A recent posting on popular money saving site Groupon had dramatic effects for a cake making company.

After offering Groupon subscribers a 75% discount on 12 cupcakes, company ‘Need A Cake’ was unprepared for the overwhelming influx of orders.

Almost 9,000 people signed up for the deal which cost £6.50, a saving of £19.50 on the standard price for the cupcakes.

However, it soon became apparent that the popularity of the offer backfired.

Not Enough Cake Stands!

Rachel Brown’s company suddenly found itself with the responsibility of filling their cake stands with over 102,000 cupcakes!

Used to making just 100 cup cakes in an average month, this posed a serious problem for Mrs Brown.

To fulfill the huge order, Need a Cake had to bring in 25 agency staff to help the 8 full time employees, all of whom worked into the early hours of the morning.

Full Cake Platters

Mrs Brown, 50, made a loss-making £2.50 per order and paid £12,500 for the extra costs of staff and distribution, wiping out her profits for the year.

She was quoted in the Metro as saying: “‘Without doubt, it’s the worst business decision I have ever made. It’s been an absolute nightmare.

‘We only expected to get a few hundred orders out of it but we had thousands and thousands pouring in.’

A Groupon director stated that they had been in ‘constant contact’ with Need A Cake and had not been aware of any issues.

US-based Groupon offers coupons to its subscribers, giving them huge discount deals on a wide range of services.

image: Sura Nualpradid / freedigitalphotos.net

More cake stands may be adorned with traditional paper doilies as sales of the decorative items have increased.

According to an article in the Daily Mail, the hike in sales is due to the "surge in popularity" of baking.

Due to increased demand, kitchen-wear store Lakeland introduced a new range of doilies last year.

Matthew Canwell, the store's buying director, told the news provider: "We have recognised that there is a definite trend in doilies.

"We are adding more ranges to address this and they're proving popular. There has been a renewed interest in afternoon tea and, in the last few years, sales of baking products have more than doubled for us. There is a further growth in interest this year."

The name doily originates from the name of a fabric made by Doiley, a 17th-century London draper.

Sales of paper doilies skyrocketed in the 1950s as a cheap alternative to crochet linen doilies.

Posted by Laura Bell

A cake stand in Sussex currently holds a tasty treat that looks like Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Michelle Wibowo, of Burgess Hill, has made a cake that looks very much like the royal couple, who are set to marry in Westminster Abbey on April 29th.

Ms Wibowo spend 80 hours creating the cake, which is a fruit cake covered in apricot jam, marzipan and icing sugar.

The icing was then airbrushed in order to make Prince William and his future bride's features more realistic.

"I used this cake competition as a great opportunity to do something different, other than the usual traditional decorated round tiered cake people normally expect for a wedding cake. It was really a challenge for me to do this cake. It's hard work, but I really enjoyed making it," Ms Wibowo revealed.

The cake will be the centrepiece of the royal themed wedding cake competition being held at the Ideal Home Show in Earls Court, London.

Posted by Laura Bell

A Masterchef contestant is set to invest in new cake stands as she expands her business.

Stacie Stewart, who was a finalist on the TV cooking show last year, has revealed that she has had to expand her bakery business because of demand, reports nebusiness.co.uk.

She told the news provider: "Although there has been a huge demand for the services I’ve begun to provide since starting up last year, I've been careful to expand slowly, by initially basing the business at home while testing the market and building my brand.

"This has all been managed alongside a full-time job, which I had before appearing on Masterchef."

The chef revealed that she is looking forward to hiring her first staff member and opening the Beehive Bakery in Sunderland.

Following her appearance on Masterchef, Ms Stewart occasionally appears on ITV's This Morning as the show's cook.

She also runs cookery classes through the Beehive Bakery.
 

Cake stands at a cupcake store in Manchester have become a stable fixture as the store has announced it has moved into a permanent retail space.

Hey Little Cupcake has taken up a permanent tenancy in Manchester after the success it experienced operating a pop-up store in the city last year, reports Manchester Evening News.

Sarah Wilson, founder of Hey Little Cupcake, told the news provider: "The pop-up shop was an excellent opportunity for Hey Little Cupcake to engage with the city centre market and now that we have a permanent base our customers can experience the full Hey Little Cupcake experience."

The new store is located in Spinningfields and has an on-site kitchen and a country counter complete with bar stools and pink cushions.

Customers can also take advantage of the free WiFi access and outdoor seating.

Fran Goddard, head of communications at Spinningfields, revealed her delight that the cupcake shop had opened in the area.

"Hey Little Cupcake is the perfect addition to our current food offering," she is quoted as saying.

Posted by Emma Brown

More people may soon be creating goods to go in cake stands as Tesco is to launch a bakery apprenticeship scheme.

The retail giant is following the lead of a number of its competitors in launching the scheme, as Sainsbury's and Morrisons also have similar programmes, reports bakeryinfo.co.uk.

Nick McGlashan, apprenticeship manger at Tesco, told the news provider: "The apprenticeship schemes we've had in other sectors have proved to be a good springboard into management. This is an end-to-end scratch bakery apprentice-ship with 12 different workbooks. It's a robust qualification.

"There has been a lot of interest in the programme and we had no problem filling the places."

Tesco has worked in partnership with Improve, the Sector Skills Council for Bakery to design the apprenticeship programme.

Apprenticeship training will take place in stores across England in four hour blocks each month.

Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919. It is now the fourth largest retailer in the world.

Posted by Priya Patel