Winsford baker and sweet treats maestro launches baking book

Nicky Cains has been running her bakery business, also called Nicky Cains, from her home for just over four years.

Though she started off making luscious sweet treats like ultimate brownies and blondies, she soon moved on to bespoke afternoon teas, celebration cakes, outside catering, and even supplying wholesale shops and cafés.

After being inundated with requests for her recipes from customers who wanted to try making them over lockdown, Nicky had the idea of collating them all into a book.

There's no such thing as too decadent as far as Nicky is concerned (Image: Nicky Cains)

Taking around two years to complete, Dizzy, Busy, and Baking with a Difference was at last published on September 25, and is available worldwide through Amazon. 

Nicky said she’s ‘so, so happy and proud’ of her book, adding: “I’m absolutely thrilled. I can’t tell you all how long I've waited for this day to arrive.

“My bakery business is my passion, and it’s where the book began.

“In lockdown, I kept trading as takeaways were still open, and it was great for me too because I’d much rather be busy.

Celebration cakes are a relatively new venture for Nicky, but her book does include several recipes for them (Image: Nicky Cains)

“I was sending a lot of recipes out to customers through my business Facebook page. So many were furloughed and wanted to have a go at making some of my treats for themselves.

“It just went massive. More and more people were asking for more and more recipes, and it just clicked: I thought, why don’t I write my own book?

“I didn’t really do it for a profit. I just did it as an achievement for myself.

“I can’t believe how much it’s taken off. Since it’s gone on Amazon, it’s even sold in America and Australia.”

Nicky's scones are always a firm favourite (Image: Nicky Cains)

Nicky started baking when her kids were younger as a way of entertaining them, but her kitchen soon came to be her sanctuary.

When she started the business, she worked out of an outhouse in her back yard, but has recently had her own family kitchen replaced with a swanky new one, which she designed for both commercial and domestic use.

“I love working from home as there’re no outgoings,” she said.

“So many people take on shops, and with all the overheads, they close in no time.

“Plus, it means I’ve got my husband on hand to help whenever I needed it, and my two kids love it because they get to try all the sweet treats.

“I love to bring out new versions of things people haven’t seen before. I like to make something a bit more unique.

“My favourite recipe in the book are the Dairy Milk fudge, because it great and so easy to do, and the brownies. That’s probably our most popular treat.”