Vintage Rose Cupcakes

This week’s Small Business Saturday Spotlight shines on Alex, the creative baker behind Vintage Rose Cupcakes, who turned her passion for baking into a thriving home-based business. For the past 15 years, Alex has been creating beautiful celebration cakes and cupcake bouquets, building a business that fits around family life while bringing plenty of joy to her customers.

Tell us about your journey from the business idea to launching the business. 

Once my youngest child started school I was keen to get back to work. I really wanted to take the opportunity to start my own creative business that would work around mum life.  I used every opportunity from school fairs to coffee mornings to get creative with my baking and build a portfolio of photos as well as getting feedback on my bakes. Orders started to come in immediately through word of mouth and my online bakery and Vintage Rose Cupcakes was born. 

What's been your biggest achievement since starting your business?

After 15 years there have been many.  Every cake order is important to me and the feedback from customers is always my motivation to continue creating. There have been some very exciting moments such as being asked to create a wedding cake for a shoot with Brides Magazine. I was also honoured to have my business story included in a book named, Design Your Next Chapter  by Debbie Travis, which aims to inspire women to realise their dreams and reinvent their lives.  

What inspired you to start the business?

My kids!  Both my children have food allergies and every year they inspired me to create special birthday cakes that were safe for them to enjoy.  Seeing some friends start small businesses I knew I wanted that too.  I wanted work that would provide real job satisfaction while allowing me to work from home and be flexible around my kids. I feel very lucky I could do this as it can be so hard for parents to find a balance. It wasn’t easy though and can be very challenging at times but I am so glad I took the chance.

What does the future look like?

A lovely new website is being created as we speak which I am so excited about.  There will be lots more bakes added to the online bakery making it even easier to order your gifts, celebration cakes and more at vintagerosecupcakes.com .  The new cupcake bouquets are proving extremely popular so I am busy working on new buttercream flowers and colour combinations which I love!

What message would you like to send to our community of small business owners?

Keep going, even when there are bumps in the road. Start small and build from there. My only investment was some flour, eggs and sugar.  It wasn’t long after selling the first box of  cupcakes that I had been featured in numerous magazines, interviewed for the national press and even attended castings so you never know where it will take you. Even a small kitchen table business can lead to something satisfying with exciting opportunities and adventures.

Follow them here: @vintagerosebake