Meet the vegan baker who makes decorative cupcakes that look just like flowers
When Ranj Patel decided to challenge herself by signing up to Veganuary, she knew there was one thing she wouldn’t be able to live without.
“The first thing I thought was, I need to know how to make a good vegan cake, or it’s never going to work,” she explains.
“Baking has always been part of my life. I have baked ever since I was really young and I’ve always baked for family and friends.”
Ranj headed to the kitchen to experiment with dairy-free ingredients and egg substitutes to ensure she could still enjoy her favourite treat.
After completing her one-month challenge in January 2020, she continued to follow a plant-based diet and began perfecting her recipes through the first Covid lockdown.
“It took about six months to get it right. It was important to me to invest the time in the recipe.
“I’ve tried vegan cakes and I have been really disappointed. It had to taste good,” says the 49-year-old, who lives in Wolverhampton.
It involved a lot of trial and error but Ranj’s perseverance paid off.
Once she was able to bake a cake she was happy to share with others, she gave them to her family and friends and asked for their feedback.
Ranj substitutes the eggs for oat milk and the butter for vegetable oil.
She also adds a little bit of bicarbonate of soda and apple cider vinegar, which can’t be tasted but makes the cakes extra light and fluffy
“When we came out of lockdown, I started gifting cakes to family and friends.
“They told me they were amazing and that they couldn’t tell they were vegan. They all said I should sell them.
“I’m a marketing consultant and my work had quieted down during lockdown.
“It seemed a good way to earn some money doing something I enjoyed,” explains Ranj.
Her creativity was further inspired after she spotted Instagram posts of cupcakes looking like flowers.
“I spent hours on Instagram looking at pictures of buttercream flowers and realised there were lots of bakers doing this around the world,” explains Ranj.
She started learning how to create delicate blooms such as peonies, roses, tulips, alliums, daisies, carnations and sunflowers as well as cacti and succulents.
“I watched lots of tutorials and I’m a keen gardener so I can go out into the garden and look at the flowers.
“I’ve got hundreds of piping nozzles and I’ve got to know which one I need to use to create petals that are the right size and shape. I’m always learning and doing new things.
“The more intricate the flowers, the longer it takes me,” explains Ranj.
“I can offer flowers that are out of season. People get a bouquet and cakes in one gift.”
Since launching her vegan boutique bakery, VeCakes, in May 2021, she has been baking around 1,000 cupcakes a year.
Ranj caters for all occasions including birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, weddings, baby showers and Mother’s Day.
Her range includes cupcake bouquets, boxed cupcakes and colourful mandala designs for Indian weddings, cultural events and celebrations. She also offers letter or number frames for special occasions which are made up of decorated full-sized cupcakes and garden traybakes consisting of buttercream flowers piped onto a layer of vanilla sponge.
Flavours available include vanilla, lemon, Lotus Biscoff, carrot, chocolate, red velvet, pistachio and cardamom. She also offers gluten-free vanilla cupcakes.
“Around a third of my customers are vegan, a third have allergies and a third aren’t vegan but are attracted to the look of my cakes,” says Ranj.
Customers travel from all over the Midlands as well as further afield such as Manchester and Leeds for her cakes.
“I think a lot of vegans struggle to find tasty vegan cakes,” says Ranj.
“I’ve got families of customers who are all buying for each other. I get a lot of people buying my cakes because they’ve been gifted them by someone else,” she adds.
For Ranj, baking and decorating cakes helps her to feel calm and relaxed.
“It’s so therapeutic and it’s a lovely creative outlet for me. My absolute highlight is when customers come to collect cakes and I see their face and they’re so happy. I get a buzz from that,” she says.
Ranj also supports two good causes close to her heart by donating cakes that they can use to raise funds.
She supports Wolverhampton-based The Garden Sanctuary and the Farm Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Stratford-upon-Avon and so far her cakes have raised more than £600.
See vecakes.co.uk or follow VeCakesbyRanj on Facebook and Instagram.