It’s been a mad couple of months and my routine has been completely thrown off course. In the run up to the end of term, we celebrated DarnTart’s first birthday and had a sudden influx of special occasion orders which meant we were busy right up until we left for our holiday. Then, we were away in Ireland for nearly two weeks. We got back to another flurry of birthday and anniversary orders and we had a Hen party to cater. After that, we were away for a couple of days to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Today I finally got the chance to sit down and reflect on the last year of life, the universe and everything.
Where did it all start? Well cakes were not something we often had at home as kids. On our birthdays my mother would order us a cake from Spoglers, our favourite bakery in Killarney. It was normally their strawberry mousse cake and it was divine! We would also sometimes stop there for a sticky bun or a cheese toastie as a special treat while out shopping. Their cakes and pastries are what I aspire to be able to create. Our favourites there included the cream doughnut (we called them burger buns), which were the lightest round doughnuts, split in half and filled with fresh cream, a dollop of strawberry jam and dusted with icing sugar, the chocolate eclairs and the crisp, snowy, cream filled meringues. These delights were a rare treat and we would often cut them up so we could all try a taste of each one. Even now, when I go back to Killarney, hubby and I will walk into town just for a cup of tea and a cake from Spoglers.
At home, Mom would sometimes bake Dan Tat, the egg custard tarts we named our bakery after. This was a rare undertaking, requiring the digging out of the special moulds she had bought in Hong Kong. She would make the most delicious, thin, crisp edged, pancakes for us every year on Pancake day, but baked goods and sweet puddings were not a part of our day to day lives. I do however remember the cakes our family friend Debbie would bake for us. She made fudge and baked the most amazing fairy cakes, German cheesecake and a supremely chocolately ripple cake that she called ‘the wave of Daniel’ for some unknown reason. I think Debbie gave me a love of hosting parties. Her children were roughly the same ages as my brothers and I, and we spent a lot of time with them. We would often gather at their house because it was enormous and we children had loads of space to run around while the mums would drink tea and gossip in relative peace. There was always lots of chatter, laughter and fun and of course cake too.
I first discovered that I liked cooking and baking when I was a teenager in Uni and living on my own for the first time. It was then that I found that not many of my friends could cook from scratch and that I enjoyed cooking and baking for others. That I was able to make the Chinese dishes that my mother cooked at home and basic pasta dishes and pizzas without needing recipe books was unusual and that I wanted to cook for myself was even more so. The first cookbook I bought myself was Family food by Silvia De Franco. It was the book I bought in order to try cooking recipes and foods that were less familiar to me. It is still one that I use regularly, the recipe for Granola is the one we use for our breakfasts and her Courgette and Mint soup and Boston baked pork and Beans are staple favourites in our house. As you can see below, my copy has been well used and abused. It's a tad faded, with sticky notes still stuck in it and some pages glued together with unidentifiable stains. Still, it has coped pretty well with nearly 20 years of continuous use.
My oldest cookbooks
The first book I bought dedicated to baking, was also purchased while I was in Uni. It was Sweet Food by Murdoch Books and the first things I made from it were things I wanted to eat. Made just for myself and for my boyfriend at the time. I made things like the Lemon meringue muffins on page 82 or the Blueberry muffins on page 190. They were recipes with ingredients that were cheap to buy and required little equipment to make and were relatively simple. I still use an adapted version of the Tart Au Citron from page 380 of this recipe book today as a basis for my Lemon meringue pies and lemon tarts. It was one of the first things I mastered and still my mother’s favourite.
Our Lemon Meringue Pie
I had toyed with the idea of, and fantasized about, setting up my own bakery for a long time but DarnTart bakery started up during the first Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020. I'd spent a chunk of previous year in a self imposed lockdown due to a mental health breakdown. I am able to joke about this now, but for much of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 I was unable to leave the house without Gordon with me. I had just come out of intensive counselling in March and was starting to be more confident in going out into the world and socialising again when the pandemic hit. I was advised to stay at home and shield due to my pre-existing physical health problems so I desperately needed something to keep myself occupied at home. It was a good opportunity to take the time I needed to practise and perfect my recipes. Gordon and I could not eat everything I made and I needed to get an idea of what customers might like and how much they would be willing to pay for my baked goods. Our circle of friends is pretty diverse so I set up a Facebook group and started making packages of baked treats for friends who wanted to participate. We delivered boxes on a weekly basis, free in return for some feedback on the items. To be honest, this was as much about being able to stay in touch with, deliver care packages to, and check on friends that lived alone as it was for research. I am a feeder and I show love through cooking for people. I wanted our friends to know that they were not alone and Gordon and I were thinking of them. Having that group helped me feel less isolated and whether justified or not, it made me feel like I was helping my friends and they were helping me too. I am so very grateful for their support and honest feedback. It gave me the confidence to register as a food business, get myself insured and make a real go of it.
One of the boxes delivered to our market research group...our packaging and presentation skills have drastically improved since the early days!
Now, we’ve been trading officially for just over a year and it’s been brilliant. I’m not going to lie, running your own business is hard work! It doesn’t always go to plan. Gordon helps me as much as he can but he’s no baker. I have spent many late nights and very early mornings frantically redoing bakes that were not quite right, or crying literally over split milk in exhausted moments when it feels like nothing is going right. I often feel like I never switch off. Social media has helped me to build my business but it also never stops pinging! I’ve had to learn to switch off my phone and ignore queries that come in after a certain time, leaving them to be responded to the next day. My instinct has been to take every inquiry and every order but learning not to over-stretch myself and to say no to orders if my order book is full has been essential. Finding a good work /life balance has been challenging to both my mental health and relationships.
It’s all been worth it though, I have met so many new people and had so much support and encouragement from customers and other business owners alike all over Chester. Having the bakery has helped me to get to know our neighbours better as they will often pop over to place an order or check if there’s anything left from the week’s online orders on a Friday or Saturday evening. On Sunday mornings, we deliver any unsold bakes to those that are vulnerable or in need and this too has helped us feel more a part of our community here in Blacon. I’ve had orders from customers as far afield as China, Australia and Russia. I love delivering care packages and surprises to our customer’s family and friends. Being able to help people connect with their loved ones in a small way when we’ve all been separated for so long has given me such joy.
It’s been a weird, weird couple of years and I cannot tell you how grateful I am and how blessed I feel to have made it this far. Thank you to all my customers, I appreciate every order, small or large and your kind words make my heart sing. Especial thanks go to the members of the original DarnTart market research group; Alex, Emily, Emma, Gavin, Graham, Gregg, Ian, Jon, Laura, Magda, Paige, Rhiannon, Sam, Tobias and Woody. Alphabetical so there’s no arguing about who’s first mentioned! I couldn’t have done it without all your help! Gordon, beloved husband, chief taster of all goods, even the peanut butter ones that you hate. Thank you for doing the accounts, for keeping me sane(ish), for telling me that it will all be fine in the end. None of this would be possible without your reassurance, help and support. You’re my favourite person in the whole world.
What’s next for DarnTart? Well, over the next year, we’ll be looking to invest in some more equipment (sturdy benches, display equipment and a commercial grade marquee for starters) and hope to get out and about doing markets around Cheshire. Suggestions for good spots most welcome!
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