Warwick student’s sweet way to avoid burden of student loan

Armed with only a cupcake stand received from her auntie as a Christmas present and a dodgy student oven, third year biomed student Lexie Titterington started her cupcake company LexBerry cakes last Christmas to tantalise the taste buds of students and locals alike.

The recession had hit the Titterington family hard, Lexie’s father was made redundant and her mother, who owns her own company, found client numbers diminishing rapidly as unemployment started to bite. As Lexie was being funded in her studies by her parents, she had to get inventive to keep herself afloat.

Far from finding herself panicked at the prospect of not knowing where the next rent payment was going to come from, and unhappy with the thought of whiling away hours behind a bar, Lexie drew on her culinary skills to make twenty four cupcakes to sell in the biomedical foyer.

This initial venture proved to be a great success; she completely sold out bringing home some great feedback, not to mention a pocket of pound coins. To ensure that LexBerry cakes could fulfil its potential Lexie was continually refining the recipe of her trademark white chocolate and raspberry cupcake testing it on lucky friends and family, until it was perfected.

The hard work appears to have paid off. Emily Buckingham, a second year history student, proclaimed them to be “the best cakes ever” and Ella Godwin a third year biomed student remarked “they taste even better than they look, and they look amazing!”

There have been some regulatory hoops to jump through, Lexie recently gained her catering hygiene level 2 certificate allowing her to operate the business from her two-person flat in Leamington Spa. Oven space has been a problem for expansion, when recently making cupcakes for the law society stand the small student oven has made working hours very long.

Despite making delicious cakes (I know this through experience) Lexie has been having difficulty getting business with the SU. As they already have a cake supplier for café Curiositea, they will not be looking either to change, or take on any additional suppliers. As Lexie mainly relies on an unsteady income from events, the SU’s decision has prevented any steady revenues, particularly as the only retailers interested at this stage are two local farm shops near Bedford.

The growth of Lexie’s business over the coming months appears to be in events. After success securing contracts with the law ball and the English ball, Lexie seems to have also infiltrated the local birthday party market, with an 18th and 16th birthday coming up over the coming weeks, as well as a local wedding next summer.

More information on LexBerry cakes, including how to get them at your society’s next event, can be found on the ‘LexBerry cake’ Facebook page.