Family folklore dates my passion for food to when I was 11 months old and crawled across the Christmas dining table to snaffle a Brussel sprout! I grew up in a family of foodies. My dad was a food technologist for Marks & Spencer in a role akin to the Man from Delmonte, travelling the world in pursuit of high quality fruit. He is credited with the idea of laying a piece of bubble wrap underneath raspberries in their packaging to protect the delicate fruit in transit. My mum trained as a home economist, was a fantastic and inspiring home cook and taught me a great deal of what I know today. Both my parents loved food, delighted in good quality ingredients and were keen restaurant critics.
As a child, I used to fantasise about being a TV chef before that was really a thing. I used to put all my ingredients into separate little dishes and talk to an imaginary camera about what was in them and how I was going to use them to create something delicious. From my early teens, I was baking tray upon tray of mince pies and icing the traditional Christmas cake copying designs from my mum’s St Michael’s Cake icing and decorating book; as well as making the Boxing Day trifle with my Grandma, splashing in extra brandy and licking the custard spoon when she wasn’t looking!
By my mid-twenties, I had a guilty pleasure for cookbooks. I feasted upon the words and photographs, imagining dinner party menus of tantalising flavours and dish combinations. I became well known amongst my friends for my baking and Christmas party canapé selection. I’ve made wedding cakes for friends, and for one created and cooked the entire menu of wedding desserts. I catered for my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary party at 6 months’ pregnant and for two large christening and First Communion parties for my children, as well as our annual and eagerly anticipated Christmas parties. My cookbook library is groaning and I still greedily devour the contents of new and old alike both for every day eating, occasions and parties as well as for the simple joy of reading and thinking about food.
In recent years, as my children have grown up, I have become more adventurous in developing my own recipes and menus, dabbling in food photography, establishing and Instagram presence as @shelovescake, and, on occasion, being paid to make cakes and desserts to order.
I’ve had an amazing twenty year career at the Bank of England doing roles I would never have dreamed a Psychology graduate from Birmingham could succeed in. But throughout all that time, food has been the passion I have kept as a joyous yet time-squeezed side-line.
My parents died ten days apart in November 2024, following a late-stage cancer diagnosis for my mum and a long decline from dementia for my dad. Something about their deaths and the grieving process has made me want to scratch the itch and find out if my passion can become a fulfilling career. I’m hugely excited to start the Culinary Diploma at Leith’s in September and to chart my progress on this blog. I yearn to develop my skills, broaden my culinary horizons and challenge myself in ways not previously explored.
@Shelovescake 