Shepreth 18-year-old sets up successful baking business with quirky cakes

An 18-year-old from Shepreth has been inspired by her friend, a Paralympian and entrepreneur, to set up a baking business.

Tori Freedman decided to defer her place to study medicine at Bristol University to pursue her passion for baking, but little did she know it would lead to great things.

She said: “I wanted a year to be able to bake as much as I wanted and to experiment with new and unusual recipes and flavours – however I never anticipated starting a business.”

The more she baked, the more people began to hear about her baking and she had requests for orders coming in thick and fast, so decided to start up her business Victoria Slice.

She said: “I was inspired by my friend, Georgie Bullen, who is a Paralympian and entrepreneur herself – recently starting her own business using her experience in sports for team-building in large corporations.

“ I was motivated to follow my own aspirations too. So from here I contacted Cambridge Market and successfully managed to get a stall. Along with Georgie, we attended our first week at the market last Wednesday, selling my freshly baked cupcakes.”

Tori has a range of both unique and classic flavour combinations, which change weekly, from vegan parsnip and pineapple cupcakes – which proved particularly popular and sold out – to sticky toffee pudding and custard cupcakes to gluten free apricot, lemon and rose cupcakes.

She said: “Things went so much better than I could have imagined and we finished the day with beaming smiles, having had not only great sales but also keen interest in special order cakes for businesses and weddings.”