Owners, Nicola and David Mash pictured outside the newly refurbished shop.Owners, Nicola and David Mash pictured outside the newly refurbished shop.
Owners, Nicola and David Mash pictured outside the newly refurbished shop.

Husband and wife team get set to reopen one-stop-shop Peterborough bakery supply store - with bake-your-own wedding cake classes

A Peterborough bakery is now making it possible for amateur bakers to design and bake their dream wedding cakes.

Nicola and David Mash opened Sugarcraft Supplies, in Yaxley, in 2013, after Nicola had grown up surrounded by a love of baking.

Her uncle was the owner of two bakeries when she was younger and her mum and dad had always been good at whipping up sweet treats for the family too.

Inspired by her uncle, and after becoming a mother herself, she realised that baking cakes was in her blood.

After having her own children, Nicola enjoyed teaching them the tricks of the trade and lessons that had been passed on to her through the generations.

She said: “I’ve grown up around baking all of my life.

"My uncle had a couple of bakeries in Northern Ireland, back home, and my mum and dad always baked cakes. It all started with me from a very young age.

“Then, I had my children and started making treats for school fates and it grew from there. But I found I couldn’t get the supplies I often needed, so I decided to open up my own shop.”

In 2013, Nicola and David launched Cambridgeshire Sugarcraft Supplies in Peterborough and their business was born – which offers diplomas in the art of cake making.

After seven years in business, the pair then bought the unit next door and knocked through to double the space of their shop.

Before the first coronavirus lockdown was declared on March 23 2020, they reopened their extended and refurbished space – but only saw their doors open for seven days.

The staff at the bakery quickly adapted and the store was in demand among many experimental bakers and banana bread makers.

Nicola and David launched a free delivery service which quickly expanded from a ten mile radius to trips up and down from Peterborough to St Ives.

This delivery service spurred them on to then think about selling their own cakes, called Cakes by CSS, and they now sell their own branded cake mix to customers.

Nicola added: "When we had to shut, it was scary and worrying, especially as we had just knocked through and we felt the extra pressure.

"But the first lockdown was good for us, we took on extra products, we were versatile and we had lovely customers who have kept us going through and through.”

Now, almost a year later, the pair are hoping to relaunch their new-look store on April 12, which will eventually play host to two classrooms – when lockdown measures ease – so customers can learn how to bake their own wedding cakes.

Not only can customers bake three-tiered triumphs, they can also learn the basics, like how to decorate sponge cakes with buttercream icing or take classes in making their own ganache glaze.

Nicola added: “We are definitely looking forward to reopening, it will be nice to see our customer’s face to face again. The shop has changed so much.

“Come along and have a look around, it might just inspire you to start baking. You can start as small as baking cupcakes and work your way up to making your own wedding cake.”