Growing up with homemade birthday cakes, chosen from the pages of Women’s Weekly, is what many of our childhood memories are made of! Who can forget the swimming pool cake filled with jelly, the giant duck with chips for a beak or the amazing train with all its carriages filled with popcorn.
Gold Coast Mum of three Lou Duggan loves making her kids special themed cakes but was done with all the special ingredients and the 3am finishes trying to create them as a surprise. Stressed to the max, she knew there had to be a better way! So she founded Cake 2 The Rescue, providing families with cake kits containing ingredients, instructions and everything they need to create a homemade masterpiece. Today Lou has helped over 50,000 families pour their love into a homemade cake the easy way, so we chat to Lou about how this all came about and why Cake 2 The Rescue has been such a success.
Firstly, what a brilliant idea. Cake making for a novice is hard and social media has placed such unrealistic expectations on parents too. Your kits allow parents of ‘all baking skills levels’ to have a go. Tell us about how it all began.
I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since two mums decided to create a business together. I was such a Martha Stewart type mum that we started off trying to work out how to ship me to everyones home each time they had a party. That’s when we came up with the kit concept. The genius behind the concept is my lack of cake decorating skills. I’m a Geologist, Engineer and Interior Designer with no cooking qualifications at all. We knew if I could design the kits and make them, then so could every other parent. My lack of skills became our secret weapon.
You’ve got three daughters and you’re originally from Scotland. Tell us a bit more about you and your family.
When they say your kids will grow up in the blink of an eye, I couldn’t agree more. My girls are 21, 19 and 17 and hubby and I have been married for 25 years in October! We live in the Gold Coast hinterland with our Covid Cavi George. We are at the beautiful stage where we are now more like friends living together, but I still set the boundaries and pay for everything hahaha!!!
You created the business to rescue families from the stress of cake making, but realistically it also rescued you. How?
I really struggled with being a stay at home mum if I’m honest. We had 3 girls in 4.5 years and in those early years I lost myself. I was bored and lonely and my self-confidence was hanging by a thread. So when my youngest was ready for school I jumped on a friends suggestion to start a business together. Cake 2 The Rescue gave me a place to stand in the world again, a place to remember all the things I loved about me.
The Facebook Cake 2 The Rescue Support Group is a place where mums can cheer on total stranger’s creations, ask questions and celebrate imperfection! With more than 13k members, you must see some amazing creations come to life here, or some great fails. Care to share any?
I’m so so proud of our carer community. I’m just not willing to tolerate those faceless bullies living in the comments of social media so we call it the kindest group on Facebook. Our group’s not really a place for those intimidating 3D tiered masterpieces. The stories are about parents who’ve never made a cake before who are just so damn proud and blown away that their cake kit turns out “just like the picture”. Teary posts about their kids saying “wow that cake is amazing mama”. Our mantra is, kids don’t see crumbs in the icing, they only see the love and time you poured into their homemade cake.
How many different cake designs do you have available in your range and what has been the most popular ones?
Oh gosh, we have over 300 designs in our standard range and have also helped design more than 200 custom design that are also available. After 11 years and 300 designs we still see a massive range of designs go out each week, but Dinosaurs and Unicorns have been favourites every year without fail.
What’s been the best part and the hardest part about running your own business.
The best part has been the community for sure. They came into my life at a time when I needed someone to raise me up and tell me I had something to offer the world as an individual. Now at 47, that baton has been passed to me and it’s my aim to ensure every person who comes into our cake kit community knows that they are enough just as they are. Encouraging them to cut themselves some slack and love themselves starting today. In the past I would have said hardest is building a financially viable business, but now that has been achieved it’s more about adaptability and navigating unexpected circumstances, hello Covid!
Your three girls are pretty grown up now compared the when you started 11 years ago. Do they still get a cake each year?
Hahaha I would love to say yes but honestly, when you grow up in a house where there is always cake on the bench, it’s the last thing you want for your birthday. The eldest loves a woollies $5 chocolate mud cake, the middle loves raspberry meringue and the youngest glazed donut towers!
Speaking of the girls, got any funny parenting stories you’d like to share with us?
I might live to regret this, but there was one particular birthday party when I’d been up all night making cakes for two of my daughters who are 2 years and 2 days apart. I was exhausted and frantically finishing off cleaning the kitchen with my bestie, before all the guests arrived, when I tipped an entire bottle of green food colouring over my white wood kitchen and floor. Before I had time to think rationally, I whipped off my dress and was using it to soak up all the food colouring. I can still hear my girlfriend roaring with laughter at me in my undies covered in green, scrubbing the floor as the party was about to start.
And lastly, where can we find your amazing cake kits?
@cake2therescue on FB, Insta, Pinterest and of course our website www.cake2therescue.com.au But more than anything, come join our community group Cake 2 The Rescue Support.
