A North Wales baker is rocketing to the top after scooping two major awards and landing an out-of-this world wedding cake featuring Star Trek and Doctor Who.
Helen Searle-Jones, who runs Searle Jones Cake Design in Hope, Flintshire, has been crowned Best Cake Company at the North Wales Wedding Awards – a title decided entirely by votes from couples she has baked for.
The mum-of-of three also impressed judges at the world-famous Cake International Show at Birmingham’s NEC, returning home with a bronze in the wedding cake category and basking in the honour of being asked to give a demonstration on cake making.
The mum-of-three said her decision to have a bespoke studio built in her back garden this year by the expert team at Rubicon Garden Rooms has been a key ingredient to the growth and success of her cake design business.
The building, created by the company based on the Cheshire-North Wales border in Penyffordd, has allowed Helen to take her cake-making career out of the family kitchen and into a tailor-made base which she now uses as a creative kitchen, teaching space and cake design hub.
She said winning the best cake company prize at the glittering North Wales Wedding Awards, held at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, was a particular delight because newly-weds she had made cakes for had voted for her to be a finalist.
Helen said: “It means the world to me because the award is based on votes from from couples that I have had the honour to be part of their wedding day.
“For the competition you also put in a bit of information about your business, how you’ve done over the past year, what you’re doing to grow the business – so for example I said I had the studio built.
“There were actually 10 companies in the category for best cake company so I wasn’t expecting to win at all, it was the first time I had ever entered, so to win was wonderful.”
Rob Lyon, sales and marketing manager at Rubicon Garden Rooms, said the firm was thrilled to have played a role in Helen’s success.
He said: “It is brilliant for Helen to achieve what she has achieved so quickly.
“We are really excited for her and for what the future holds.
“To be able to make a difference to people’s lives and careers is so important.
“It’s not just about providing a lovely building, it’s about what our customers can do in that building – and it’s clearly making a big difference to what Helen is able to achieve.
“A lot of people mention the work/life balance and being able to leave your work at work by having a garden room rather than working in their own home can do that for many of our customers.
“Bespoke studios are continuing to be a very popular choice for many of our customers, there are so many different uses you can put our buildings to.”
Helen added: Having the new studio has been transformational and I thank Rubicon for doing this for me.
“It means I can take on larger projects, I can take on bespoke work, and I can really create that process from start to finish of making that love story cake for the couples and I’m currently taking orders for 2026 and 2027.”
Helen launched the cake business on a full-time basis earlier this year following a 30-year career in the IT industry.
She said: “In 2026 I am looking to push the wedding cakes into that high-end venue, high-end wedding sector and to collaborate with venues across North Wales and Cheshire.
“I am looking to potentially work with luxury wedding planners to continue to create those show-stopper cakes which couples are looking for to be the central part of their day.
“I have got one couple booked who have said to me ‘we are actually having our wedding around our cake’.
“They are talking about going travelling a lot, so they want a travel layer on there, they like sci-fi so they want Star Trek in there, they want Dr Who in there, there are all those different elements.”
This year’s award success follows top honours last year for Helen when she won a gold award for a Pirates of the Caribbean themed creation.
