The Cupcake Girl in the city
7th April 2009
Cupcakes as big as your hand are enjoying a revival in time for Easter – Claire Rees spoke to a South Wales woman leading the trend
WHAT is it about cupcakes that make us go all gooey? Is it the pastel icing, the mountain of sponge or the memories of children’s parties?
Tanya Higson who is managing to sell up to 1,000 a week thinks she knows the answer.
“They’re popular because they’re such an indulgent experience but they look so adorable you forget how naughty they are,” said the founder of Cardiff-based The Cupcake Girl.
“You forget about the calories because they’re so lovely to look at – and they’re easier to eat without guilt than a whole slab of chocolate.”
Enormous cupcakes are usually more associated with America, but in recent years they’ve arrived in the UK suitably super-sized to put our traditional fairy cakes to shame.
And with celebrities from the Sex And The City girls to Myleene Klass being pictured taking a bite, they’ve never been more in vogue.
Tanya launched her company in February – in time for Valentine’s Day – when she ran a small internet campaign to create a mystery to appeal to men who wanted to surprise their other halves.
“It started with an obsession with Sex And The City among my friends and I,” said Tanya, a former advertising executive who lives in Cardiff Bay, where she runs The Deck coffee shop.
“I’ve always had a love for baking – I’ve been baking cakes with my mum since I was about six. Me and my brother would fight over who got to peel off the greaseproof paper from a sponge, or lick the bowl.”
Tanya, who studied for a degree in food science at university but found she had little time to spend cooking when she started work, began looking for cupcakes to sell in her shop last year, and hit on the idea of designing her own.
A factory in Pengam, Cardiff, now produces up to 1,000 cupcakes a week for Tanya, 34, whose clients include Park Plaza and the Vale of Glamorgan hotels.
“I’ve just had an order for a wholesaler in Leominster for 625 for Easter,” she said, adding that businesses like hers are proving Wales has a lot to offer in terms of the luxury food market.
“I’ve been to New York but I’m not a big fan of America,” she said.
“I think over here, eating cake’s not about greed, it’s about indulgence and treating yourself.
“We’ve taken the size of their cupcakes and made them classier!”
Tanya, mum to Archie, six, said women who found a box of them on their desk on February 14 couldn’t believe they had come from Wales.
“Everyone assumed they were from some posh boutique in London,” she said.
“My supplier initially said he didn’t think they’d sell here but I think Cardiff’s become very cosmopolitan and people don’t need to go over the bridge to get the [London] lifestyle.
“It’s all finding its way over here in Wales – if anything we’ve got more class, we’re more creative and more passionate.
“It should be people from London coming here.
“We’ve got so much to offer but we’re still marketing ourselves with the rugby and Stereophonics.”
Tanya, who now has plans to expand the business which include a cupcake party service and new flavours including strawberry and champagne, says she understands why busy women like her are put off following in their mums’ footsteps and baking for the family.
“I’m no domestic goddess,” she said.
“I can do a banoffee pie but ask me to make a chilli and I’m clueless – I’d rather be working than worrying about doing the ironing – I wanted to take the work out of it for women like me.
“Making a cake is meant to be therapeutic but then it just flops and no wonder women just end up throwing them in the bin.”
With Welsh celebrities like Angela Jay of Real Radio a fan, and a top secret contract with a famous foodie in the pipeline – Tanya is now planning to launch a taste tester panel with members of the public to help her launch the brand across the UK.
“There’s a lot of female entrepreneurship and great things by women coming out of Wales,” she said. “Duffy’s a great example – I’d love her to have one of our cupcakes!
“I want to bring back that sisterhood – I don’t want to sit around knitting with women or join a book club. I’d rather eat cake and drink champagne with my friends.”
For more information e-mail info@thecupcakegirl.co.uk or contact 07891 315523. The website www.thecupcakegirl.co.uk will be launched at the end of the month.
