A self-taught baker from Radcliffe who started a company during the pandemic is celebrating success after three years in business.
Haley Comiskey Harwood, 36, left her office job at Crown Energy in Bury to launch her cake-making business in June 2020 amid the turmoil of the health crisis.
The mum-of-two began Comiskey’s Cupcake Creations while on furlough, but instead of returning to her job she made the decision to work on her business full time, initially trialling cupcakes.
With support from family and friends, including her husband Bradley and her daughters Scarlett and Rosa, she began delivering her homemade cakes to customers across Manchester.
Word about the business, which Haley runs from her own kitchen, spread like butter cream and she now bakes between 25 to 30 cakes a week.
Over the past three years, she estimates she’s baked a whopping 2,500 cakes.
She said: “Lockdown made me realise I was working from someone else but I could be working for myself.
“I’ve always enjoyed baking, I’ve always been able to bake, I just enjoy it and I don’t see it as work.
“I think I’m becoming an artist with cake work- I never knew I could be so artistic.”
After beginning with cupcakes, the self-taught baker began making bigger birthday and wedding cakes two-and-a-half years ago.
She says that working through the cost of living crisis has been “tough” as fewer people are spending money on luxuries, but the business is still going strong.
In that time, she has also perfected her recipes which her customers love.
She added: “Everyone just loves it, so I’ve kept [the recipe] the same for over a year, that’s important if you’re going to have returning customers."
Hayley’s next goal is grow her business even and says her dream would be to open her own shop to so more people can enjoy the cakes she bakes.
“It’s got to the point where I’m thinking about ways to expand it,” she said.
“I go into Slattery’s and I think ‘this is my dream.’”
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