We’re on cherry watch for 2025 and beyond as the humble cherry finds itself firmly in the running for most popular wedding fruit of the year! From cake ideas to colour palettes, the cherry-coded wedding is one we absolutely do not want to miss. Is there any wonder when a cherry-inspired wedding cake can look as mesmerising as this?
Bespoke cake made by The Fat Fairy
We interviewed Maddie, bespoke Norfolk baker extraordinaire of The Fat Fairy. Read on for major inspiration and details on how you too can book Maddie for your own wedding.
Happy Valley: Maddie, in a sentence, tell us who you are?
Maddie: I'm the owner and full time baker of The Fat Fairy - I specialise in bespoke buttercream bakes across Norfolk!
Happy Valley: How did The Fat Fairy come to be?
Maddie: The Fat Fairy was born from my competitive streak! My brother (a trained ex-pastry chef) and I used to have a yearly competition, to see who could make the other the best birthday cake - his always tasted incredible so I knew mine needed to look good! I began practicing more when I was home from university and he would rate my bakes out of 10 and give me pointers on how to tweak my recipes. I started to post pictures on my personal instagram page of my latest creations and it wasn't long before a friend at university reached out and asked if I could bake her a cake - that was over 8 years ago, and the rest is history!
Happy Valley: In another life, if you weren’t a master baker, what would you be doing?
Maddie: If I wasn't a baker, I think I would be a children's counsellor/psychotherapist! Fun fact - I actually completed my first level of training to be a qualified psychotherapist before I decided to give the whole cake making thing a good go!
Happy Valley: Biggest challenge you’ve faced running your business?
Maddie: The biggest challenge I've faced has definitely been the cost of living crisis. Over the past couple of years, I have really had to diversify my product range. Whilst initially I created only luxury, custom designed cakes (at a bespoke price point), with the drastic change in the economy, I had to find new ways of ensuring the survival of my business in such uncertain times. I created a new range of products called "The Fairy Basic" range - including a set design cake and a smaller, more affordable sheet cake - which completely opened my business up to a whole new customer base and made my products more affordable, to more people.
Happy Valley: What is your proudest professional achievement?
Maddie: My proudest professional achievement to date was being asked to make treats for Stacey Solomon's baby shower and hand delivering them all the way to Essex!
Happy Valley: And let’s get to know you better, what is Maddie’s proudest personal achievement?
Maddie: My proudest personal achievement was completing my Management degree from the University of Leeds and getting a 2:1, despite it being a very challenging time for me personally.
Happy Valley: How has The Fat Fairy changed and developed over time?
Maddie: The Fat Fairy has definitely grown and changed a lot over time! I think perhaps one of the biggest developments has been that this has grown from a part-time 'side hustle' into my full-time career! As my confidence and skills have developed, so has my customer base, and after eight years of perfecting my craft, I finally took the leap into the world of wedding cakes last year. It was a great introduction to the wedding season and I can't wait to see it continue to grow over the next few years.
Happy Valley: What is in the pipeline for the Fat Fairy’s future?
Maddie: Now that's a tricky one! I think there is so much uncertainty in the industry at the moment, especially with the ever rising costs! I would love to continue growing my wedding cake portfolio, making special cakes for couples across Norfolk. I would also like to continue expanding my online shop with new postal products!
Happy Valley: What is the best way for couples to book you? Talk us through the process, tasting, sharing ideas etc.
Maddie: Get in touch! Whether that be via email or social media, I am always more than happy to chat about all things cake! After I have received your initial enquiry, I will send over a copy of my wedding brochure with all the information you will need - flavours, price guides, FAQ's, serving sizes and so much more! I will then ask you for some more details - your venue, wedding date, number of guests and to share any ideas or inspiration photos for your big cake. Once you have an initial quote, we can arrange a telephone call to talk in more detail, or we can continue to communicate through email/social media to ensure we have all of those details nailed down. I also offer cake tastings a couple of times a year, to help you choose the all important cake flavour (and because I firmly believe that cake tasting is the best part of wedding planning!) In terms of logistics for the big day, I will take the stress away and liaise directly with your venue to make sure everything cake related runs smoothly and without any hiccups! All that's left is to enjoy the cake!
Bespoke cake made by The Fat Fairy
Happy Valley: Now let’s get into the good stuff! The cake! Where did the inspiration for this particular cake come from?
Maddie: My wonderful couple sent me their inspiration photo of a small, single tiered piped vintage cake that had caught their eye. I used this, along with the colours from their Pinterest mood board to create their bespoke wedding cake - I am very fortunate that the majority of my couples give me their full trust to use my artistic license to create their dream cake!
Happy Valley: Take us through, step by step the creation of this cake.
Maddie: As with any of my cakes, I bake it the day before the delivery/collection - it has always been important to me that I am providing a freshly baked cake!
Bespoke cake made by The Fat Fairy
Bespoke cake made by The Fat Fairy
Bespoke cake made by The Fat Fairy
Maddie: All of my wedding cakes get a white chocolate ganache crumb coat - this is really important as it provides extra stability for buttercream cakes when they are displayed for a longer period of time. After the final coat of buttercream is on the cake, we have the blank canvas to work with - the fun part! I spent a lot of time mixing the colours for this cake - adding and tweaking different food colourings to create the perfect shades to match the couples wedding colours. I then gathered all my piping bags and favourite nozzles and let the piping commence! Finally, it was time to add the final cherry touches to add the last pop of colour to this fun and quirky cake.
Happy Valley: What did you enjoy most about this particular cake?
Maddie: This cake is just fun! I love that it challenged the usual stereotype of wedding cakes needing to be simple and white - it is just quirky and playful!
Happy Valley: With vintage cakes being promoted as a 2025 wedding trend, what are you expecting more of?
Maddie: I think 2025 will see a lot of vintage piped cakes - especially heart shaped ones! I am expecting lots of frilly piping, bows and cherries. I also think that fresh raspberries covering the top of a vintage cake will be the next big thing to watch out for! Larger, single tier cakes are definitely having their moment!
Happy Valley: Cherries are another trend that we foresee coming to the forefront in 2025. What other ways can these be incorporated into wedding cakes?
Happy Valley: Maraschino stemmed cherries are a huge trend sweeping the cake world at the moment - and they are such a fun way of adding a pop of colour to a wedding cake! However, fresh cherries can also look gorgeous on those more muted tone and autumnal cakes! Or if you're wanting to incorporate the cherry trend, without the colour - why not opt for a surprise cherry filling?!
This beautiful cake was the centrepiece at Stephanie and Kurtis’s wedding on Sat 15th June 2024 at Happy Valley Norfolk. It was a show-stopper from every angle and brilliantly suited to such a lovely couple. To book Maddie for your wedding, get in touch via her website here. She is a frequent visitor of Happy Valley Norfolk and we think she’s pretty amazing!
