The Hidden Cost of the Magic: What you don't see behind the shed

Firstly thank you for coming to read this post.

And secondly, this post is a bit longer than normal but I hope you'll stick with it - because it matters. And there's a possible freebie tied to it!

If you're here it means you're a supporter of The Cake Shed Bristol; you love what we do because you're here to find out more; and that means the world to me!

This post is part of the Birthday Giveaway for our final shed opening of 2025 and you'll need to read most of it to find the answer. Thanks for liking our cakes enough to stick with the story.

How it all began

I (Rebecca) had a mum who was a chef and so grew up baking with her in the early eighties. Ingredients were scarce and expensive so it was always a treat. Fast forward 30 years and although I have been many things but never a chef, teaching my own daughter to bake was super important to me.

She is called Abigail. She's flipping awesome at most things. And if you've had one of her brownies, a bit of her cookie pie or eaten one of her cinnamon buns, you'll know she's an excellent baker too.

The Shed came about as a bit of a summer holiday project. Abigail loves to bake and as it's just her, me, hubby and the dogs, we needed an outlet for her passion. So the idea of the Shed was born. Her and hubby assembled it, painted it and decorated it. She chose what her specialities were. Plus it was a way for us to honour the mum and grandma who gave us these skills and who we lost suddenly three years ago, leaving a huge hole in our lives.

So alongside a full time job working in a busy IT department for an insurance company and my hobby side hustle of Becca's Bouqcakes I took on all the 'Cadmin' or 'Cake Admin' for The Shed too.

In a nutshell that means

• Ensuring we are insured, registered with the local council and compliant with various business laws such as GDPR

• Ensuring we are compliant with food safety laws and doing the appropriate training

• Ensuring we follow the rules of Natasha's Law with every bake which means I have to meticulously research the ingredients of the ingredients for every recipe and create individual labels for every product (yes, I do all of that every time!)

• Doing all the shopping - which involves going to several different supermarkets

• Sourcing all the packaging from various places to ensure what we deliver is as low cost as possible

• Overseeing all of the baking to ensure it tastes great and is compliant with food safety

• Baking other things to add to Abigail's contribution (I do all the sponges, the free from bakes and things like fudge, sausage rolls, crumbles, custard)

• Posting on social media to let you know when we're open and what's on the menu

• Replying to questions and comments and explaining why (as much as I'd love to) I don't have capacity to create all the bakes you'd love to see

• Worrying about the rising costs of quality ingredients and creating products which sell and don't leave me out of pocket if they don't

• Feeling elated when I get stopped in the street and someone says they love what we do

• Feeling anxious most of the time that I can't be the person people want me to be (opening the shed more often, providing more free-from options, selling refrigerated options)

• Feeling sad when the odd person doesn't understand why a mystery bag is not a custom bag or that I'm not Jeff Bezos running Amazon prime.

• Remembering I'm teaching my daughter practical life skills and serving the community with a little bit of love

It's a big thing balancing passion with practicality and real life commitments as a mum, wife, dog wrangler, full time employee and someone who just loves to bake and teach.

Which is why The Cake Shed we'll be pressing pause on The Cake Shed for January 2026 whilst we look for ways to keep everyone happy and make sure that we don't burn out. We'll be back in early February :)

So as a way to say thank you so far, we're running a little giveaway to celebrate my birthday on 21st December (it's a Sunday and I'm not opening The Shed that day!). Instead I'm hoping to put my feet up and indulge in my favourite cake - some kind of chocolate and cherry confection...(really hoping Abigail has read this far and picked up the hint; and that if you've read this far, you've got what you're looking for too).

I'm going to sign off now and say

Thank you for the love

Good luck in the competition

Have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate; sending you love if you're missing someone who you'd love to spend the holidays with.

And we'll see you again in 2026 - keep your eyes on our socials to help us build a brighter future.

Rebecca xo

PS: also huge thanks to my super tolerant husband for his support, patience and all the washing up and cleaning he does. That's another hidden cost to my love for cake!