Today for “Behind The Door With….”, I’m popping down to Newcastle to chat with Naomi Henderson of Hello Naomi. Naomi has a huge fan base of dedicated followers online and it’s no wonder – her cakes and sweet creations are beyond imagination! Cupcakes and cookies can range from cute vintage-style flavours through to custom-created designs that might include a customer’s favourite character or colour scheme for a wedding.
Naomi started as a home-based business and as her popularity grew, so did the dream of her own cake shop. It was also time to upgrade to a bigger commercial-scale kitchen and this was something Naomi wanted to design herself. “We chose the space on location, with the plan to turn it into the perfect shop” says Naomi. Completely refitting the beautiful old terrace was not without its challenges and Naomi project managed the job herself which she says was a steep learning curve. “It was a little bit like an episode of Grand Designs” says Naomi “There was lots of surprises and everything took longer than anticipated”.
The end result was a space that is light, bright and beautiful and it was certainly worth the hard work. Naomi chose every detail with care, having already planned out all the little touches years before it became a reality. The front cafe reveals a long glass cake cabinet filled with treats, cute pastel coloured stools and blonde wood details. There’s specialty coffee from Small Batch, interesting tea blends and house-made flavoured jersey milks.
When it comes to weddings, Naomi can custom-create beautiful wedding cakes and even entire dessert bars or wedding favours. Her delicate sugar flowers are a Hello Naomi specialty and look even more perfect than the real thing! Naomi is passionate about quality ingredients and you can be sure the eggs are free range, the vanilla is Madagascan and the chocolate is Belgian couverture. The flavours range from salted caramel to vanilla coconut and everything in between!
Naomi loves her new kitchen and the freedom having a store gives her. Brides can pop into the cafe for an initial chat with the front of house staff and buy some cakes to take home. Naomi holds tastings and consultations in the cafe and customers can pick up their cakes directly from the store. “It’s been amazing to be able to interact directly with my fans and clients” says Naomi. “They can pop in for a birthday cake or special treat anytime, not just big special occasions like weddings”.
Images via Hello Naomi
Ms Chinoiserie Says: I’m in sweet treat heaven; what a wonderfully cute shop to visit; I would never want to leave!
About Amelia Waddell of Make Your Day Wedding Styling: I’m a wedding stylist and proud store owner who loves to chat weddings with everyone and anyone! I love to talk shop with other business owners (particularly over some chocolate cake!) and am the first to try and have a sticky beak behind the scenes of any event. My free time is spent ‘investigating’ new cafes, stores and events.
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