Home baker laughs off '˜animal cruelty' cake claims from trolls

Once she has put toddlers Felix and Oscar to bed, Hannah Edwards bakes cakes through the night at her Semphill Road home.

Her business, The Cake Illusionist, has been booming – with orders for her dogs, cats, and tigers, up until December.

But she attracted an unexpected kind of attention last week, when people reported her cakes to Facebook for ‘animal cruelty’.

“I think it’s hilarious,” said Ms Edwards, who has only been baking for a few years.

“But I suppose, if you get as many comments as I have been doing, you’re going to get some not-so-nice ones. They say it’s animal cruelty. But it’s cake. What else are you meant to do with cakes? It’s their destiny.”

Ms Edwards said the success of her cakes and the positive comments have given her the confidence to take on anything – including a divorce and a redundancy.

It means she is not letting the trolls get to her and the exposure, from international articles, has led to a number of large companies placing orders.

An American woman has asked if she can fly her daughters to Hemel Hempstead to shadow Ms Edwards.

She said: “I was really worried when it kicked off but I haven’t had any negativity. It’s still just me, in the kitchen, doing it to pay the mortgage. But it’s been amazing. The whole business is amazing.

“I’m there at 2am saying: ‘Those eyes are not quite right or that dog is not husky enough’. I farm those things out and go crazy about it. But then people are crazy about the cakes, and they go viral.”