained her to be both a chef and a waitress and for her final event she held a themed Alice in Wonderland party which was teas and cakes and allowed her to be very creative.

She went on to have jobs as a chef and waitress, but the hours did not fit in with her life and so she got a job in administration working for Somerset County Council.

But she never stopped baking those cakes and made a number for friends and family members.

Somerset County Gazette:

She then decided to do it as a small business venture hoping one day she could ‘give up the day job’ and concentrate on making cakes full time.

Sarah established her own business called Broomfield and Baverstock in September 2016 which makes bespoke cakes for every occasion.

This includes novelty cakes, celebration cakes and wedding cakes, gluten free cakes, indeed whatever cake you want can be made by Sarah.

Speaking about her cake making business, Sarah said: “All the cakes if they are novelty cakes need to be realistic.

“Each individual request is different and each one is bespoke.The trick is to think about what you want to do and how you think you can achieve the look.

"I sit down and do a drawing and think how it will be made and what I need to do.

"I always go through the same process for whatever cake I am making until I am 100 percent happy with how it all looks.

"It was this process I did when making the Range Rover cake.

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"I had to think how I wanted to make the grass and this was achieved by finding the right nozzle for the piping bag which made it look like grass.

"I have managed to perfect my cake making recipe so it is just right so I can sculpt it to the shape I need.

“Recently I made a football shirt cake and wanted a grass effect.

"I did not get the grass looking right and up until 2am until it was perfect.”

Sarah sells her cakes by attending different Farmers’ Markets, fairs and now Wedding Fairs where you can buy or see the types of cakes she makes.

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On the list are:

- Gluten free chocolate fudge brownies

- chocolate orange

- caramel assorted slices

- flapjacks

- custard cream while chocolate Tiffin

- cream egg-scotch egg

- monster layer cakes

- Bespoke novelty and birthday cakes.

- Semi naked or naked wedding cakes.

These are fashionable at the moment.

The semi naked cake is a cake without a lot of frosting on it and naked means there is no frosting at all so you can see the cake as it has no icing or frosting.

Speaking about why she enjoys making and baking cakes, Sarah said: “I have always been creative and see what I do as more of an art form than baking. I enjoyed art at GCSE and feel I am a very creative person.

"I enjoy getting inspiration and ideas and enjoy experimenting to see what works and what does not when decorating cakes.

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"I am learning as I go along and have learnt a lot doing it this way.

"I enjoy a challenge and this has been a challenge but one I enjoy.”

One of the quirky things about Sarah, when looked at in conjunction with her cake making business is she is diabetic-she has type one diabetes.

I suppose it would be akin to working in a brewery and being unable to drink what you brew or making cheese and being a unable to eat the cheese as you were dairy intolerant.

But it is not something which Sarah worries about.

Somerset County Gazette:

She does taste what she makes as a form of quality control but knows how much she can eat when it comes to sugar.

The sweetest thing Sarah would like to happen in her life when it comes to cake making is to do it full time.

For that to happen her business needs to grow more and this would allow her to expand away from making cakes in her kitchen at home.

She said: “I would love to be able to go to events all the time.

“I would hope one day I could rent a premises where I could bake on a larger scale.

“This is the next step.

“I am starting to expand the business by going to more wedding fairs and would hope one day to get make cakes into indepedent shops where they could be sold.

"Also this would allow me to start having mail order where people could order cakes.

“It is all things which need to be developed.”

More information on facebook.com/broomfieldandbaverstock