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Interview Cravin' Cupcakes


Cravin' Cupcakes is a bespoke cakes and sweet treats company. The company is the mastermind of husband and wife team Luke and Jamie-Lee. Their imaginative creations include cookie monster fudge, sweet munchy boxes and the best brownies we have ever tasted!

BeautyTies: Hi there Luke & Jamie-Lee. Your business is amazing. Whose idea was it to start the business? 

Cravin' Cupcakes: Hello! Thank you for allowing us to answer your questions! Luke came up with the idea. We both have over 30 years catering experience between us and one day Luke was working in the kitchen and decided to make some cupcakes as a special! He came home that night and said "Why aren't we doing this for ourselves? Why are we making money for other people?" So on the aprons went, and into our kitchen, we began to bake!

BeautyTies: Who does the baking and who does the decorating

Jamie-Lee: Luke does the baking! Thank goodness! I tried once and they did not turn out ok haha! We make a good team with him baking and me decorating. We started off by watching lots of YouTube clips of people in America as we like their bold flavours! We then baked off our own versions, tweaking as we go. The ideas come from baking something and saying "ooh maybe we should try this" or "ooh I wonder if people would like this!" We are both foodies and love our desserts so we are always striving to try new things.




BeautyTies:Do your children like to bake too? We know the youngest in our house has always loved baking. 

Cravin' Cupcakes: To be honest we are more of the outdoorsy type so spend a lot of our days on adventures and bear hunts (not the real kind) together rather than in the kitchen. They are curious though and like to come downstairs to see new cakes on the counter but as its a business we can't allow them to help us - health and safety and all that! One day though, when they get a bit older, we would love to show them the ropes - who knows.... they might come up with better ideas than us!


BeautyTies: Lockdown has been tough on everyone this year. How has business been?

Cravin' Cupcakes: Lockdown has been very difficult for everyone and it has been an extremely uncertain time for a lot of businesses. We were fortunate enough to already have a 5* hygiene rating so we continued to work from home. Business was surprisingly really good... lots of people ordering gifts to be posted out to loved ones all over the UK. We've gained lots of new followers, set up a website, took on lots of new orders and Luke now works with me full time.


BeautyTies: You have a beautiful family. How have you been juggling work and keeping the children occupied?

Cravin' Cupcakes: We work at night! The twins go to bed at 6pm and that's when we start baking. We didn't think it would be fair to spend our days in the kitchen and wouldn't want to risk any sticky hands in the orders haha! It has been tiring, sometimes we wouldn't finish until 2am and we would be back up again at 6am, but they start school on Monday so we have lots of time to enjoy 'normal' working hours again. 


 

BeautyTies: If you could have three wishes, what would they be? 

Luke :1) our own shop 2) triumph motorbike 3) massive motor home to tour the country.

Jamie : 1) our own premises 2) a money tree that you pick from and it grows back instantly 3) Health and Happiness for the family.

BeautyTies: Do you have any advice for people wanting to start their own business? 

Cravin' Cupcakes: Believe in your product, don't compare yourself to anyone else, don't undersell your product, have the courage to commit to your goals. JUST GO FOR IT! If you don't, you'll never know what a success you could be.

BeautyTies: What does a typical day look like for you both?
Cravin' Cupcakes: Wake up at 6/7am, have breakfast and straight out to deliver cakes. We then go on a family day whether its to the beach, the woods, children's centres, zoos etc. Come home for dinner, bath, book and bed with the kids.... then BAKE BAKE BAKE!

BeautyTies: We saw your graze boxes. Which one of you geniuses came up with that idea? 

Jamie-Lee That would be me, just call me Einstein! 

                                       

Cravin' Cupcakes Graze Boxes

BeautyTies: How did you decide what to put in the graze boxes? The Cookie Monster theme was amazing!
Cravin' Cupcakes: Someone asked me to bake a birthday present for their friend but they couldn't decide what to choose from... I decided to make them a graze box so they could try a bit of everything! We then started to come up with different themes for different occasions (hence the cookie monster graze box that your daughter loves!)
 
