Avid baker starts novel new business in Nailsworth

Johanna Kuppen, 22, has stepped aside from her job as a client relationship manager in Gloucester to blend books and baking for a unique business venture.

Fiction Bakes started as a hobby for Johanna, who moved to Stroud from Wilbertoord in the Netherlands three years ago, but this week she made the leap to run the business full-time.

Johanna bakes recipes noted in classics such as Jane Austen as well as those of pure fiction like in the Harry Potter series and pairs them together.

“I started off doing it part time, as a hobby, because it was something I just loved doing, but quickly I realised that I couldn’t just restrict it to weekends and for it to succeed I would have to give it all of my time,” she said.

“So I have finally taken the plunge and gone for it, and really if I don’t give it my all at the beginning it just wasn’t going to work out.

“I specialise in Bundt cakes – cakes baked in specially designed metal moulds, much like jelly – and customers can choose their flavour, design and the mould, or ask for a completely customised cake.

“I offer home delivery all over Gloucestershire, and there is a different price for how far I would need to drive.

“Bundt cakes allow me to focus a lot more on the flavour of the cake because the design is so reliable, although tricky to get the hang of, some cakes just don’t work like ones with lots of fruit in.

“Lots of baking is influenced by Dutch recipes, which tend to be spiced with ginger and cinnamon, so very festive too, one recipe is pepernoten, which is like a small cinnamon biscuit.

“Once I get up and running I’d like to offer more designs and have more seasonal recipes, it would start with the completely customisable options – one customer has already asked for an Alice in Wonderland themed cake, and I’m really eager to make really impressive showstoppers like that.

“I love that I can now say that I’m a business owner, when they asked us in school at age 17 where we would see ourselves in 20 years I said I’d want my own baking business, and here I am, it’s all I’ve ever wanted.

“And the Stroud area is such a great place for independent businesses and baking, there are so many cafes too.”

Johanna lives in Nailsworth with her partner Ben Wilkinson, who is a coach and media manager at Rush Skatepark in Brimscombe.

“I really wouldn’t have jumped at this if it wasn’t for Ben,” said Johanna.

“I was mainly just taking photos for Instagram and it was going pretty well, but he was supporting me to go out and try going full time with my own business.

“A lot of my interest in starting this comes from the Victorian era, and you can see that in this business, lots of the designs and recipes come from there, and the classic books of that time.”

Many of Johanna’s recipes are traditional such as lemon drizzle and carrot cake but she is already looking to experiment with cakes such as peanut butter and raspberry and chocolate orange.

She is eager to set up a stall at the Stroud Farmers’ Market but is looking for some retailers in the area to bulk buy produce from.

Johanna will have a stall at Nailsworth Noël on Friday, November 24.

For more information visit www.fictionbakes.com or search for Fiction Bakes on Instagram.