03/08/2022
🍰🧁🎂Closed for Business 🎂🧁🍰
It’s with a very heavy heart that I am announcing that I can no longer take on new cake orders 😢 I haven’t taken this decision lightly. It’s taken me weeks to pluck up the courage to announce this but I can simply no longer dedicate the time needed to create the cakes around my full time job, mommy duties, other commitments and my own health and well-being. I have tried to decrease the amount of orders lately, but even with doing that, sadly it’s still too much to manage.
IMPORTANT: I will of course be creating the cakes for all existing orders so please rest assured that if you have already placed an order it’s still in the diary for you 💝
** Please message me via this page asap if you have any queries about current orders that have been confirmed as I genuinely haven’t been able to keep on top of messages and may have missed something. 😣
I have many amazing loyal customers and want to thank you all so very much from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful cakes you have entrusted me to create for all of your special occasions over the last 12 years.
I have many reasons for this decision which I feel I need to explain, especially to my loyal customers:
* The number 1 reason is that I am a single parent and I only see my child for 50% of the time… and when I do have him with me I am not able to support him on evenings and weekends with his needs as much as I should be and more than anything I have zero quality time with him!! He often gets upset with me for ‘always working’. It’s heartbreaking 💔
* I am very lucky to have recently changed career path and now have a fantastic job in the NHS… but it’s crazy busy with a lot of pressure and I can’t maintain this as well as the pressures of the cake orders. It’s simply not healthy. I am very sleep deprived and I’m not getting any younger and am starting to feel the negative impact of all of this both mentally and physically. For my well-being I need to make this decision 😢
* Hospitality is notoriously underpaid and this is the same for cake decorators. There is a lot of time needed for admin, ordering stock and ingredients, deliveries etc before even starting on the cake baking and decoration and the pressures of doing all of this around a high pressured full time job and being a single mom is unfortunately not worth it. When I break down total time spent on each cake I am on less than the minimum wage.
* I am working around the clock.. mornings for 2 hours before my full time job, all evenings and often into the early hours of the morning, and all weekend. I very rarely have a whole day off. The stress levels are through the roof at the moment as I can’t keep up with all the messages that come via numerous channels. The feeling of letting people down is overwhelming and very upsetting.
* I have other interests and dedications which I not able to serve due to the relentless work schedule. I am club captain and a coach for my netball club but I have not been able to give my all to this role and it’s unfair on the rest of the committee and players. I love my netball and no longer get the time to play the game myself. I am also a keen hiker but don’t get a free day to get out into my beloved Welsh mountains so I haven’t hiked for months now. All of this is negatively impacting on my wellbeing as I do not have the time for myself to exercise (and anyone who knows me well will know I have always been very active)
* Not only does my Son tell me off for always working..friends do too! I very rarely get the chance to see friends. When I do.. I am often going back home after a day out or evening out, or a netball coaching session to work! I will then start baking and decorating through the night. Any socialising I do aways comes with the stress of how I am going to fit it in around the cakes, and in order to not let loved ones down I often accommodate both but to the detriment of myself! I am sleep deprived and physically exhausted.
I hope everyone that relies on me for cakes understands my above reasons. Never say never!! I won’t be getting rid of my cake equipment just yet and maybe in the future I will find some time to be able to make cakes again… I hate the thought of never making cake again… but for the foreseeable future I need to take a step back and make some quality time for both myself and my Son before it’s too late and I blink and he’s an adult!
💝 Thank you everyone. It’s been an absolute honour and a privilege to get to know and serve all my wonderful customers over the years 💝
