1. NIKKI X SCOFFLAND
A conversation with Nikki, baker at 101 Bakery in Edinburgh
I meet Nikki on a warm Wednesday morning at Modern Standard Coffee in Bruntsfield. She is currently working at 101 Bakery in Newington, and tells me that last night they had their Christmas night out after having to postpone it in December due to Covid. I can already tell that for one, a coffee is needed and two, she has found a bakery she loves working at, ‘the dream’ as she later describes it. Longtime friends with owner Rosanna, they always spoke about working together, and were delighted to finally make it work at the end of 2021. Working 3 days allows Nikki to spend more time on her cake orders for weddings, birthdays and special occasions.
On her website, named after her amazing Instagram handle, Sneakybeets, you pick a date then a cake. Her June flavours range from olive oil, oranges and almonds to brown sugar and apricot. Flavours change monthly according to what’s in season. She tells me how she is excited to bake with the Scottish strawberries soon, one of the best things about summer in Scotland. Nikki enjoys foraging in her spare time, especially up Corstorphine Hill, where she foraged cherry blossom petals to decorate her delicious chocolate malt cake sold at her most recent pop up, which I was lucky to try. Arriving early on the Sunday morning to avoid disappointment, I anticipated buying one slice of cake but struggled to choose just one thing, then opting for the selection box, trying one of each of the products. It was a decision my friends loved me for as I went about the city dropping off the treats to my stressed out friends during peak exam season.
I’m eager to ask Nikki the obvious question of if she’ll open her own bakery one day. Her response shows it has definitely been something she has thought about. Yet there is something which holds her back. The idea of opening your own bakery is something which is strangely automatically expected of this profession. She tells of her dream to combine a bakery with a florist, like Cakes by Anna in New Zealand which operates as a part bakery and part florist with cakes for collection only.
With nearly 15 years working in the industry, Nikki is the woman behind some of the best bakes in Edinburgh, working with some of the most well known bakeries in the city: Twelve Triangles, Baba Budan (RIP!) and Lovecrumbs. She has also worked at various cafes and bakeries in Glasgow such as the well-known Short Long Black Coffee, the perfect spot for a pastry which is equally as amazing as the coffee.
Her time in the hospitality industry has been far from smooth sailing. Some of the stories she tells me highlight the need for a better hospitality workers union. The long hours and mistreatment of staff is still commonplace to this day. Nikki tells me how in one job she had to ask for chairs for staff to sit down for a lunch break, and how in some jobs she was very often one of the few females in the kitchen. Scotland would benefit from a platform such as Countertalk, an online and in-person community which aims to promote healthy hospitality environments.
Every SCOFFLAND conversation ends with the same question: what do you think of when you think of Scotland and food? For Nikki, it’s seasonality. She enjoys seeing different baking interpretations of seasonal fruits. Scottish food is often seen as being largely brown in colour and uninteresting to look at, yet Nikki’s fun and flavourful creations prove otherwise. Largely inspired by the cake decorating styles of LA, Nikki fuses this with seasonal flavours to create a cake service which is fun and different to any other in Scotland. It’s no wonder her orders fill up so quickly.
As she leaves the coffee shop she plans to pay a visit to the pet shop across the road to pick up some treats for her dog, Penelope. Life may be busy but Nikki has found the balance she always hoped to find.