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TikTok Shop accounted for 30 per cent of the company's sales last year

A woman from Greater Manchester turned a modest kitchen hobby into one of Britain's fastest-growing online bakeries.

What began with just £300 in savings has become Candy's Cupcakes, a business that generated £2million in turnover last year.

Candice "Candy" Bannister, who spent more than a decade working in supported housing before picking up a piping bag, taught herself to decorate cakes using YouTube videos and library books after the birth of her first child.

Speaking with GB News, she explained how her business started and became profitable.

Ms Bannister launched a Facebook page to sell her creations in 2011, initially operating as a sole trader from her home.

She said: "My husband and I agreed that we would put aside some of our savings so I could buy some stock in bulk in order to price and margin the cakes correctly, to test if I could turn cakes into a profitable business.

"First month, I had made this back with an influx of birthday cake orders and cake fair stalls."

Candy's Cupcakes hit £2million in turnover last year after two years of rapid growth, with revenue rising by 40 per cent annually.

That marked a dramatic increase from £585,000 in 2021. Turnover climbed to £900,000 by 2023 before reaching £1.4million in 2024.

So far in 2026, the business has generated £1.3million in sales. But Ms Bannister says the pace of expansion has prompted a change in strategy, with the company now focusing more heavily on profitability and sustainable growth.

Rather than chasing further rapid growth, the priority this year is profitability and more controlled scaling. The shift comes after hard lessons learned during periods of fast expansion.

"Growing too quickly caused company processes to start failing," Ms Bannister said. The experience of scaling at speed during both the pandemic and last year convinced her that a steadier approach was needed, with greater emphasis on strategy and sustainable margins.

TikTok Shop has played a central role in that expansion. The platform accounted for 30 per cent of the company's sales last year, with revenue through the channel jumping from £470,000 in 2024 to £782,000 in 2025.

The bakery currently generates between £2,000 and £3,000 in daily TikTok sales. Dedicated presenters broadcast live from the bakery itself for six and a half hours a day, six days a week, demonstrating products, chatting with customers and packing orders on camera.

"Investing in the livestream and going live from 9 am to 9.30 pm most days has ensured that we have built a loyal community of over 100k followers," Ms Bannister said.

The company's most popular TikTok product is its "cake in a jar". A recently introduced live auction format has also proved a significant hit, though it has added pressure on baking capacity and production schedules.

Before launching Candy's Cupcakes, Ms Bannister had built an 11-year career in supported housing across Tameside and Manchester.

She helped vulnerable adults access employment, education, accommodation and health services, managing a young persons' scheme and a mother and baby unit among other projects.

The entrepreneurial spark came after she had children. A self-described creative mind, she began experimenting with cake decorating as a way to make gifts for family and friends.

"This hobby soon turned into a real opportunity to start a business from home whilst I had two very young children," she said.

Her earliest customers came from her personal network. Her very first order was from a Slimming World representative at the club she attended.

"When I look back, they looked terrible, but she was thrilled!" Ms Bannister recalled. Friends from her baby group soon followed, requesting cakes for their children's birthdays.

The moment Ms Bannister realised she could no longer juggle baking orders until the early hours with her day job and two small children, she knew it was time to commit.

She secured four wedding cake deposits at a bridal fair, giving her the confidence to leave her housing role in 2014.

Her husband Oliver, who retrained from forensic science into digital marketing, proved instrumental in the transition. He designed the company's logo and built its ecommerce website.

Production gradually outgrew the family kitchen, moving first into her mother's garages before the couple took on an old nut-and-bolt factory in Ashton-under-Lyne.

They converted it into a five-star rated kitchen, funding much of the work themselves.

When Covid struck, orders collapsed as weddings, birthdays and other celebrations were cancelled or postponed. But being an online-only operation meant Candy's Cupcakes could keep trading through lockdown.

The company pivoted sharply towards postal deliveries. Its existing "cake in a box" product, which contained four slices packaged to fit through a letterbox, "went crazy overnight", Bannister said.

She recruited staff from unexpected places during the pandemic, bringing on a furloughed Virgin Airlines worker and her own hairdresser, both of whom were unable to work in their usual roles.

Oliver worked without pay throughout this period, balancing his contributions to the business with looking after the couple's children.

The pandemic ultimately proved a turning point, accelerating the shift from a local cake maker to a nationwide postal bakery.

One of Ms Bannister's biggest regrets was using company profits to fund the factory conversion rather than seeking outside finance.

The decision left the business short of cash and "playing catch-up" for a period, though it eventually recovered.

Margins in food production remain tight, she said, with staffing costs and ingredient prices requiring constant vigilance. Without the overheads of a physical shop, the company instead spends heavily on online marketing.

For aspiring entrepreneurs starting out with limited funds, Ms Bannister's advice is straightforward.

"Get out there and do not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone," she said.

"TikTok and content creation is an important and free way to grow your reach quickly. You need to be authentic and consistent with your approach. Your community is your growth, people buy into people. Try new things and do not be afraid to fail."