Who is Fiona Pâtissière?
Fiona Pâtissière is a creative cake design brand, based in Ely, Cambridgeshire, serving the county and beyond. Fiona, a former scientist, is the winner of the inaugural Cambridge Bake Off, and has long since hung up her lab coat in favour of a more creative outlet in the world of cakes.
My route into cakes, chocolate and gourmet sweets was not a conventional one. I initially trained as a biologist at the University of Cambridge, but keen for a creative outlet to offset the academic demands of lab life, I started baking and decorating cakes for friends, family and colleagues (much to their delight!).
Over the years that followed, this interest and passion for all things cake grew. In 2013 I won the inaugural Cambridge Bake Off, which gave me the confidence boost to quit my day job and start my own baking business. I didn’t quite hang up my apron as a scientist altogether though, as my background is a big part of what I do now. I love the precision and accuracy that is needed in fine baking – even when I cook savoury recipes, I much prefer Heston Blumenthal’s clinically exact temperatures and timings over anything else! People may argue that precision and accuracy stifle creativity; I disagree. It is only through a deeper understanding of the chemistry of baking that recipes can be tweaked and creativity truly flow.
Precision and attention to every single detail is evident in all of my work from the inside out and has become my trademark style. A ‘Fiona Pâtissière’ cake will be sharp, modern, packed full of detail and, of course, packed full of taste!