Leicestershire business The Vegan Cakery is celebrating an unprecedented fourth consecutive win at the national Vegfest UK Awards, after being awarded the coveted 2018 ‘Best Vegan Cakes’ accolade at a special ceremony in London over the weekend.
Owner and self-taught vegan baker Michelle Orme, who resides in the village of Fleckney, received the prestigious award – which is voted for by members of the public from across the UK – from TV presenter, radio DJ, actress and model Sarah-Jane Crawford on Saturday, 27th October, at Olympia London in Kensington.
Absolutely ecstatic to win her fourth Vegfest UK award in succession, Michelle’s success this past weekend also marks the seventh national accolade in total for her immensely popular one-woman business since 2013, the year after she first established The Vegan Cakery from her home kitchen.
Driven to set-up the business in June 2012 as a means of enabling her to make regular donations to a wide variety of animal charities and animal sanctuaries in the UK and abroad, Michelle’s aim was to also provide the widest range of ‘cruelty-free’ products which are easily more than a match for those containing animal ingredients. At no point did she expect the business to become the success it has.
Notably too, the popularity of The Vegan Cakery has resulted in a huge fanbase developing on social media from around the world with almost 110,000 followers across the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram platforms.
“I really didn’t expect to win three Vegfest UK awards in a row, so to now make it four in succession is absolutely incredible”, said an elated Michelle, “I am so, so grateful for all of those customers and members of the public who chose to support The Vegan Cakery and those who wanted to nominate me in the first place – I can’t express how much it means.
“I never enter awards myself, it just doesn’t feel genuine to me, so when you’re put forward by satisfied customers it really is a wonderful feeling and true recognition you’re doing something right that people enjoy. It’s also important for me an awards process is as fair as possible too, so the fact the votes in the Vegfest UK Awards are validated before being accepted is exactly how it should be.”
Having built up a strong customer-base the length and breadth of the UK through the online portal www.vegancakery.com which features around 200 handmade, baked-to-order products, many of which can be distributed nationwide via courier, The Vegan Cakery also trades at vegan fairs and festivals countrywide as well as supplying products to cafés and other outlets.
Creating all of her own recipes from scratch, Michelle’s focus from day one has been to provide the best possible range of 100% ethically vegan products. Not just offering cakes, cupcakes and the like, some of the best sellers are products such as her signature Mille-Feuille, Lemon Meringues, Bakewell Tarts, Key Lime Pies, Battenbergs and her trademarked lemon curd alternative – ‘Lemon V’urd’.
Almost exactly a year ago, she decided to establish ‘The Vegan Cakery Afternoon Tea’ and this has proven to be an exceptionally popular extension of the business. Hiring venues across the UK and providing a ‘high end’ three-course Afternoon Tea experience, the events regularly sell-out.
The next available date in Leicestershire will be Saturday, 9th February, at Foxton Village Hall in Foxton – see www.vegancakery.com/afternoon-tea for more.