A company that’s revolutionised the traditional Welsh Cake and attracted a host of celebrity fans has been signed up for the UK\u2019s first major baking festival.<\/p>\n
Organisers at Bakewell Baking Festival \u2013 billed as the \u201cspiritual home of baking\u201d and home of the famous Bakewell Pudding and Bakewell Tart \u2013 wanted the very best Welsh Cakes and invited Cwmni Cacen Gri from Betws y Coed to show off their skills.<\/p>\n
They hit the headlines after it was revealed that pop stars Olly Murs and Pixie Lott were fans – not to mention Wales’s favourite weatherman, Derek Brockway.<\/p>\n
Last year Ann Romney, wife of the unsuccessful Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, harked back to her Welsh roots and extolled their virtues to anyone who would listen on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
Partners and best friends Jennie Barrie and Jo Wordsworth will be giving demonstrations and talking about how they started their successful business at the two day Derbyshire festival on June 8-9.<\/p>\n
Jennie said: \u201cI think they Googled us and saw a clip of us on TV and we\u2019ve just been swept along.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe festival director is Welsh and he rang us and looked at what we have and must have thought we were a bit of a double act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Beehive Baker Stacie Stewart who won Master Chef in 2010 and Edd Kimber, first ever winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2010 will also be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cwmni Cacen Gri has revolutionised the traditional griddled Welsh Cake tea time treat, by including varieties which include some exotic flavours such as raspberry and white chocolate, triple chocolate, chocolate and orange, chocolate and mint, cinnamon, orange and lemon, lime and coconut and Penderyn Welsh whisky and sultana.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just provided the Welsh cakes and bara brith for the Snowdonia Half Marathon,\u201d said Jennie.<\/p>\n
She and Jo have also picked up entrepreneur of the year award at Conwy Rural Awards and were new business finalists in Network She awards.<\/p>\n
Jennie added: “Conwy Rural Business Support has been wholly supportive and backed us all the way. They have been especially effective in getting publicity for our business.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bakewell Festival is something we are really looking forward to. They want to hear from us about our business and how it started and how we got to where we are,\u201d said Jo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be doing a workshop to demonstrate how we make Welsh cakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Cwmni Cacen Gri were one of 35 regional finalists – out of the 1,000 UK bakeries -which tried to get a place on ITV\u2019s popular daytime TV competition, Britain\u2019s Best Bakery.<\/p>\n
Jennie and Jo, who both have two children, had grandparents and parents who were in business in Betws y Coed and knew each other as pupils in Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy at Llanrwst. Jo trained as a nurse at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and for 13 years was practice nurse at Betws y Coed surgery, while Jennie worked in the Middle East for five years as a PA in a drilling company. She returned and worked for Citizens Advice Bureau, before she and Jo teamed up to start their new business.<\/p>\n
Bakewell Baking Festival is the brainchild of the town\u2019s Mayor Paul Morgan and his partner Janet Reeder.<\/p>\n
Paul said: \u201cI am from Wales, I lived just outside Builth Wells and I was determined to have Welsh cakes at the festival because I had grown up with Welsh Cakes as a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked Welsh cakes up on the internet and came across an article which suggested they were going out of fashion \u2013 which I\u2019m sure is something Jo and Jennie would not agree with!<\/p>\n
\u201cI started looking around Cardiff and then worked my way up north and then came across Jennie and Jo and Cacen Gri and I remembered seeing something of the ITV programme Britain\u2019s Best Bakery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been quite selective for our exhibitors for the two day show because we did not want everyone selling cupcakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be attracting the BBC Good Food Guide, Olive magazine, food and travel publications, Cheshire and Derbyshire Life magazines, local TV and radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our first ever festival and as far as I know I don\u2019t think there is another baking festival in the UK<\/p>\n
\u201cBaking is something of a phenomenon at the moment and the second episode of the Great British Bake-Off was at Bakewell.<\/p>\n
\u201cJennie and Jo are great fun and we do not want them to come and just make Welsh cakes but we would like them to talk about their story, which is fascinating.<\/p>\n
Anna Openshaw, the Project Officer for Conwy Rural Business Support, is delighted by the success of the Cacen Gri company.<\/p>\n
She said: “We’re thrilled that they will be flying the flag for Wales in general and Conwy in particular at the Bakewell Baking festival.<\/p>\n
“Jennie and Jo are perfect role models of how to take a great idea and turn it into a fantastic business success.”<\/p>\n
For more information about the support and advice that’s available to small businesses in rural Conwy go to www.econwyrural.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0or contact Anna Openshaw either by emailing conwyruralpartnership@conwy.gov.uk<\/a>
\nThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <\/strong>You can also ring 01492 577834\/5. If you want more information about Cwmni Cacen Gri visit\u00a0 www.cwmnicacengri.co.uk<\/a> and for more
\nabout the festival visit www.bakewellbakingfestival.co.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n