Back-to-back awards are the icing on the cake for St Helens baker

Lauren King launched her home-based cake making business in 2015 before moving to the Duke Street premises in 2020.

The talented baker won last year’s Best for Dessert award and has done the double, winning St Helens’ 2023 search to find the tastiest treats in town.

Each week, we will be searching for the best St Helens has to offer in different categories and we’ve given out 12 awards for 2023.

The winners so far:

Best for Hair – Hair by Alice Michelle

Best for Pies – Blackburn’s

Best for Nails – Kreative Kirsty

Best for Roast Dinner – The Brown Edge Pub

Best for Cocktails – The Townhouse

Best for Breakfast – Shakey J’s

Best for Fitness – Ashley-James Ward

Best for Fish and Chips – Paul’s Fishbar

Best for Tattoos – White Rabbit Tattoo Studio

Best for Pizza – Dial-A-Pizza

Best for Pets – The Dog House

Best Independent Shop or Business – Stone Tyres

Voting for St Helens’ Best for Beauty is currently taking place and we’re also looking for nominations in our latest search - Best for Kids.

Next on the menu was the search for St Helens’ Best for Dessert and Antonia’s Cakes took the latest Best of 2023 crown, securing back-to-back Best for Dessert wins.

The desserts are a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds!

Lauren, who is 35 and was born and raised in St Helens, said: “We started the business at home and then after a few years we opened a shop in St Helens.

“We mainly make wedding cakes and celebration cakes to order, but we also have a shop that sells freshly made brownies, cookies and cupcakes as well as other sweet treats.

“Everything we sell is made fresh, from scratch, in our bakery.

“We’ve now opened a second premises – a larger bakery unit on Gerards Park – that will be fully operational very soon.”

Lauren has always had a passion for art and design and has a degree in fashion and textiles.

She was a young mum at 21 and being at home for a year, when her first baby was born, she started baking again – something she’d done as a child.

Lauren, who is mum to Esme and Elijah, said: “I’d done a lot of baking with my grandma when I was younger.

“I found that making cakes allowed me to do something creative and I started to apply things I had learned during my degree to designing cakes.

“Things just took off from there as I started to make cakes for friends and family.

“Word of mouth recommendations meant I started to pick up more business and I set up an Instagram page and website.

“We never expected to outgrow our home kitchen so quickly so opening a shop and then a larger bakery was a huge achievement for us.”

Lauren made and sold handmade clothing online during her time at college and university and worked freelance as a costume and wardrobe designer on sets while her son was still tiny.

She says she picked up her business acumen along the way.

The perfect addition to a special occasion

Lauren said: “Baking cakes allowed me to bring together two things that I really love – baking and creativity.

“There are so many talented cake makers and successful businesses out there at the moment.

“We really do love what we do and I think that shows in the products we create.

“We have a talented team of bakers and decorators who are able to create unique and stylish - as well as very tasty cakes, wedding cakes and baked goodies.

“We’re also in the process of creating a website that will allow our clients to customise their celebration cakes and wedding cakes online, which should make the whole process of ordering a custom cake easier.”

Brownies, blondies and cookie pies as well as cupcakes and rocky roads are always on the menu at Antonia’s Cakes but their best-selling bakes are NYC cookies, which are chunky and gooey cookies topped with chocolates and sauces and they’re all baked fresh in-store each day.

So, how did Lauren and the talented team feel when they heard they’d made the shortlist for our latest Best of 2023 award? And what about their reaction to the news they’d won the award for the second year in a row?

Lauren said: “We’re very proud that our customers put us forward for this award - it really means a lot.

“There are some great bakers and cake decorators involved again this year so to win is great for our team.

“We have such lovely customers and we’re very grateful they decided to nominate us and then vote for us.

“It means so much that they enjoy our products.

“As a special thank you to our customers, we’ve been spinning our giveaway wheel in store today (Saturday), and visitors won treat boxes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies and much more.”

For more details go to facebook.com/antoniascakeshop