Growing up in Llantwit Major, a tiny town in South Wales in the UK, I never dreamed I would someday spend all my time making and selling Welsh Cakes in America. The thought sometimes seems absolutely Twp (“tup” is Welsh for Daft!).
Making Welsh Cakes is a labor of love handed down in my family for many generations. My mother taught me from our family recipe just as my grandmother taught her. Griddled and not baked, these fluffy little cakes are sweet but not overly so. They are uniquely delicious. I continued to make Welsh Cakes as occasional treats for friends and family after I immigrated to America as a nurse in the late 1980’s. Everyone always raved about them.
In December of 2009, the “great recession” hit our family when my husband Joe was laid off from his IT management position after 25 years. Not ones to sit idle, we felt the time was right to start a family business and The Welsh Baker was born. Our first problem: I didn’t know how to make Welsh Cakes on a commercial scale and Joe didn’t know how to make them at all! Devotion and naïveté kept us going in those early days. In the 14 months since we started, we have more than quadrupled our production capacity, extended our shelf life to four weeks without using preservatives, and have sold over 100,000 cakes at more than 30 festivals, farmers markets and street fairs from Phoenix to San Francisco. We routinely sell out at 90 percent of the venues we attend – it’s clear, America loves Welsh Cakes!
In SCV, we sell our products exclusively thru the Coffee Kiosk Stores. Kiosk is a smart company that makes delicious drinks that compliment our cakes. We have a large and growing Facebook community and we sell and ship to customers in every state… we even ship to Wales! If you’ve never had a Welsh Cake, you can sample one for free at any Coffee Kiosk. You can buy online at welshbaker.com and pickup usually within 24 hours at any Coffee Kiosk. We even offer free local delivery to your home or business and Yes, we do gift boxes!
You may have never heard of Welsh Cakes before but we’re confident you’ll be hearing about them a whole lot more in the future.
Mwynhau! (That’s Welsh for Enjoy)
The Welsh Baker is located at 26470 Ruether Avenue, Suite 107 in Santa Clarita. For more information, please call 877-WelshBaker (935-7422) and visit www.welshbaker.com.