Clemie Torselli from Clemie’s Vegan Cakes has come a long way since baking part-time alongside her job as a teacher. With this summer marking two years since opening her own shop in Hucknall, we catch up with the baking genius to chat about her success so far and her plans for the future...
Where did the concept for Clemie’s Vegan Cakes all begin?
It started back in 2016 after I went with a friend to Sneinton Vegan Market and I had a crazy idea to make some cupcakes to sell there, just for fun. I’ve always enjoyed baking since I was a child and I had a wild idea to make some cakes. Everything spiralled from there and now we have our little shop in Hucknall!
Tell us about the growth of your business since then, from relying on markets to opening your own store...
The shop opened in 2019 and it’s definitely been a bit of a learning curve. My plan was never to do this full time; it was just a bit of fun that got out of control! I used to be a teacher so I worked for quite a few years just baking cakes alongside teaching. A couple of years ago it got to a stage where the cakes were taking over my whole house and I needed more space, so I took the plunge to do it full time. The vegan community in Nottingham is huge and they’ve all been so supportive - that’s what’s got us to the stage that we’re at now. I’ve got three bakery assistants that help me and we supply quite a few other local businesses and cafes with vegan cakes and bakes. Our shop is open to the public on a Saturday with our cake counter too.
What do you think the success of your business says about the growth in popularity of the vegan market?
I think in the past few years veganism has really exploded! It’s more of a normal thing to be vegan or meat-reducing, or to have plant milks rather than dairy milks. I’ve been vegan for about seven or eight years now and when I first went vegan it was still a bit of a weird thing - I was the only vegan at the school I worked at - but now I think it’s just so normal. Everywhere you go, supermarkets and cafes have vegan options which makes it so much easier to take that step. The vegan community in Nottingham is incredibly supportive and they really get behind new small businesses. Sneinton Vegan Market is also a really good platform for small businesses which are just starting out to see what they can do with their ideas.
A couple of years ago it got to a stage where the cakes were taking over my whole house and I needed more space, so I took the plunge to do it full time
You’re obviously very popular with the people of Notts, as proven by the constant queue outside your shop! How does that feel?
I still have to pinch myself now that this is literally my job; I get to make cakes everyday! Every time we get a nice review I have to remind myself they are actually talking about our cakes. All I can say is thank you so much to everybody who comes back to me year after year. I’ve made some children’s birthday cakes from their first birthday up to their fifth birthday and every year their family comes back and gets another cake. That’s really lovely and special.
How have you found working through the pandemic?
Obviously it was really chaotic and unexpected. We had to shut for a little while and my assistants were furloughed for a bit last summer, but I continued working throughout. We mainly focussed on our postal bakes because a lot of people were wanting to send gifts to family members and friends across the country. In general, our business model is quite focussed on the wholesale baking that we do for other cafes and last year everywhere closed down so we lost a huge chunk of our business. COVID definitely forced us to expand in different ways which has ultimately been beneficial for us, but it was very stressful at the time. Now things are slowly starting to get back to normal, but sadly a few of the cafes we supply closed down for good last year. It’s been a big change for everybody in this small business community.
What are your most popular treats?
Our most popular item is definitely our millionaire’s shortbread. From the very beginning that has always been our number one seller. In terms of postal things, we do a subscription treat box service which has been really popular in the last year or so. Every month we do a different themed box, so in October we do a Halloween one, a Christmas one in December, other months it depends on what ideas we’ve got. We’re just prepping our August box at the moment which is going to be a summery tropical feel with lots of pineapple, coconut and mango flavours. I’m excited for that to come out.
Do you have a personal favourite?
It changes all the time! Rather than eating my own cakes, my favourite thing is thinking of different ideas for bakes and different flavours which go together. Most recently, though, I've been loving our blueberry and lavender cake.
Sounds delicious! So, what are your plans for the future?
I’m not sure how good I am at planning, I just tend to see what happens. Of course we’d love to expand a bit further. I guess the long-term dream would be to have a sort of cafe-style shop in the town centre somewhere, but I think that’s quite a long way off at the moment. We’d love to expand our treat range and make more bits available for postal so that people further afield can get hold of things. We’re just super happy to still be here after last year and we’re so grateful for everyone’s support since we started.
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