BAKING SENSATIONS
With more than 130,000 followers on Instagram, twins Rachel Finch and Lauren Sinclair have created a hugely successful brand through social media. Photography: Nic Taylor Photography
Twin sisters who have become social media sensations thanks to their extravagant cakes and bubbly personalities, have secured a book deal with publishing giants DK.
Rachel Finch and Lauren Sinclair, from the Ribble Valley, are self-taught bakers, who in their younger days, experimented in their parents’ kitchen and went on to bake for friends at university.
“While at university I was writing a dissertation on social media and small businesses,” recalls Lauren, who was studying for a business degree. “We had a Facebook account and we were posting images of our cakes, it was a bit of an experiment really as it was back in the day when no-one even made cup-cakes!”
On graduating the sisters travelled together to Thailand and Australia and on their return both got office jobs. But it soon became apparent that the girls were becoming hugely popular on social media and famed for their legendary cakes: “We had been baking for family and friends for years, so we eventually decided to open a little shop. We didn’t have any proper business experience, or a brand as such, it was all very basic.”
Five years later and Finch Bakery now employs 34 people and will soon be operating from new premises four doors down from where they began in Queen Street, Great Harwood.
“To be honest we still work on the same philosophy. First and foremost we bake the most delicious cakes and secondly we love interacting with our customers,” adds Rachel, who together with Lauren, launched one of their most popular products – the cake jar.
“We can’t say we invented it, but we were using so much jam that we decided to use the jars as cake jars. But we certainly were the first to do giant, one-litre cake jars! It was really by accident – an old school friend contacted us to see if we could make use of some giant jars so we made a huge cake jar! We posted a pic on social media and all of a sudden everyone wanted one!”
Today Finch Bakery produces hundreds of smaller cake jars that have been hand crafted and sent out for delivery during lockdown along with delicious brownies, blondies, cupcakes, cheesecakes and sticky toffee pudding cakes – one of their most popular creations!
Having grown up in Wilpshire and attended Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, the girls now live in Whalley and Brockhall. Their success has undoubtedly been a magic mix of sparkling personalities and a brilliant product that is manna from heaven for social media fans, who love to devour the sensational images of the twins’ delicious cakes!
Over the years the sisters have evolved their wholesome and homely brand identity: “It started on a mainly black and white theme and along the way we have thrown in some pink here and there. Wholesome and homely is what cake should be. We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” explains Lauren. “We are the main controllers of our social media and it works exceptionally well.”
Lauren, according to the Finch Bakery website is ‘the go-to gal’ when it comes to stunning wedding cakes and with a business degree under her belt, she is the one who keeps on top of the FB cake booking system and company finances.
Rachel, who always has a joke and a smile for the team, is a fabulous cake-maker and the creator of the famous Finch Bakery ‘half and half’ cake.
Unsurprisingly, it was never going to be long before the two got noticed, given their prolific social media presence.
“We were contacted by DK publishers last summer asking if we would like to write a book. We said, ‘Yes!’ It was totally out of the blue but we thought it would be fun, so we signed a contract with them in November. It was the right time as during the last lockdown we were really able to experiment.”
The twins are keen to point out that the book is not just a recipe book: “It contains lots of techniques and cake-making tips and tricks that we have figured out along the way. It has tips on how to assemble a cake, niche equipment and of course there are recipes – but we have tried to keep it simple. For example, there are tips on how to make and build a cookie ganache sandwich!
“The book will be out this summer, which is exciting! We’ve never really done anything like this, so we didn’t have any expectations, but we have really enjoyed it. We are so lucky to do what we do with such a lovely team.”