BeautyTies:Do you ever get any strange requests?
Cravin' Cupcakes: We've made 'Happy Boob Day' Cupcakes for someone celebrating her boob job! We've also made 'Divorce' Cupcakes which I had far too much fun designing!

Happy Boob Day cupcakes


                                                     Happy Divorce Day cupcakes


BeautyTies: Who inspires you the most?
Cravin' Cupcakes: Cupcake Jemma is a huge inspiration for us. We followed her YouTube channel a lot in our early days as she does a lot of tutorials live. We definitely want to be in her shoes in a couple of years time!

BeautyTies: What did you both want to be when you were younger? 
Cravin' Cupcakes: Luke wanted to be a mounted police officer and I wanted to be a Singer or an Actress. Its safe to say, we are far from these job roles now haha!

BeautyTies: Luke, people may recognise you as being the winner of Big Brother 2012. How was that for you? What impact had it made on your life? 
Luke: People definitely wouldn't recognise me now, thankfully! It had an impact on my life in a positive way... I met Jamie from her watching my series and then the twins came along!

BeautyTies: What’s been the hardest thing you have faced, owning this business? 
Cravin' Cupcakes: I'd say the hardest part is when people collect or receive their order. We still get nervous for every single order that goes out, whether the customer will like it. I guess if we didn't care, we would have a problem!


BeautyTies: What is your favourite place in the world to be and why? 
Luke :As cheesy as it sounds, at home with the family. (Although the Maldives and Cape Town come pretty close, maybe we can take the twins there one day) "
Jamie : I'm going to really boring here and say the same as Luke! (On all 3 places haha!)

BeautyTies: If you could change anything in this world, what would it be? 
Cravin' Cupcakes: There would be no douchebags and everyone would be kind (or at least civil) to each other.


                                                     Fudge brownie pretzels 

                                                 A Cravin’ Cupcakes filled cookie 


BeautyTies:If you had a choice to create something for anyone in the world, who would it be and what would you create for them?

Cravin' Cupcakes:  Tough one! 
Luke : A brownie tower the size of a house for The Band 'Suede' and all of their fans!
Jamie -Lee : I can't cook or bake so I would make a sexy hot chocolate with all the trimmings and have a sit down Cuppa with Sir Tom Jones!


BeautyTies: Where do you see the company going in the future

Cravin' Cupcakes: We would ideally like our own premises with a huge online presence.... leaving behind a legacy for the kids in the world of baking!


BeautyTies: What are your favourite items to eat out of everything you make?

Luke : Lotus Biscoff Brownies and the Freddo Cookie Dough Slices.
Jamie :Allllll of them! Luke is an amazing baker!


Beauty Ties: Thank you for joining us for this interview.

Cravin' Cuppcakes: Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of this interview. We've had a good giggle writing down our answers. But for now - Hi Ho its off to the kitchen we go!


BeautyTies bought a mixed box of Brownies & Blondies

                                 This Salted caramel Brownie is my favourite  ~ Collette
                                            The After-Eight brownie was my favourite- Julia

                        BEAUTY TIES 
We really hope you BeauTies have enjoyed this interview. If you fancy trying Cravin' Cupcakes delicious treats, just click the link below to their website and order and follow them on the following social media sites. We all deserve a special treat coming into the colder months so why not treat yourselves? After what 2020 has brought is this year we all deserve it. We recommend their fudge brownies and blondies box to start with as you get the best mix of what they offer. Snuggle up with them and enjoy a cup of tea. Appreciate everything we have done this year and got through. 'Me time' is always a good idea !

UPDATE:  Cravin' Cupcakes has changed their name to Cravin'. This wonderful company has gone from strength to strength.


Cravin' Cupcakes social  media pages:




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