Nikki Lumb crafts amazing flower cupcakes as pretty as they are tasty. She tells Beth Windsor the secrets of her sweet success.
Delivery of a beautiful bouquet is a treat at any time of the year but when you can savour every pretty petal on a plate, not just in a vase, then it’s a gift that goes to another level.
Nikki Lumb painstakingly creates gorgeous cupcakes with abundant life-like petals made of delicate icing sugar.
They look incredibly life-like, whether it’s a springtime shower of pastel tulips, bold, decadent roses or cute carnations. Wrapped to look like a flower bouquet they make the perfect gift ‒ yes, good enough to eat.
Like many, Nikki decided to take up baking in lockdown (remember the endless banana bread days?) when she had more time on her hands. And creative hands they were.
The gentle world of buttercream and piping came as light relief alongside her day job as an implementation specialist at 02, a job she’s done for the past 23 years and continues to do part time.
Having barely baked before, Nikki took inspiration and tuition from the likes of YouTube and Instagram, experimenting with piping floral designs as a way to pass the time.
Sometimes she would just freestyle with fancy piping and sprinkles, but as she progressed, her creations started to attract admirers.
‘I was getting happy with my creations, so started gifting them to friends and they all said I should sell them,’ she says, which prompted Nikki to register her business in summer 2020.
Hailing from Wakefield, she combined her Yorkshire roots with her speciality and ‘Hey Up Cupcake’ was born. Her order book was soon bursting and she became very busy, very quickly.
‘Everyone seems to love the flowers you can eat,’ she laughs.
It’s clear to see why, with each bouquet looking so realistic, you might on first glance be tempted to pop them in a vase. But rather than smell, you taste.
The detail is down to the delicate accuracy and technique Nikki uses in her piping, with each intricate flower taking up to four minutes to pipe.
‘I usually pipe a few and then see what the rest of the bouquet needs as I like to add statement flowers, height, mini designs etc to make them visually interesting and as realistic as possible,’ she says.
Nikki even goes as far as to match her creations to bridal bouquets for weddings.
This has become such a hit that she is brimming with wedding bookings over the nexttwo years and finds that she’s always particularly busy around Mother’s Day and Christmas.
The creative process begins with clients specifying a colour scheme, she says. ‘But sometimes, especially for weddings, I incorporate flowers and colours to match wedding flowers.’
And rather than looking at cake designs, Nikki now gets inspiration from real floristry work on social media, although most of the time she doesn’t even plan her designs, preferring to ‘just go with the flow and get creating’.
It seems practice really does make perfect, which is exactly how Nikki has honed her skill, and after being inundated with requests, she started teaching others to do the same.
‘I’ve had ladies from London, Scotland and even Ireland come to learn for a hobby or to start a new business venture,’ she says.
Which is why, this year, she plans to launch a website offering handy guides to purchase to allow others to hone their skill. ‘If anyone is wanting to try their hand at piping florals, you definitely need the perfect buttercream,’ is her tip.
She only uses the highest quality ingredients and has created a guide with her signature recipe for people to follow that will be available to buy on her site.
She’ll also be sharing lots of useful tips and tricks, as well as a bouquet assembly and a wrapping guide.
‘If I can do it, anyone can! I’m actually quite a clumsy person but can put my hand to this now and people seem to love them! They taste lovely too.’.
Nikki’s cupcakes are available on a collection-only basis from her home in East Ardsley.
Follow Nikki on Instagram @heyup.cupcake
