Baker scoops wedding award and lands sci-fi cake commission

A Welsh baker is basking in her success after winning two major awards and landing a wedding cake booking 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-three also impressed judges at the Cake International Show at Birmingham’s NEC, returning home with a bronze in the wedding cake category and giving a demonstration on cake making.

Helen said her decision to have a bespoke studio built in her back garden this year by the 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 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 couples that I have had the honour to be part of their wedding day.

“There were actually ten 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.

The winners from the North Wales Wedding Awards:

• Best Wedding Celebrant: Willow Bespoke Ceremonies
• Best Wedding Entertainment (Music): DJP Discos
• Special Touches Award: Wedding Tails & Events
• Best Wedding Entertainment (Non-music): Glamour Events Hire
• Best Wedding Catering: Outside Gourmet Catering
• Best Bridal Retailer: Cariad Bride
• Best Wedding Cake Company: Searle Jones Cake Design
• Best Wedding Florist: Vivid Floral Design
• Best Wedding Hair Business: LSP Bridal Hair
• Best Wedding Planner: Perfectly Planned by Heln
• Wedding Hero Award: Marc Macauley Catering
• Best Wedding Make-up Business: Rhiannon Pritchard Make-up Artist
• Best Wedding Venue (Non-hotel): Hafod Farm
• Best Wedding Venue (Hotel): Faenol Fawr
• Best Wedding Videographer: Tim Cowell Videography