"I love making cakes so I opened a colourful shop in Lye selling baking supplies"

Now she runs her own business, Iced Jems, selling a wide range of more than 2,000 products for those who love to bake and decorate cakes and has a shop in the Black Country.

"I’ve always loved baking,” says Jemma.

“I had a very boring job and it was my way to have a creative outlet at home,” she explains.

Almost 15 years ago, Jemma began sharing her recipes for baked treats, such as cupcakes, brownies and cookies, and ideas on an online blog.

"I love experimenting with new ideas, I don’t like to make the same thing twice,” she says.

At the time, Jemma, who grew up in Halesowen, was struggling to find the baking supplies she needed to bring her creative ideas to life. 

"Traditional cake decorating was all royal icing and fruit cake when I started. I wanted to do bright colours and swirls on cupcakes.

"It was hard to get the products I wanted and they were so expensive,”  she explains.

Jemma, who describes herself as “a bargain hunter”, decided to start sourcing and selling products online for "much more reasonable prices”.

“The business and my blog grew and grew to the point of needing a store somewhere locally,” she explains. 

“I opened Iced Jems in 2015 and we have been supplying local people in the West Midlands with all their baking supply needs ever since. 

"Last year we moved from our shop to a smaller one as sadly sales aren’t what they used to be. 

"We still trade online as well as supporting our local customers,” adds the 37-year-old.

The shop is now based a short distance from Stourbridge town centre at Teco House in Lye. 

"We’re in a lovely building which we share with another small business,” says Jemma.

Iced Jems is bright, colourful and welcoming with eye-catching displays full of baking cups, cake toppers, moulds, cookie cutters, piping nozzles, cake mixes, sprinkles, cake boxes and boards.

“I love pink and I love to colour coordinate all of the products – it's a rainbow shop,” says Jemma.

"We moved to the new shop a year ago to keep in line with demand and a lot of customers are rediscovering us,” she adds.

There is a cake tin hire service available for local customers and Jemma is always keeping an eye out for new products she thinks bakers will like and find useful.

She also likes to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in cake decorating. 

“We have new products in the shop all the time and we have our own brand of products which have been designed and made too.

"One of our best-sellers is our non-stick icing rolling mat. 

"It solves a lot of problems for bakers because they don’t have to balance their icing over a rolling pin before placing onto their cakes,” she adds. All of the staff are cake decorators and are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience with customers.

"We’re bakers and our customers are bakers so we all have something in common,” says Jemma, who also shares baking tutorials online to inspire people. 

"Often we get complete beginners come in. 

"They can show us a picture of the cake they want to make and we will talk them through everything they will need to make it,” she adds.

"It’s nice when people come back and they show us pictures of the cakes they have made.

"It’s great when we have advised them on cake and they say it worked out really well,” she adds. 

Jemma believes this personal service that is tailored to customers needs is what makes small independent businesses stand out from the crowd. 

"People can come in, get advice, see their products and we can show them how they work. 

"We’re just as cheap, if not cheaper, than the online stores. 

"Customers pay the same price, or less, but they’re getting the advice as well.

"I think people think we’re going to be expensive because traditional cake decorating shops can be expensive so they are pleasantly surprised when they come in and find all the bargains,” she says.

Free parking is available outside the shop. For more information and opening times, visit www.icedjemsshop.com or www.facebook.com/IcedJems