Baking FOR LOVE

Cake maker Julia Atkinson produces the most spectacular creations at Christmas

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Baking spreads joy all year round for Julia Atkinson, but is all the more important during the festive season. 'I've always adored baking, creating something special for others to enjoy,' says Julia, 55, from Oxford. 'And Christmas isn't Christmas without a traditional cake.

Like many, Julia first learned to bake as a child. 'I loved baking with my mum, Gillian. We'd often whip up tiffin or flapjacks for tea. And every birthday we'd make a cake with a clock face on it, made of chocolate buttons. The hands would point to the person's age.' But it wasn't just the delicious results that made Julia smile even back then. 'It was lovely spending the time with Mum and, of course, I enjoyed eating the cakes and biscuits we made,' she says. 'But I also found it fascinating that we could take these very different ingredients and combine them to create something totally new!'

After leaving school in 1986, Julia spent two years at a catering college in Blackpool, then went on to Oxford Brookes University to complete a catering degree. In the early 1990s, she began working as a catering manager at St Cross College in Oxford — a job she held for 11 years.

Throughout, baking remained her passion. 'We were quite a small team, so whenever there was anything to do with cakes, I'd say, "I'll do that!" Lots of chefs dislike measuring ingredients, but I actually like the measurements involved in cakes,' she explains. 'There's something scientific about using the right amounts to create a guaranteed result. I began expanding my repertoire and got quite creative.'