WHEN your cookie pies, cupcakes and brownies taste as good as they look, you know you’ve got the perfect recipe for success.
Antonia’s Cakes on Duke Street has all the right ingredients for a booming business and has just been named Best Independent Shop in St Helens.
The venue is the latest winner in our Best of competition taking St Helens’ Best Independent Shop crown with a victory in the voting earlier this week.
Each week, we focus on different categories to find the best that St Helens has to offer with awards for hair, nails, beauty and fitness being given out as well as fish and chips, pies, pubs, breakfast and afternoon tea already decided.
The latest award category – Best Independent Shop – coincided with the national #ukindieday campaign, aimed at promoting small business owners at the heart of local communities.
Voting is currently taking place this weekend in the next round of the competition with the award for Best Roast Dinner up for grabs with a closing date of midnight on Monday.
Antonia’s Cakes, which has been open for seven years, has been named Best Independent Shop 2022 and the hardworking owners Lauren Antonia King and her husband Craig Scott are celebrating.
Seven years ago, Lauren, whose career was in the fashion and textiles industry, wanted to go back to work after having her two children Esme and Elijah.
She wanted to do something creative and having spent her childhood baking in her grandmothers’ kitchens she decided to put on her pinny and make a few cakes for family and friends.
The business quickly took off and in March 2020 Lauren was ready to open her shop on Duke Street having spent 18 months working on renovations.
Lauren said: “Our launch event was planned for Saturday, March 26, 2020, but the whole country went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and we never managed to open the doors.
“We quickly set up a website and took online orders for sweet treats, delivering them to our customers as we had to remain closed.
“Our second launch event was planned for November 2020 and the same thing happened again with a national lockdown.
“It’s been a difficult two years but the business has definitely been a success.”
Lauren and Craig are hoping to get the keys to their second premises in the next few weeks on Gerards Park, which will enable them to open a large scale kitchen unit taking wholesale orders and delivering to businesses.
Fans of Antonia’s Cakes travel from all over the north west to sample the delicious delights and it’s thanks to their loyal customers that the business has scooped the latest Best of 2022 award.
One happy customer said: “The cakes are unbelievable and the shop is very modern with friendly staff.
“It’s ideal for adding a little something special to a party or get together and I’m in danger of becoming the size of a house as the cakes are that good!”
Lauren said: “It was lovely to hear that we’d been nominated and made the shortlist and it’s fantastic to win.
“Our customers are amazing and it’s thanks to them that we’re able to expand the business now and carry on baking.”
For more details go to facebook.com/antoniascakeshop/ or antoniascakes.co.uk/
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