A Wirral based micro bakery is offering a delivery only service to cake lovers, with a range of delicious plant-based treats on offer so convincing, "even vegans question whether" they're "actually vegan".
Teacakes Cakes was created by Faye Mohan, a 27-year-old from Wirral, who has “always been gifted in the kitchen.”
The business first started during lockdown in 2020 and has grown ever since, with customers "desperate" for the opening of a café.
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Currently, Teacake Cakes offer a delivery only service for personal bakes, but products can be found at various different stockists around Wirral and Liverpool.
Labelled with the motto ‘Be Kind & Eat Cake’, cake lovers can enjoy anything from postal plant-based brookie and cookie slabs, to cupcakes, cake boxes, celebration cakes and even giant cookies.
Speaking to the ECHO, founder of Teacake Cakes Faye Mohan said: “I’ve always been gifted in the kitchen.
"I used to sell stuff that I made in food tech on the bus when I was little and mum used to be fuming because she’d bought the ingredients.
“As I grew up, I knew I wanted to do something I was passionate about, so I got a job as a chef and was baking plant based cakes and working as one of the chefs too.
“It was in line with my passion, but then lockdown hit, I was made redundant and there was no malice involved.”
Faye decided to start selling plant-based cookies in the post to lift people's moods during lockdown.
She continued: “The little bite size cookies were marketed around the Wirral and I turned them into slabs so they were postable.
“If people wanted contact free delivery, we could put them through the letterbox.”
The first week of her new cookie creation saw 75 orders, and that’s when Faye knew she was onto something.
She said: “No one in my area was really doing plant based products, maybe an oat coffee but not a piece of cake to go with it. I could get the jump on this.
“I went to my old boss who I used to make the cakes for and asked if she’d like me to supply as a sole trader.
“By August I was inundated with a full schedule, and in November 2020 I had to turn people away. I physically could not bake enough, I was pulling 80-100 hour weeks, minimum sleep, but I knew I wanted to do it.”
In November 2020, Faye’s partner quit his job and became her delivery driver, and her father at 63-years-old quit his long term job to join what is now the family business.
Faye continued: “We started looking for a commercial kitchen in January 2021 and found somewhere by March 2021, my dad stood there for 12 hours a day washing dishes just to help me out.
“Now, he deals with administration and stock, after investing some of his pension into the business. We were all in this together.”
Faye and her family built the kitchen out and started baking, and her team has grown from one full time member to three full time bakers.
She continued: “It blows my mind, we started Teacake Cakes with a mission statement to say if you choose to change your diet, it’s definitely your choice.
“But, we also want to show you that you will not miss out, we want these cookies and brownies to be at a point where you don’t even know they’re vegan, and that’s what we’ve achieved.
“People often get their backs up when they’re told it's vegan, even vegans question whether our cakes are actually vegan, and non vegans don’t bat an eyelid.”
When discussing the challenges she has faced, Faye said: “I’ve never been an employer, managing my business has been more difficult than baking 80 hours a week.
“I chose to run the business with love and care and the managerial/director role was difficult for me, I had to learn how to communicate in the right way.”
In terms of future plans, Faye continued: “We would love to continue supplying the wholesale but also have our own bakery where people can get coffee and a small selection of savoury items.
“I have great hopes for the team we have and I hope that it continues to flourish towards the near year mark.”
You can find Teacake Cakes on Instagram here and find out more information on your nearest stockist and custom bakes here.
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